The Republican Party is facing major headwinds heading into the 2026 midterm elections amid President Donald Trump’s sinking popularity. Now, at least one candidate running next year has defected from the GOP and will instead challenge them as a Democrat.
Robb Ryerse is a pastor with 10 years of experience leading churches in New York City, Boston, and Michigan. He currently resides in Arkansas, where he founded the Vintage Fellowship, “a church that welcomes LGBT and folks from all backgrounds, creeds and colors,” according to Vote Common Good.
In 2018, he ran as a more moderate and progressive Republican in the primary race against Rep. Steve Womack, a now eight-term Republican representing Arkansas’s 3rd congressional district. Womack won the primary with an overwhelming 84 percent of the vote, but now, Ryerse is once again making a run for his seat in Congress.
In the past, Ryerse said that he had no issues describing himself as a Republican, despite his mounting disagreements with the party in the Trump era. As he enters the 2026 race, however, he has officially abandoned the GOP and declared himself as a Democrat. Speaking with local outlet, 40/29 News, the pastor explained his reasoning as the result of “a political identity crisis” in which he felt “politically homeless.”
“I switched parties because I have shifted in my political beliefs over the years, like a lot of people have, but party’s not the most important thing to me,” Ryerse explained. “Serving the people of this district is.”
Ryerse faces an uphill battle going in this direction, as Arkansas-03 is a solidly Republican district that went for Trump by 25 points in 2024. Womack won his own reelection bid last year by 32 points. However, mounting voter dissatisfaction over Trump’s second term, and his economic performance in particular, has many experts predicting a wave election year for Democrats in 2026, potentially giving an edge to underdogs like Ryerse, who is already putting affordability at the forefront of his campaign.
“People are really nervous about the cost of living and how it’s dramatically increased,” Ryerse said, also adding that, “Since 2019 here in Northwest Arkansas, mortgage costs have gone up 70 percent and rental costs have gone up 50 percent. Now, I don’t know anybody whose salary went up that much in the last five years.”
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