Just a day after Republican Senate candidates underperformed all expectations and lost by wide margins even in GOP strongholds that hadn’t elected a Democrat in decades, the National Republican Senatorial Committee was hitting up donors with scarcely a mention of its historic failure.
The NRSC has been chaired by South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott for the 2026 cycle. Two days before the election, Scott told Meet the Press that Republicans "absolutely, positively, unequivocally" would maintain their Senate majority, saying, "We are in a great position to do so."
He was absolutely, positively, unequivocally wrong, but that didn't stop the NRSC from asking its supporters for more money while the losses were still being counted.
“We know you’re SICK of election talk, but Democrats are looking toward 2028,” reads an email sent Wednesday afternoon.
Anyone enticed to follow a link in the email would reach a fundraising page that warns of a “socialist takeover” and says Democrats are “marching forward into 2028 with the most radical candidate possible.”
The closest that the fundraising pitch comes to acknowledging the NRSC’s catastrophic performance in this week’s elections is a line saying that Democrats “dominated Republicans in fundraising during the midterms, and now they’re hoping to get a head start in the race for the White House.”
The email says that Republican leadership “needs to know” who readers think will be the next Democratic presidential nominee—a meaningless survey question that seems unlikely to convince election-depleted donors to send good money after bad to the NRSC.
While House Speaker Mike Johnson has announced that he will drop his party leadership position in the wake of the GOP’s massive losses in the House, Senate Majority Leader John Thune is hoping to keep his leadership post and serve as Minority Leader of next year’s much smaller Senate GOP caucus.