Coden, Alabama, USA - June 9, 2024: A Trump flag flies at a pier on Coden Beach in Coden, Alabama. The flag includes the slogan, “Jesus is my savior. Trump is my President.” (Photo credit: Carmen K. Sisson / Shutterstock)
Republicans' 2026 midterm vulnerability is coming into sharper focus, according to a "CNN News Central" discussion featuring Andrew Desiderio, senior congressional reporter for Punchbowl News, and Puck's chief Washington correspondent Leigh Ann Caldwell.
The conversation opened around a phrase from Axios' Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen, who argued Monday that President Donald Trump's "vincibility is being exposed" as courts restrain him, more GOP candidates publicly break with him, and the broader public turns against him.
"Democrats are reallyskeptical of being confident andare really worried about beingoverconfident," Caldwell said. "But over the pastcouple of weeks, Democrats havebeen increasingly rosy aboutthe midterm outlook,the fact that some of theseinternal polls in districts,including Shomari Figures in Alabama, which is a Trump plus-14 or [plus-]15 district, where even in Florida, Congressman [Darren] Soto, whois in a Trump plus-18 districtright now because ofredistricting in both of thosegerrymandered seats thatthey say that things are justlooking incredibly good."
"Now,they're not saying that thosetwo Democrats are necessarily going to win those seats becausethey expect polls to tighten," Caldwell added. "They expect money to be put into these races, but Democrats are increasinglyoptimistic, and the DCCC is ... going in with money in that Alabama district, which is asign that there is someconfidence that maybe they couldpull it out actually. So thepolitical environment is quitegood for Democrats at thisstage, but they do caution thatit needs to be this good, also,in early October, mid-October,and then they'll feel much more, much better about themidterms."