Republican strategists are reaching for the panic button

When the Tuesday, April 7 elections rolled around, GOP strategists were hoping to see some positive signs. Instead, Democrats enjoyed what Politico's Andrew Howard described as "one of their best election nights since President Donald Trump returned to the White House."

That included Democrat-supported Judge Chris Taylor's 20 percent victory over GOP-backed Judge María Lazar in a Wisconsin Supreme Court race. Meanwhile, in a race for ex-Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene's seat in Georgia, Republican Clay Fuller won by 12 percent — which fell way below Greene's 37 percent victory in 2024. That district is so Republican that a 12 percent loss is good for a Democrat.

In an April 8 column, MS NOW's Steve Benen stresses that the April 7 elections show the GOP's fortunes growing worse — not better — as the 2026 midterms draw closer.

"In the mayoral race in Waukesha, Wis., Alicia Halvensleben, the Democratic president of the city's Common Council, defeated Republican State Rep. Scott Allen," Benen explains. "This was notable in large part because of Waukesha's role as a bellwether. Waukesha is a suburb, just west of Milwaukee, that's traditionally been a GOP stronghold…. These results come on the heels of a series of Democratic special election victories, including a streak in which the party has flipped 30 seats from red to blue since Trump’s return to the White House. Republicans, meanwhile, have not yet flipped any seats."

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) described the series of recent Democratic victories as "anomalies," but the April 7 results, Benen argues, show that he's in denial.

"In the wake of the latest Democratic victories," Benen comments, "the months-long pattern constitutes quite an alarming 'anomaly' for the Republican Party."