Republicans are reportedly experiencing déjà vu as President Donald Trump signed another massive tax cut package primarily benefiting the wealthy the year before a crucial midterm election — and they're already fighting hard to ensure a different result next November.
That's according to a Monday article in NBC News, which reported that Republicans are opting to stand firmly behind their massive new budget law and defend their support of it to voters in their own districts, despite the legislation's overwhelming unpopularity. The memory of the 2018 midterm elections in which Democrats won back control of the House of Representatives after flipping more than 40 Republican House seats (widely known as the "Blue Wave" midterm election) is fresh on GOP leaders' minds. One unnamed "senior aide to Republican leadership" vowed that 2026 wouldn't be another sweep for the anti-Trump opposition.
"Last time, we ceded ground to Democrats,” the aide told NBC News. “We won’t do that again.”
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Similar to 2025, Republicans in 2017 went into the following year's midterms defending a massive tax cut package that added significantly to the federal deficit and failed to yield any noticeable gains for most working-class Americans. And in addition to the "Big Beautiful Bill Act" extending Trump's costly tax cuts for another 10 years, it also cuts funding for Medicaid – the program that provides health insurance for low-income and disabled Americans — by more than $1 trillion. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that nearly 12 million Americans could be kicked off of their health insurance plans as a result of the new law.
Just as in 2018, Democrats are already focusing on several dozen vulnerable House Republicans who voted for the legislation, and aim to take back control of the House by reminding their constituents about the harm that will soon befall them as a result of their elected representatives' votes. Some of the biggest targets include Reps. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.) and David Valadao (R-Calif.), who both spoke out against several of the bill's provisions yet still voted for its final passage last week.
“The so-called moderate House Republicans have shamelessly lied for months — hiding behind meaningless letters and performative tweets — claiming they’d protect Medicaid, food assistance and energy jobs,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Justin Chermol told NBC. “But their vote is the only thing that matters, and they’ll pay the price next year.”
NBC further reported that Republicans view the bill as "the defining issue of 2026," and are planning an onslaught of political spending touting the legislation's new funding for immigration enforcement and other components of the law like cutting taxes on tips and overtime work. Notably, Republicans are keeping quiet on the Medicaid cuts and are hoping that voters in next year's elections will be swayed by other items.
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Click here to read NBC's report in its entirety.