Rebellion against the administrative state used to entail packing up, moving to a log cabin in Montana, and trying your best to survive off the land. Now all it takes is a Venmo account and decent internet.

As Wired recently reported, Kristin LaHargoue, a Utah-based influencer who goes by “Minister Veda,” caters to a hyper-specific, delusional niche: convincing people that it is patriotic not to register their children with the government. On Instagram (@veda.revival), she posts videos of her family traveling internationally without birth certificates or Social Security numbers for her children. In her view, registering a baby with the government is an unforgivable surrender of parental freedom.

The great escape from the administrative state still requires the administrative state to stamp your little blue book.

Her business model is simple: commodified chaos. For $997, LaHargoue offers personal coaching on how to obtain a passport for an unregistered child, including guidance for dealing with Department of State officials. If that’s too pricey, another option is available. For $497, she sells a downloadable bundle to navigate the bureaucratic minefield.

The problem, of course, is that the parents aren’t the only ones who must live with the consequences.

Off the record

Wired highlighted the real-world fallout through the story of Sarah Ashley Townsend. Raised by a sovereign-minded mother without a birth certificate or Social Security number, Townsend spent her childhood largely isolated from ordinary society. At 16, she repeatedly struggled to get a driver’s license. In her early 20s, she discovered that supposedly having her documents straightened out had not solved the problem. When she gave birth to her own son, officials couldn’t establish her birth records, and his birth certificate had to be amended twice.

Townsend was 22, newly postpartum, and running around Maryland collecting notarized documents just to get her son the paperwork her own mother had denied her.

This sovereign baby concept isn’t new. Its roots trace back to William Potter Gale, a former Army lieutenant colonel who founded Posse Comitatus in Southern California around 1970. Gale preached distrust of the federal government, insisting that county sheriffs were the highest lawful authority and that Washington had vastly exceeded its constitutional powers. His followers rejected federal taxation and claimed the right to resist authorities they considered illegitimate.

Posse Comitatus helped inspire later sovereign-citizen groups, whose members developed increasingly inventive theories about secret government contracts, fictitious legal identities, and the supposed power of declaring oneself exempt from ordinary laws. Some issued bogus liens against judges and public officials, attempting to weaponize paperwork against the very institutions they rejected. Others refused to recognize courts, taxes, or government authority, sometimes with violent consequences.

The underlying fantasy remained remarkably consistent. Reality was supposedly negotiable, provided one knew the right words and possessed enough contempt for the rules everyone else had to follow.

Monetizing paranoia

Today’s influencers have traded backwater meetups and photocopied manifestos for selfies in front of Barcelona’s Sagrada Família. Take Minister Dionne, who peddles a $555 “Status Correction” package. Or Marisse Vista, whose $7,777 “Sovereign Conception Program” promises such delights as ancestral clearing and womb activation. Yes, it’s absurd, but it perfectly captures the current zeitgeist, with online chancers monetizing paranoia.

Now, to be clear, I am no fan of the paperwork police, and I am all for parents being free to make the best decisions for their children. But the claim that birth certificates make newborns government assets relies on the long-discredited straw man legal theory. According to this fantasy, a birth certificate creates a separate legal identity that the government uses as collateral for its debts. By declaring themselves separate from this fictitious identity, believers supposedly escape government authority. Courts have repeatedly rejected the theory, yet influencers continue peddling it as gospel.

They claim to be selling rebellion. What they’re really selling is a bureaucratic nightmare.

The irony is that the passport procedure itself is perfectly legitimate. The State Department allows applicants without conventional birth certificates to establish citizenship through secondary evidence, including baptismal records, early school records, family Bible entries, and affidavits. This exists for people who genuinely lack ordinary birth records, not as some secret sovereign-citizen loophole.

LaHargoue and her peers frame opting out of government records as grand independence, but it is pure hypocrisy. These influencers reject the obligations of a functioning society while demanding its perks and protection abroad. Having declined to obtain the usual documents, they must then assemble alternative paperwork and persuade the very government they supposedly reject to issue a passport.

The great escape from the administrative state still requires the administrative state to stamp your little blue book.

RELATED: How to thrive without a Social Security number

Print Collector/Getty Images

Sovereign headache

As Wired reported, one woman who purchased LaHargoue’s instructional material eventually obtained a passport for her infant without a birth certificate. She submitted baptismal records, a family Bible, an affidavit, and a newspaper birth announcement. After considerable back-and-forth, the State Department approved the application.

In other words, parents are paying hundreds of dollars to navigate an elaborate government procedure made necessary by their refusal to follow a much simpler one.

A New York family lawyer told Wired he has seen an increase in parents attempting to reject or undo their children’s official identification documents, while a law enforcement consultant described motorists refusing to show identification because they insist they are merely “traveling” rather than driving. Healthy skepticism is one thing. Pursuing a fantasy of total independence that only creates problems for you and your loved ones is another. Freedom is fantastic and necessary, but it doesn’t mean freedom from consequences.

When a boy or girl grows up and runs into trouble opening a bank account, getting a driver’s license, signing a lease, enrolling in college, or finding a job, the opportunist who cashed that fat check is long gone. The parent may get a fleeting rush of anti-establishment heroism; the child, however, is left with an endless headache, forced to spend years proving to the clipboard class that he is who he says he is — and that he actually exists.

​Administrative state, Birth certificates, Bureaucracy, Constitutional powers, Culture, Drivers license, Family, Influencers, Passport, Posse comitatus, Social security, Sovereign baby, Sovereign citizen, Lifestyle 

The Constitution is not a suicide pact. Donald Trump most certainly isn’t one. After Tuesday’s electoral massacre, the right faces a choice: Ride or die with this man through 2028, or declare independence and rebuild a movement capable of winning power and actually using it.

On Tuesday, we held an election between the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. The Bolsheviks won. When do conservatives get on the ballot under our own banner? When do we get an at-bat? We won’t if we keep running on the same hamster wheel and calling it progress.

Tuesday proved how much the status quo can cost. We have nothing left to gain by pretending it’s working.

Name the conservative issue that lost Tuesday night. Voters in states that overwhelmingly backed Trump in 2024 didn’t suddenly embrace woke radicalism. They rejected Trump and a corporatist, corrupt, listless, and hypocritical Republican Party. Democrats even borrowed issues that conservatives like me have been pushing for two years.

Look at the wreckage: Democratic Senate victories in Texas, Kansas, South Carolina, and Ohio; the loss of the Texas governorship; and a sweep through places Republicans had come to regard as safe territory. Democrats took control of the Senate and picked up at least 31 House seats. The full down-ballot damage will take time to assess, but the partisan realignment we were promised has been torn apart.

Everyone will manufacture an excuse based on his favorite issue. Some will blame the economy, others the Iran war, tariffs, bad candidates, or the usual midterm curse. Most of the conservative influencer class will perform amazing contortions to avoid uttering the name Donald Trump.

But it was all of the above, bound together by a Marie Antoinette presidency. Voters worried about paying their bills got a president boasting about a “golden economy,” stock portfolios, and a ballroom. Let them eat capital gains!

It was the tariffs. It was the war with Iran, launched with enormous fanfare and left without a convincing account of what victory means. It was the aimless legislative agenda, the Greenland fantasies, the narcissism, the Big Tech courtship, and the enthusiasm for data centers and the surveillance state. It was the endless spectacle of family business interests and questions about conflicts of interest.

This was the antithesis of Trump’s 2016 message. That message was directed at people who believed their country had been sold to the highest bidder. Now the White House seems astonished that those same people don’t celebrate every new accommodation with powerful interests.

RELATED: Democrats seize control of the US Senate

Tom Brenner/Getty Images

Of course, some good has been done. Border enforcement and other executive actions deserve credit. Nor can every Republican defeat be laid at Trump’s feet. But too many accomplishments remain vulnerable because the administration has failed to build lasting legislative victories. Worse, nothing resembling a fresh conservative movement can take shape while one man monopolizes its message, candidates, strategy, and imagination.

The party has become a personality cult with a fundraising operation attached. Trump endorses one dreary candidate after another, and the rest of the right is instructed to applaud. If you question the candidate, you are accused of betraying the cause. Which cause, exactly?

Tuesday also offered an answer to the claim that conservative principles themselves have become unelectable. Florida voters approved a DeSantis-backed property-tax amendment with about 62% of the vote, even as Republicans elsewhere suffered crushing defeats. Voters were also asked to decide 41 local data-center measures in 10 states, 28 of which would restrict development. These fights reflect genuine public hostility to political favoritism and unchecked corporate power.

Florida, for all its narrow margins, at least held its Republican governorship. The state has a governor with an identifiable record, a clear set of priorities, and an agenda he spent years putting into practice. Ron DeSantis didn’t build that record by changing the subject every time a shiny object appeared. Florida supplied the one-state wave in 2022. This year, it offered a one-state save.

RELATED: If Republicans can’t get Wyoming right, what are they fighting for?

id-work/iStock/Getty Images

Instead of learning from that contrast, the GOP base and the Conservatism Inc. influencer class will be tempted to spend the next two years defending everything Trump says, excusing every failure, and hunting for a new reason to attack anyone who asks for results.

Here is the question every so-called conservative must answer: How do we rebuild for 2028 while Trump remains the godlike leader of the right for another 26 months? How do we recruit candidates with convictions of their own when he insists on anointing his favorites? How do we talk about a serious governing agenda when every day brings a new diversion?

We cannot spend the next two years defending corruption allegations, praising a “golden economy” voters do not recognize, and explaining away policies that benefit special interests. The president will remain the most visible Republican in America, and no amount of spin will change that. Believe me, he will remind the public of that fact every day The rest of the party must decide whether it has a voice independent of his.

For how much longer will we be a conservative soul trapped in the contaminated body of the gay old party? Tuesday proved how much the status quo can cost. We have nothing left to gain by pretending it’s working.

​2026 midterms, Capital gains, Donald trump, Opinion & analysis, Big tech, Republicans, Democrats, Bolsheviks, Conservative, Elections, Corporatism, Economy, Florida, Ron desantis, Iran war, Congress 

Are American sports simply having a bad season — or is something much bigger happening? BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock believes the latter, explaining why he thinks the chaos plaguing professional and college sports could be a form of biblical judgment.

Whitlock explains that not only have sports turned their back on “all biblical values,” but they were founded and organized in the mid-1800s by Christians.

“This is all documented history. You can even find this information on Wikipedia. This isn’t hidden information. The Young Men’s Christian Association organized sports in the mid- to late 1800s and early 1900s as a tool to fight first-wave feminism,” Whitlock explains.

“They started organizing sports to disciple young men in muscular, masculine Christianity. So, this is a gift — sports, organized sports — handed to us by God. And we’ve turned our back on it, and/or we have allowed non-Christians, the secular crowd, to snatch sports away from us,” he continues.

“And that’s why I sit here today, pondering, halfway believing, if not fully believing, sports are under judgment,” he adds, citing the “six woes of judgment” in Isaiah 5.

“Greed and land-grabbing, endless partying and escapism, defiance and mockery, moral confusion — when you start calling evil ‘good’ and good ‘evil’ — arrogance and self-wisdom, and then corrupt justice through bribery,” he explains.

“And in the book of Isaiah, God tells you there’s going to be this coming foreign invasion,” he continues. “And so, I just want you to think about what we’re witnessing in America. Do we not have these judgments? Are these not all obvious? Are we not experiencing a foreign invasion and a hijacking of our Christian culture?”

God, Whitlock says, came up “with a way through sports to encourage and disciple and develop masculine men with the right values.”

“And so, basketball and football and baseball, they’re all being organized so that Christian men can disciple young men in a masculine form of Christianity. And we’ve handed this over,” he explains, noting that “we’ve turned our back on this blessing.”

“And you wonder why sports are in total collapse. You wonder why they’re totally invaded by corruption — bad, corrupt officiating. You wonder why the athletes are falling injured at record pace. You wonder why the games, the quality of play, is no good,” he continues.

“You’re not going to produce good fruit from the world of sports when it’s been turned over to radical materialism and money,” he adds.

Want more from Jason Whitlock?

To enjoy more fearless conversations at the crossroads of culture, faith, sports, and comedy with Jason Whitlock, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Jason whitlock, Ymca, Christianity, Sports, Nfl, Nba, Blazetv show 

Republicans lost more than just a midterm election on Tuesday night. They lost an essential part of the coalition that put them in power. And if they respond by blaming fraud, bad luck, or the usual midterm headwinds, you may as well start planning for another defeat in 2028.

This election is not a story about swing voters suddenly falling in love with Democrats. It’s about the Trump coalition hemorrhaging support from its base, and that is a much bigger problem. It is also one the Republican establishment seems uniquely incapable of confronting.

Presidents lose midterms. That is nothing new. What is new is losing voters from your base on an unprecedented scale.

In 2024, Donald Trump won with a coalition that included Gen X by 11 points, young men, and Hispanic men who had grown tired of the Democrats’ cultural insanity and economic failures. Those voters did not sign up for the latest corporate Republican seminar on how to lose gracefully.

They voted for mass deportations, law and order, accountability, and — most importantly — no new wars. Remember that campaign promise?

Did they get what they voted for?

The first two years of the Trump administration have seen some genuine, remarkable accomplishments. The FBI reports that murders fell by roughly 18% in 2025. Illegal border crossings have sunk to almost nothing. Don’t discount those achievements.

But where is the promised accountability for the abuses of the Biden and Obama years? Where is the follow-through on the Epstein files? Why do Republicans always seem to discover new procedural hurdles whenever the voters ask them to deliver on their promises?

And then there’s Iran.

Let me be clear: The Iranian regime is evil. Few people have been as consistently vocal on this issue as I have. But it’s one thing to use American air power to ensure Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon and quite another to drag our military and economy into a monthslong quagmire with no end in sight and no clear definition of victory.

What does winning look like? When is the mission over? What, exactly, are Americans being asked to sacrifice?

Meanwhile, Republicans still haven’t figured out how to govern. They excel at being a loud minority. Give them a Democrat to denounce, a hearing to stage, or a fundraising email to send, and they have all the energy in the world. Give them power, and they start explaining why they can’t give the base what they asked for.

Here is the question at the heart of Tuesday’s electoral wipeout: Is the GOP a populist party that answers to its voters, or a corporate party that strings the base along when it’s convenient? We cannot keep pretending these are the same thing.

RELATED: Iowa picks a Democrat senator

Photo by Scott Morgan/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Look at South Carolina. Trump backed Darline Graham, sister of the late Lindsey Graham, for the Senate seat, and she went on to lose in one of the most humiliating Republican defeats imaginable. A completely preventable slap in the face to the president’s own base.

Tarrant County, Texas, is another example. That county has been a Republican stronghold, and it swung 30 points to the Democrats. You cannot blame a shift like that on voter fraud or independents.

Democrats didn’t need to reinvent themselves to capitalize on Republican failure. They borrowed the language of affordability and accountability while their ideological vanguard — represented by Democratic Socialist candidates across the country — kept moving left. When they take power, expect the mask to drop in a hurry. Investigations, lawfare, and political retaliation will be the order of the day.

To end on a high note, such as it is, we are not going to lose the Republic overnight. As long as Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito remain on the Supreme Court, the constitutional order will stay more or less where it is. Without 60 votes in the Senate, Democrats can only do so much.

Presidents lose midterms. That is nothing new. What is new is losing voters from your base on an unprecedented scale. The White House needs to have a serious conversation about what happened if they want to stop this problem from getting worse.

President Trump needs to remember who put him in office. The historic coalition that made his presidency possible can take its support elsewhere if he does not follow through for them.

Republicans need to ask why its own voters abandoned them. And this time, they might try listening to the answers.

​2026 midterms, Darline graham, Democrats, Donald trump, Epstein files, Gen x, Law and order, Lindsey graham, Mass deportations, Opinion & analysis, Republicans, South carolina, Tarrant county, Crushing defeat 

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who survived confirming Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and a litany of other policy fights, was finally defeated Wednesday morning by Democrat Troy Jackson.

Jackson led 52.4% to 47.5% with 69.2% of the expected vote in, according to NBC News. Collins conceded early Wednesday morning.

‘Maine, I owe you everything.’

“It has been the honor of my life to serve the people of Maine in the United States Senate. I’m proud of all I have been able to accomplish for our state and for our country in the past 30 years,” Collins said in a statement.

“I called Troy Jackson tonight to congratulate him and to assure him that my staff and I will work to ensure a smooth transition,” she said.

Jackson addressed supporters at his election party in Portland early Wednesday, according to the AP.

Oysterman Graham Platner, Democrats’ pick prior to Troy Jackson, won the June 9 primary with 72.1% of the vote. He withdrew in July after allegations of sexual assault, PBS NewsHour reported.

Platner called the allegation “categorically false.”

Delegates picked Jackson, 58, a former Maine Senate president, to replace Platner on July 25 by a vote of 566 to five.

RELATED: Democrat Roy Cooper sails to victory in North Carolina

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Jackson expressed his gratitude on X early Wednesday morning.

“Maine, I owe you everything,” Jackson wrote. “I’m ready to get to work for Mainers in the U.S. Senate, and I promise you this: I’ll never forget where I came from or who I’m fighting for. Thank you. Let’s go build a government that works for all of us.

Jackson raised $20.4 million in the quarter ending in September, nearly four times Collins’ $5.2 million, according to the Bangor Daily News. Pro-Collins groups still outspent pro-Jackson groups on ads, $85.3 million to $53.9 million, according to AdImpact data.

Collins was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996. She was the last Republican in Congress from New England, according to the AP. She ran on her record of crossing President Donald Trump.

“I voted against my party more than any other senator on either side of the aisle,” she said in the Oct. 6 debate.

Her loss capped a rough night for Republicans. Democrats won control of both the House and the Senate, according to NBC News.

No sitting Maine senator had lost re-election since 1978, according to Maine Public.

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​Brett kavanaugh, Donald trump, Maine, Politics, Susan collins, Troy jackson 

Adam Hamilton — a Democrat Kansas pastor whom President Donald Trump reportedly called a “pervert” — has beaten his incumbent counterpart, Republican Roger Marshall, for U.S. Senate in a historic upset.

No Democrat from Kansas has won a U.S. Senate seat since 1932, according to the Associated Press, which called the race for Hamilton late Tuesday night with him leading Marshall by about six percentage points.

‘If you’re not in favor of same-sex marriage, then be who you are. But do it lovingly.’

Hamilton — the longtime pastor for one of the largest United Methodist churches in the nation — is a supporter of transgender rights, abortion rights, and same-sex marriage, The Hill reported.

In a Park City rally last month, Trump said Hamilton “openly mocks Jesus” due to his stance on transgender rights, the Washington Post said.

Hamilton responded by saying that Trump painting him as a “pervert” was “sad” and “pathetic,” The Hill noted. Hamilton added, “It doesn’t bother me. I feel like that says more about him than it says about me.”

NBC News said Hamilton’s “upset victory in a state Donald Trump carried by 16 points in the 2024 election gives Democrats a major boost in the fight for the Senate majority.”

RELATED: Trump bashes ‘radical left’ group accused of handing gift cards to voters: ‘This is a criminal offense!’

What’s more, the news network said Hamilton has never held public office and was registered as a Republican until earlier this year. NBC News added that Hamilton, 62, ran as a moderate and garnered bipartisan support.

Hamilton said he will work with Trump on “anything the president wants to do that’s good for the people of Kansas,” The Hill noted.

As for the defeated Marshall, NBC News said he served two terms in the House prior to winning his first term in the Senate by 11 points in 2020.

As for his sociopolitical stances, Hamilton said, “There’s room for people to have differences of opinion on things. If you’re not in favor of same-sex marriage, then be who you are. But do it lovingly.”

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​Adam hamilton, Democrat, Donald trump, Kansas, Midterm elections, Pastor, Pervert, Politics, Roger marshall, Senate 

Democratic hopes to seize control of both chambers of Congress came to fruition on Election Night.

The Republicans hoped to hold on to their slim lead in the Senate after losing the House of Representatives relatively early Tuesday night, but that effort ultimately failed.

‘President Trump did a better job promoting many of the candidates on the ballot than the candidates did themselves.’

NBC News projected the fall of the Senate, and Fox News also confirmed the development.

Democrats taking control of both chambers of Congress will severely hamper the efforts of President Donald Trump to pass laws and nominate judges. They have also indicated that they plan to open numerous investigations into the Trump administration.

“LAWYER UP,” wrote Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the incoming chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Among the more stunning results were James Talarico beating Ken Paxton soundly for one of the Texas U.S. Senate seats and longtime Republican Sen. Susan Collins losing her seat in Maine.

Exit polling found that voters were most concerned with the economy and their worsening financial fortunes.

The president has responded to the astounding losses by blaming the quality of the Republican candidates and claiming that he would have won in a landslide had he been on the ballot.

“President Trump did a better job promoting many of the candidates on the ballot than the candidates did themselves,” read a statement from a White House official.

RELATED: Trump takes DEFIANT tone after Democrats take the House: ‘Buckle up’

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis related what the consequences were of his party losing control of Congress.

“Chance of confirming a worthy successor to [Supreme Court] Justice Thomas and/or Alito during President Trump’s term: Zero,” he wrote in a post on social media.

“Chance of confirming a worthy successor during a hypothetical GOP admin 2029-2033: probably zero (GOP won’t be able to recapture enough seats in 28),” he added.

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​James talarico, Susan collins, White house, Midterm elections, Politics, Donald trump 

Texas has rejected Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton at the ballot box on Tuesday and voted to seat Democrat James Talarico in the U.S. Senate.

Talarico is the first Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate in Texas since 1988.

The Trump-endorsed Republican … grossly underperformed in various counties … where President Donald Trump at the very least secured healthy majority support in 2024.

Paxton, who beat incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the GOP primary runoff, was trailing Talarico 59.4%-39% when AP called the race for his liberal opponent — a call that came after the Decision Desk HQ and NBC News dubbed Talarico the victor.

The Trump-endorsed Republican, who was dogged by numerous scandals during the campaign, grossly underperformed in various counties — such as Collin, Denton, Jefferson, and Webb — where President Donald Trump at the very least secured healthy majority support in 2024.

A White House official told Fox News’ Peter Doocy, “Candidate quality matters, and President Trump did a better job promoting many of the candidates on the ballot than the candidates did themselves.”

This defeat comes after a closely watched race in which recent polls showed Talarico leading by up to seven percentage points.

RELATED: America doesn’t need a Jesus made in our political image

RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP via Getty Images

Talarico, whose ally Texas state Rep. Gina Hinojosa (D) won the governor’s mansion, mopped up the vast majority of early in-person votes and mail-in votes, according to NBC News.

Talarico rebranded himself as a moderate on the campaign trail.

For example, he posed with meat after previously clutching pearls over animal welfare and the impact of meat consumption on “climate change”; walked back some of his more radical theological claims such as “God is nonbinary”; and masqueraded as a “border security Democrat” despite repeatedly voting against border and immigration security measures.

Talarico — whom White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller dubbed the “first transgender Senate candidate” — was evidently able to convince some Texans of his election-time conversion. He certainly won over members of the Bush family.

Texas’ 2026 U.S. Senate race was the most expensive non-presidential race on record, according to AdImpact. Over $407 million was reportedly spent on ads and reservations in the general Senate election — and Republicans outspent Democrats $140.7 million in vain.

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​James talarico, Ken paxton, Donald trump, Senate, Texas, Midterm election, John cornyn, Politics 

Ohio’s closely watched U.S. Senate race has been called.

The contest between incumbent Republican Sen. Jon Husted and Democratic former Sen. Sherrod Brown ended with Brown securing a Democratic pickup.

‘This victory belongs to all of us. Thank you, Ohio.’

According to the Associated Press, Brown defeated Husted in Tuesday’s special election.

As of 11:10 p.m. ET, Brown had received 48.6% of the vote to Husted’s 46.5%, with 87% of the expected votes reported.

RELATED: Amy Acton wins Ohio governor’s seat, beating Republican Vivek Ramaswamy

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Brown celebrated the win with a few posts, including his congratulations to fellow Democrat and the next governor of Ohio, Amy Acton.

In a second post that included a short video, Brown wrote, “This victory belongs to all of us. Thank you, Ohio.”

Husted was appointed to the Senate in January 2025 after then-Sen. JD Vance became vice president. Brown sought a return to the seat after losing his previous Senate seat to Republican Bernie Moreno in 2024.

As of Friday afternoon, the latest polling average on Blaze Poll Watch favored Sherrod Brown over Jon Husted by 3.4 points — 47.9%-44.5%.

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​Jd vance, Jon husted, Ohio, Senate race, Sherrod brown, Special election, Us senate, Politics 

President Donald Trump is not backing down despite Democrats taking the U.S. House of Representatives in the midterm elections Tuesday.

A White House official put the blame of the election night losses on Republican candidates and implied that the president was eager to ramp up his efforts to fight the left.

‘Regardless of how today plays out, President Trump’s resolve to stop the Radical Left is only going to become stronger.’

“President Trump was not on the ballot, and it’s proven that Trump voters show up when he is on the ballot,” the official said, according to The Hill.

“Also, candidate quality matters, and President Trump did a better job promoting many of the candidates on the ballot than the candidates did themselves,” the official added.

The official described the mood at the White House as “defiant” and added that voters would regret supporting Democrats.

“Anyone who voted Democrat today is going to have a serious case of buyers [sic] remorse when gas prices come down quickly when the Iran conflict is solved but they’re still stuck with [a] list of liberal extremist Democrats,” the official continued. “And a final note here: regardless of how today plays out, President Trump’s resolve to stop the Radical Left is only going to become stronger.”

The official concluded, “Buckle up.”

The president reiterated the point in a brief post on Truth Social.

“I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE! Thank you for your attention to this matter,” he wrote.

In a previous post, he also blamed Fox News for bad coverage and touted that he had the overwhelming support of Republicans in polling.

RELATED: ‘Fire will rise’: Muslim pundit promises ‘reckoning’ if Abdul El-Sayed loses — and also if he wins

Democrats have made astounding gains on election night and are closing in on capturing the U.S. Senate. Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has conceded to his Democratic challenger, and James Talarico has flipped one of the state’s seats in the U.S. Senate.

Early exit polling showed that voters were upset about the economic fallout from the military operation against Iran, and many were not happy about the state of the economy.

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With long-time Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds wrapping up nearly a full decade in office, the Midwest state was primed for new leadership. On the ballot, Republican Zach Lahn faced off against Democrat Rob Sand to see who would lead the state, and the results are in.

Lahn, a businessman and farmer, co-founded an investment firm called Homeplace Ventures, as well as a private school in Wichita, Kansas, called Wonder. Sand has served as the state auditor of Iowa since 2018. Before that, he was a chief prosecutor with an emphasis on public corruption cases.

‘Fifteen years of work essentially goes down the drain in one election.’

Leading up to election night on Tuesday, the Iowa governor race appeared to be slipping away from Republican control. According to Blaze News Poll Watch, Sand led Lahn with more than half of voter support.

Even worse, Sand’s victory trajectory had been on a slow-but-steady climb since August, while Lahn’s prospects slid downward.

That’s why it comes as no surprise that Sand clinched the governor’s seat on election night. Sand is the first Democrat to be elected Iowa governor since 2006.

Although Iowa has morphed into a red state since electing President Donald Trump in 2016, political change is common when it comes to the Iowa governorship, often rotating between Republicans and Democrats every several decades.

RELATED: WATCH LIVE: 2026 midterm election results — Nick Freitas, John Doyle, Steve Deace, Glenn Beck

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Iowa resident and BlazeTV host Steve Deace has followed this race closely.

“Fifteen years of work essentially goes down the drain in one election. I assume that we’re gonna find out just how many multicolored-hair trannies truly live in the state of Iowa, ’cause they’re all gonna be running agencies there in January and acting like the last 15 years never happened,” Deace said.

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​Iowa, Zach lahn, Rob sand, Politics 

Republican Ashley Hinson and Democrat Josh Turek have campaigned for a U.S. Senate seat in Iowa, and the results are in.

Hinson and Turek have been nearly dead-even throughout most of the Senate race, based on data pulled from Blaze News Poll Watch. At times, their popularity skirted past each other, trading places with only a 0.1% difference between them.

‘What do you think about your own base if you don’t want to talk to your own base?’

However, something changed in August. Although their popularity was still closely contested, Turek took a narrow lead and kept it all the way through to election night.

After tallying up all the votes, Turek won the Senate race, while Hinson suffered an upsetting defeat.

Turek will replace Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, who is retiring this year. His victory ultimately disrupts Republicans’ Senate streak, becoming the state’s first Democrat senator since Tom Harkin retired in 2015.

RELATED: WATCH LIVE: 2026 midterm election results — Nick Freitas, John Doyle, Steve Deace, Glenn Beck

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Iowa resident and BlazeTV host Steve Deace, who followed this race closely, said this about Hinson:

How many conversations [do] you think I’ve ever had with Ashley Hinson? It’s a low number. Like the lowest of them all. Zero.

Somehow, I’ve managed to build the largest media platform ever to come out of the state of Iowa. I happen to have a media platform. [Hinson] wants to run for statewide office, and typically, [politicians] want to pay people like me to get access to the platform. No interest whatsoever.

What do you think about your own base if you don’t want to talk to your own base?

Both candidates on the ticket have notable political experience. Getting her start as a journalist for KCRG-TV in Cedar Rapids, Hinson later went on to serve as an Iowa House representative from 2017 to 2021, and she was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2020.

As for Turek, he has served as a House representative since 2022. Before that, he was a former professional basketball player, as well as a Paralympic medalist.

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Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was voted out of office on Tuesday, losing to Gina Hinojosa — an open-borders Democrat who has championed taxpayer-funded health care for illegal aliens and sanctuary cities in the Lone Star State.

Abbott, who first assumed office in 2015 and led his state through the worst of the Biden border crisis, called the Texas Democratic state representative Tuesday evening to concede the race after trailing her by double digits.

‘You all helped me to be your governor for 12 years.’

With 82% of the votes in, Hinojosa led Abbott 53%-45.7%, according to the Associated Press.

In response to the Abbott campaign characterizing her as a radical, Hinojosa said, “I plan to spend an entire campaign focused on the fact that working people are too broke,” adding that her “pronouns are mom, Texan, and soon-to-be governor.”

Hinojosa — who previously voted against restrictions on sex-rejection surgeries on kids — largely ran on a populist platform, promising to “lower healthcare, grocery, and utility costs, make home ownership a reality, and put $1500 in your pocket.”

RELATED: Paxton swept away by blue wave after most expensive Senate race on record

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Her win constitutes a major upset — not only for Abbott but in a state that hasn’t had a Democratic governor since 1995.

Although the Republican-controlled state legislature can restrict her ability to radically transform Texas, she in turn can torpedo Republican lawmakers’ agenda with vetoes and strategic appointments.

Abbott, whom then-Gov. George W. Bush appointed in 1996 to the Texas Supreme Court, battled the Obama administration as the Lone Star State’s attorney general and battled the Biden administration as its 48th governor.

He told his supporters after conceding the race, “The thing that I’m most proud about is that you all helped me to be your governor for 12 years. Thank you very much.”

The governor also said that he would help his Democratic successor with the transition.

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In a stunning upset, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms defeated Republican billionaire Rick Jackson Tuesday to become the first black female governor in American history and Georgia’s first Democrat governor since 1998.

Bottoms led Jackson 54.2% to 45.8% with about 85% of the expected vote counted, according to NBC News. Though Jackson ran toward the middle, his moderate disposition did nothing to stem the tide against Bottoms.

‘I’m not running to be his favorite governor.’

The last Democrat to win was Roy Barnes, who secured the seat in 1998. Barnes lost his 2002 re-election bid to Sonny Perdue, Georgia’s first Republican governor since Reconstruction ended. Republicans have held the office ever since — until now.

Jackson spent more than $200 million of his own fortune, according to AP. On the campaign trail, Jackson promised to govern like “Trump with a Southern tone” and become the president’s “favorite governor.”

Bottoms turned that line against him.

RELATED: North Carolina extends voting hours in mostly liberal areas, denies extension to some pro-Trump counties

Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images

“I’m not running to be his favorite governor,” Bottoms said during the candidates’ only debate. “I’m running to work on behalf of people like you.”

Bottoms has called for Medicaid expansion, an increase of the state minimum wage to $15 per hour, a pause on data center development, and an end to Flock camera expansion, according to AP.

She also wants to repeal Georgia’s abortion ban, which made abortions after six weeks illegal. She called it “a life and death issue.” It certainly is, though perhaps not in the way she intended.

Bottoms will succeed the term-limited Gov. Brian Kemp (R). She may not have a free hand once in office. Republicans are heavily favored to keep the state Senate, according to AP.

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Darline Graham has lost the U.S. Senate seat long held by her brother in South Carolina.

Graham had been the Republican candidate for only a couple of months after winning a Republican primary runoff following a fast-tracked special election.

‘For the Good of our Nation … I hope Darline does this.’

Democrat Annie Andrews, a pediatrician from Kentucky, ran a tough race against Graham, where the two were neck and neck in polling to the end.

RealClearPolling showed Graham with a +2.7-point advantage just a couple of weeks out from the election. Meanwhile, Blaze News’ Poll Watch has Graham at just +1.9 in the last days before midterms.

In the end, Andrews overcame the deficit and won the seat 50.6% to 47.2% with 93% of the votes counted, according to NBC News.

RELATED: South Carolina Senate poll tracker

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Graham was supported by President Donald Trump before she even decided to run for office, promising to endorse her if she did. Her brother won his primary in June with nearly 57% of the vote.

At the same time, Andrews defeated two Democratic primary competitors with 61.5% of the vote.

“During her visit, I asked Darline, for the Good of our Nation, to run for the U.S. Senate in the Special Republican Primary on Tuesday, August 11, 2026,” Trump said at the time, per The Hill.

“I hope Darline does this, in that there would be nobody better to honor the legacy of her beloved brother, Lindsey,” the president added.

RELATED: Conservatives demand competition — except in their own primaries

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In October, Trump and Graham appeared face-to-face at a rally in Pendleton, South Carolina, where he gave her his full support.

Andrews had previously run in South Carolina for the House of Representatives in 2022, but lost to Rep. Nancy Mace (R).

Andrews has called for the restoration of Roe v. Wade, the expansion of Medicaid and Medicare, and to keep “families together” and ensure “due process” in regard to immigration.

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