Ron DeSantis signaled potential trouble for Republicans keeping their majority following a surprisingly close race in Tennessee.
The Florida governor cautioned that many Trump voters “won’t turn out” in the 2026 midterms, pointing to Republican Matt Van Epps’ less-than-nine-point win over Democrat Aftyn Behn in Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District as a warning sign.
Special, off-year, and midterm elections historically benefit the party out of power because its voters are motivated to vote, while voters of the incumbent party become more complacent.
This is more glaring for today’s GOP because a chunk of voters who put them in power in 2024… https://t.co/DwFkk9pMzm— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) December 3, 2025
“Special, off-year, and midterm elections historically benefit the party out of power because its voters are motivated to vote, while voters of the incumbent party become more complacent,” he wrote Wednesday on X.
DeSantis continued, “This is more glaring for today’s GOP because a chunk of voters who put them in power in 2024 are Trump-specific voters; they will vote GOP down ballot when Trump is running but won’t turn out to vote for a typical congressman in a midterm when Trump isn’t running.”
Trump had carried the red district by over 20 points in his presidential run, and last year’s congressional election saw the incumbent Republican, Mark Green, beat the Democratic challenger by double digits as well.
Speaker Mike Johnson even traveled to the state on Monday and put the president on speakerphone at a rally to garner support for Van Epps.
The shift serves as a marker for more competitive races next year than previously believed.
And DeSantis isn’t the only Republican airing his grievances.
Veteran Republican strategist Matt Whitlock said the House could swing by 30 to 35 seats, expressing that the GOP has “work to do.”
Final margin closer to 13, so more of a 30-35 seat swing (instead of 43) with caveats:
-We struggle in specials, but the R turnout operation did great work here
-We had a great candidate, they had a terrible one
Lessons: candidate quality matters, and R’s have work to do. https://t.co/vjQmndCutk— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) December 3, 2025
Earlier this week, former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, who served under President George W. Bush, said Republicans are “scared to death of the midterm elections.”
The Grand Old Party currently has Democrats beat by six seats in the House and six seats in the Senate. But MAGA-infighting is further destabilizing the party.
New York Rep. Elise Stefanik accused Johnson of siding with Democrats on Tuesday, claiming he blocked a provision she wanted in the annual defense bill. She further tore into him in an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.
“He certainly wouldn’t have the votes to be speaker if there was a roll-call vote tomorrow,” the New York governor hopeful told The Journal.
Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna called out leaders on both sides of the party line for playing “political games” after Johnson refused to bring a bill to the floor to vote on the release of the Epstein files. It passed, with even Johnson voting “yes.”
The post MAGA Gov Panics About GOP’s Future After Brutal Red State Election Results appeared first on The Daily Beast.
