Republicans Seek Post-Trump Path After 1974-Scale Midterm Rout
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Nov 6
Republicans Seek Post-Trump Path After 1974-Scale Midterm Rout
3 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Nov 6
Summary
Tuesday’s losses triggered the loudest push yet inside the GOP to move beyond Trump after Republicans suffered their worst midterm defeat since 1974.
Trump’s second-term record drove the backlash: Republicans and strategists tied the rout to the Iran war, stubborn inflation and allegations that his family and allies enriched themselves.
That break is hard to execute because Trump still dominates the party’s machinery, with MAGA Inc. raising nearly $450 million this cycle and holding more than $164 million by mid-October.
His grip also extends through the base, right-wing media and primaries, leaving few elected Republicans able to champion a non-Trump agenda; only 1 of the 7 GOP senators who voted to convict him in 2021 will remain in office in January.
Potential heirs are already testing a formula for 2028—keep Trump-style populism while blaming the war, not the movement itself—suggesting the party may try to outlast Trump without fully repudiating him.