Ad spending on this year’s midterm elections clocked in at more than $11.21 billion, an eye-watering number that even edges past the $11.2 billion spent during the 2024 presidential cycle. All that money went to perpetuate the wall of noise marketing a campaign cycle that felt like it would never end. From sponsored Facebook posts to YouTube ads and television spots to good old billboards, the 2026 midterms ought to be known as the election cycle no one could escape.
Yet all the ad spending in the world didn’t convince voters that Republicans had even the concepts of a plan for fixing Donald Trump’s worsening economic mess.
The party limped into this year’s midterms carrying the burden of a historically unpopular president and a historically bad affordability crisis. It stumbled over the finish line in a state of total exhaustion, successful only in its mission to alienate nearly every voting bloc it gained in 2024.
One has to wonder if some of the Republicans who lost their seats were just glad that this whole disgraceful march was finally over.
By midnight it was clear that the long-predicted Democratic wave wasn’t just a mirage of polling or a conspiracy of the anti-Trump media. Democrats notched high-profile Senate wins in Kansas, Iowa, Texas, Ohio, South Carolina and North Carolina, many by convincing margins. In Texas, James Talarico romped to victory over Donald Trump’s hand-picked nominee, Ken Paxton, by nearly 20 points.
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