The 2026 midterm election cycle has been full of electoral blunders by both parties. Many candidates whose scandals or extreme politics have turned easy wins into tough fights. Here are eight of the worst.

Ken Paxton, Republican for US Senate in Texas

By far the biggest self-inflicted wound of the 2026 midterms.

Even with President Donald Trump as unpopular as he is, a blue Texas shouldn't be a realistic possibility. Yet Ken Paxton, the state's attorney general – impeached over bribery allegations and acquitted, dogged for a decade by a securities fraud case dropped only after he paid restitution and accused of adultery by his wife – trails slightly in the polls.

Republicans shot themselves in the foot when they swapped Sen. John Cornyn, an ordinary Republican widely seen as the far stronger candidate, for the scandal-ridden Paxton. Now they're spending more than twice as much as Democrats just to keep the race afloat.

Abdul El-Sayed, Democrat for US Senate in Michigan

Abdul El-Sayed is Democrats' biggest mistake.

Michigan hasn't elected a Republican senator since 1994, and in an election this favorable, the seat should have been an easy win. But Democrats passed over more moderate options for a progressive who supports Medicare for All, abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and cutting off military aid to Israel, and who've campaigned with Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who once said America deserved 9/11. That puts him out of step with Michigan voters.

Former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers lost the Senate seat to Elissa Slotkin by three-tenths of a point in 2024, a year Trump carried........

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