2026 Election and Reflection: Lessons and the Rise of Socialism

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Elections matter, but what they mean is open to interpretation. Winners overrate their own ideas and skills while losers usually find someone or something else to blame.

Perspective matters, but it is hard to keep when one is emotionally invested in the result. Let’s start with the historic nature of the outcome, but let’s start with the historical nature of the outcome. Democrats won in places where, by most accounts, they should not have: South Carolina, Texas, Iowa and Kansas each elected at least one Democrat statewide. Democrats have had their eye on Texas for 40 years. Some will credit blue-state transplants, but the early data does not support that claim. This was most likely a standard pocketbook election with a very unpopular president. Only time will tell if it is a trend. Massachusetts and California have elected Republicans statewide in recent memory and then returned to form, so no one should get “too excited…yet.”

As a barometer for 2028, the 13-point Democratic win in the popular vote is hard to ignore. This was not a squeaker decided by a few shifting independents; it was a thorough repudiation of Trump Republicans. In 2024, almost every district shifted red. Elections like this swing hard and fast, so the lessons for 2028 are real but limited. Still, there are signs of longer-term concerns.

So, What Did We Learn?

Both parties are still deeply unpopular. Democrats would be wise to see this as an anti-Republican vote, not a pro-Democratic one. Polling through Election Day showed the Democratic Party more popular than only one figure: President Trump, with a majority still viewing the party unfavorably. A pox on both your houses: where Republicans are today, Democrats have been and could be again in two years.

Whether that happens is hard to say, but the campaign trail was full of affordability talk, while election night was full of impeachment and investigation talk. Voters rarely reward that kind of pivot. Trump campaigned on America First, then started a war with Iran that was poorly explained and struck many as unnecessary, and he paid the price. Democrats who ran on the cost of living and then devote their time to impeaching cabinet secretaries will face an equally irate electorate.

Stop the gerrymandering. Democrats largely failed at gerrymandering and Republicans largely succeeded, yet it made no difference and may even have backfired. Both parties should draw simple, natural districts. Again, a pox on both your houses: draw simple, natural districts.

The Rise of Socialism

The most disturbing outcome of 2026, however, is the continued rise of socialism. Outright socialists and strong sympathizers won across the country, and the Democratic Socialists of America celebrated a record number of its endorsed candidates winning House seats. Now, the bar was low: depending on the final count, six to eight avowed socialists will sit in the House, with a few sympathizers in the Senate.

Let me be perfectly clear. Socialism cannot be reconciled with Christianity, Judeo-Christian civilization, or the U.S. Constitution. Any claim otherwise does violence to Scripture, the Constitution, and socialism itself. Its first tenet is the abolition of private property: not just your business and your home, but, in its logical extension, the state’s claim over your labor and its fruits. Calling it “democratic socialism” softens the sound, but socialism is the noun; the method is secondary. Socialism and human flourishing cannot coexist.

These candidates won because we no longer teach respect for the uniqueness of the American experiment, either in our schools or to immigrants. There is much ruin in a nation, and freedom is always a generation away from being lost. America is not an accident. It is prosperous and powerful because we chose to value freedom first, on the moral foundation that rights come from God and governments are servants, not masters. Students are not learning this, and neither are some immigrants, who may come to see government as a tool for taking from those they dislike and giving to themselves. Neither are many immigrants, who come to see government as a tool for taking from those they dislike and giving to themselves.

This kind of politics, driven by greed and envy, is turning a socialist splinter into a plank of the left. The left will never admit it, and may not even believe it, but it is moving away from the protections of republicanism (the form of government, not the party). It is moving toward direct democracy, what some call mob rule, where the majority is all that matters and a socialist agenda can be imposed.

Elections come and go, but trends endure. From New York to Seattle to Denver, socialism is on the rise, and that is the most significant outcome of this election.