Category: The Hill
Couric on Trump autopen display: ‘I’ve kind of gone beyond trying to be impartial’
Journalist Katie Couric went after President Trump for a recent display at the White House that targeted former President Biden. “That is so creepy. And I mean, I’m sorry, I’ve kind of gone beyond trying to be impartial here, Jonathan, because his behavior is so beyond the pale,” Couric said while talking with ABC News’s…
Nancy Pelosi leaves a long legacy: 5 takeaways
The decision by Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to leave Congress after almost four decades marks the end of an era for both the powerhouse Democrat and her party at large. The former Speaker not only wrote herself into the history books as the first woman to hold the gavel, but also muscled into law some…
GOP sinks Senate resolution to block potential strikes on Venezuela
Welcome to The Hill’s Defense & NatSec newsletter {beacon} Defense &National Security Defense &National Security The Big Story GOP sinks Senate resolution to block potential strikes on Venezuela Republican senators on Thursday sunk a war powers resolution that would have blocked President Trump’s administration from potentially conducting military strikes inside Venezuela without the authorization…
Vote To Block Trump From Striking Narco Boats In Venezuela Fails, As Shutdown Continues
The Senate on Thursday voted down an effort to block President Donald Trump from conducting strikes against alleged drug smugglers off the coast of Venezuela without congressional approval. The War Powers Resolution, introduced by Democratic Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, failed to pass the upper chamber 51 to 49, just a day after Secretary of State […]
Democrats are running as Bush-era Republicans — and winning
Republicans have given voters no reason to support them beyond the claim that Democrats are dangerously radical.
Well, sure. But when voters look around and see rising prices, rising crime, and no clear plan from the party in power, they turn to the other side. That’s what happened in Virginia, and it will keep happening as long as life stays unaffordable and Republicans offer nothing but excuses.
Republicans can still win — but not with hollow slogans or billionaire donors. They need to fight for affordable living, strong families, and safe communities.
Democrats’ victories in Virginia and New Jersey shouldn’t shock anyone — Trump didn’t need either state to win the presidency in 2024. What should alarm Republicans are the margins. Democrats crushed their opponents by 15 points in Virginia and 13 in New Jersey, performing better than Kamala Harris did against Trump in New York.
The blue wave swept deep into Republican territory. Democrats unseated Virginia’s attorney general — a respected conservative — with Jay “Two Bullets” Jones, a radical, scandal-prone candidate, and still won by nearly seven points. They gained at least 13 legislative seats, leaving Republicans with half the representation they held just eight years ago.
In Georgia, Democrats flipped two public service commission seats — their first statewide wins since 2006 — and won them by 24 points. They broke the GOP supermajority in the Mississippi Senate, flipped a state House seat, and took local races across Pennsylvania. In New Jersey, where Republicans didn’t even see the blowout coming, Democrats regained a supermajority in the General Assembly.
Taken together, these results point to a coming wipeout. Democrats have outperformed their 2024 presidential baseline by an average of 15 points in special elections this year, according to Ballotpedia — more than double the overperformance seen during Trump’s first term. In 45 of 46 key contests, Democrats either held or improved their position.
All liabilities, no benefits
Republicans now face the worst possible political scenario: They hold power, which unites and energizes Democrats, but they’ve done almost nothing with it to inspire anyone else.
The first year of Trump’s second term has been defined by trivial fights and tone-deaf priorities: tax favors for tech investors, special deals for crypto, and zoning disasters for rural and suburban voters. The data center explosion in Virginia, which has raised utility bills and wrecked communities, could have been an easy populist target. Instead, Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) vetoed a bill to rein it in.
Despite cozying up to Big Tech, Republicans haven’t reaped any benefit. The Virginia Republican Party is broke, its candidates are outspent, and the grassroots are demoralized. The GOP keeps selling out to special interests that will never back the party. How have the ties to crypto, Big Tech, and Qatar paid off?
The reality is, Republicans don’t need those donors — they need a message to inspire a new generation of activists.
How Democrats outflanked the GOP
Democrats have learned to look like the party of normalcy while Republicans drift between populist posturing and corporate servitude. In Virginia, Abigail Spanberger ran on cutting costs, lowering taxes, and fighting crime — and she did it in the language of moderation. Republicans, who should own those issues, barely showed up for the debate.
Spanberger’s ads promised relief from inflation and touted her background in the CIA and law enforcement. She presented herself as steady and practical while Republicans floundered. Once again, Democrats outflanked the GOP on the right.
Republicans could have drawn blood by hammering Democrats on crime in Northern Virginia. Instead, they ran away from tough-on-crime policies. Winsome Earle-Sears even toyed with “criminal justice reform” while voters begged for accountability and order.
The result: Democrats ran as Bush-era Republicans, while Republicans looked like corporate consultants. Democrats talked about affordability and safety. Republicans talked about crypto and zoning boards.
The Trump paradox
The GOP’s reliance on one man has hollowed it out. Trump won the presidency in 2016 by talking about forgotten workers and American industry. But his divided message, personal vendettas, and fixation on media attention have since consumed the movement.
RELATED: Here’s what exit polls reveal about Tuesday’s electoral bloodbath
Photo by Alexi J. Rosenfeld/Getty Images
Now the party gets the worst of both worlds — all of Trump’s baggage, none of his appeal. Democrats use him to rally turnout. Independents recoil. The GOP lacks infrastructure, vision, and discipline. The movement that once promised to fight the establishment has become addicted to social media applause.
A party in search of conviction
If Virginia had a commanding figure like Ron DeSantis at the top of the ticket, Republicans might have dampened the blue wave. But without an inspiring message, voters in an economic crisis will always drift to the other side.
The problem isn’t demographics; if it were, Democrats would campaign in Virginia the same way they do in California or New York City. Instead, they skate by on empty promises because Republicans, trapped by special interests and lacking a winning message, have become easy targets — and surrendered the very issues that could win back suburban voters.
Republicans can still win — but not with hollow slogans or billionaire donors. They need to fight for affordable living, strong families, and safe communities. They need a moral and economic vision that reaches beyond social media and into the lives of working Americans.
The question conservatives must ask is the one George Patton once put to his men in another context: When will we finally fight and die on our own hills instead of dying on someone else’s?
Twitter is not America. And unless Republicans start acting like they know the difference, they’ll keep losing — and keep deserving it.
Mexican President Sheinbaum presses charges against man who groped her on street
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday she pressed charges against a man who groped her on the street Tuesday. A video of the incident circulating on social media shows a man approach Sheinbaum from behind, put his arm around her and kiss her on the neck. Another man, later identified by Sheinbaum as her aide,…
Democrats take the 2025 elections
Presented by Panasonic {beacon} Energy & Environment Energy & Environment The Big Story Democrats get big election night wins Democrats won big on election night — after focusing on green issues from an affordability standpoint rather than an environmental one. © AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough/Yuki Iwamura/Matt Rourke In New Jersey, Democrat Mikie Sherrill won the…
Marjorie Taylor Greene shuts down 2028 bid rumors
“The only thing that I’m focused on is being a representative for my district,” Greene told NewsNation.
Rubio, Hegseth boat strike briefing doesn’t quell Democrats’ concerns
The latest briefing on the U.S. military’s strikes against alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, did not quell the concerns of some Democrats in attendance, who are demanding more information about the operations that have killed more than 60 people. The…
Rosen accuses Moreno of snooping on staff’s cars
What started as a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on transportation nominees turned into a verbal confrontation between Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) and Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), with the former accusing the latter of spying on her and her staff. While questioning Ryan McCormack, President Trump’s nominee for under secretary of transportation for policy, Moreno said he…
