Politics

Latino voters played a decisive role in the 2026 midterm elections, sending an unequivocal message to leadership in both parties: their support is earned, not guaranteed. “We may not always march, but we are the silent majority – and that is exactly what we demonstrated on Tuesday night,” said Maria Teresa Kumar, President and CEO of Voto Latino. An analysis of voter trends by the New York Times found that Latino voters shifted 29 points toward Democrats between 2024 and 2026 – the largest movement of any major demographic group. The shift was even more pronounced among younger Latinos, who moved 43 points toward Democrats, and Latino men, who shifted 31 points. In Texas, the change was especially visible along the southern border.

What does the rise and fall of Russell Brand say about our culture, especially or moral and religious culture? A few different things, I suggest. First, it highlights our deep confusion about sex, and our fear of thinking about it in any serious sense. Brand, who will be sentenced today for raping a fan at his house in 2009 and three sexual assaults, was a test case: what do we think of an outright sexual hedonist? The liberal orthodoxy is that there is absolutely nothing wrong with such an approach to sex, and maybe something good about its honesty. Only Phyllis Schlafly-type prudes seek to scorn such self-expression. In relation to sex, it seems that we are scared. We are scared of sounding old-fashioned, moralistic.

Republicans went into the midterms with a baby boomer mentality – and as a result came out bust. ​This is not the way the pundit class wants Americans to see the election: it’s supposed to be all about Trump, proof that Trump-style populism is a failure. ​But there are two Trumps. One is a radically new force in American politics, challenging every norm and convention. The other is an 80-year-old Republican politician. ​Trump’s second term so far has given free rein to both Trumps: hence the bold moves the President has made in tariff policy and enforcing immigration laws, but also the sudden reversion to the foreign policy of yesteryear’s Republicans.

President Trump has long sought to create a political realignment in America. He succeeded on Tuesday night. In declaring that the voters should behave as though he were on the midterms ballot, Trump singlehandedly resurrected the Democratic party which is poised to win both the House and Senate as well as numerous statewide races.   The midterms don’t represent a setback for Trump but a crushing rebuke. For all his huffing and puffing about a stolen election in the run-up to the midterms, Trump told the New York Times on Tuesday evening that he accepts the results. “We’ll work with the Democrats, and we’ll, you know, look forward to working with them,” he said. “We’ll probably work something out.

The exit polls in the midterm elections revealed that corruption in government was almost as much an issue as the cost of living for voters. A stunning 90 percent of voters said it was a crucial or major factor in their vote. Neither party was trusted to combat it – 36 percent said Democrats, while 31 percent said Republicans. But the GOP was the main target of voter anger. A majority of voters viewed corruption as a crucial issue in the campaign, they voted for Democrats by 62 percent to 36 percent. Republicans were the party in power and were saddled with a president who surrounded himself with shady characters and seemed to almost revel in padding his income by $2 billion last year.