As we wait for folks in Wisconsin to vote today, let’s check out what’s going on in 2026, or the year that will go down as the year of the primary. It was a year when incumbents learned that they weren’t as safe as they thought.
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So far, nine incumbents are down. Let’s check out this story on LatinTimes:
Tennessee Republican Andy Ogles became the ninth sitting U.S. House member to lose a primary this year when former state Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher defeated him by roughly 53 percent to 47 percent on Thursday night. That win pushes 2026’s incumbent casualty count to six Democrats and three Republicans — the largest number of House primary defeats in a year without nationwide redistricting since 1970, according to figures NBC News compiled from Vital Statistics on Congress. More than a dozen states still haven’t voted, so the count isn’t final.
Two distinct currents are driving the wave.
Among Republicans, the common denominator is friction with President Donald Trump.
Among Democrats, it’s almost the reverse — primary voters punishing candidates they view as too cautious, too centrist, or simply too entrenched.
It’s all about President Trump. As we saw in Texas, Senator Cornyn was defeated by AG Paxton. Why? Because many voters saw Cornyn as detached from Trump. As you can see, it’s happening across the country.
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On the Democrat side, you must hate Trump 24/7, or you are going down. Sometimes you can be a 24/7 critic of President Trump and still go down, as we saw with Rep. Goldman in New York. I guess that he didn’t hate Trump enough, even though he was on MSNOW daily bashing the President. In Texas, Rep. Green, the man who always performed before President Trump spoke to Congress, went down too. I guess he was not performative enough.
On the GOP side, you must love Trump 24/7, or you will have a primary in your district.
Time will tell if all of this works out for the better. I don’t think it will affect the GOP as much as the Democrats, who are under attack by the left. It is the season of the primary, and let’s see who is still standing on election night.
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