The polling keeps rolling in and it’s only bad news for the current administration: “red” states like Iowa and Kansas are in play. Democrats are winning the popular ballot by 14 points. Republicans are giving up on Ken Paxton. People are saying “Blorida” again. Trump might have gained office because he promised he’d make America great again, but America sure doesn’t seem too happy with his performance heading into the midterms.
The country is clearly expecting a wave election, but we’re setting ourselves up for disappointment if we bring in more of the same old voices. When core members of the establishment Democratic party argue that we should let Trump “save face” rather than hold him accountable, you know that the entire system needs a reset. Which is why it’s time to talk about one of our most important principles when starting Courage for Democracy: there is no reason not to contest all 435 House districts.
In the 2024 election, 17 House seats went totally unopposed by Democrats–in a Congress where the majority margin is only ever a few seats. This year, C4D is running candidates in some of the reddest (and the bluest) districts, because the people who live there deserve to vote for someone who truly represents them.
What we’re seeing is that people all over the country are so disillusioned, by everything from $10 diesel and unwanted wars to whatever this “Super Intelligence” thing is, that they’re actually open to change, even in the reddest counties–but they want people who will fight.
When voters look at the leadership of both parties, they see sycophants. With the exception of Thomas Massie, Republicans have been moving in lockstep with Trump’s worst policies. The opposition party is hardly better, sitting on their hands or happily meeting with Jared Kushner to hash out how to share power after the midterms. With choices like these, why bother to show up to the polls at all? The largest voting block in America is actually people who don’t show up to vote.
Political parties see skewed, depressed-voter-turnout states like Tennessee as a lock for one party or another. Courage for Democracy sees them as an opportunity.
What we’re seeing on the ground is: candidates in R+5 districts (even up to R+20 at this point, really) have an amazing opportunity to stand up and say, this just isn’t right. They have the chance to draw a line, have a backbone, and say: nothing is going to change until we get this treasonous man out of office.
There’s a saying we like to go back to around here: “whether you believe you can or you can’t, you’re right.” A lot of people in politics don’t think good things are possible, so they treat them like they’re not. That’s how they become impossible. The opposite is true, too—good things ARE possible, provided you show up and work for them.
We aren’t sitting down and coasting for the next two years. Courage for Democracy had spectacularly good timing in the 2026 cycle, recruiting hundreds of candidates in the primary and setting up a real challenge for the establishment in a year of unprecedented chaos. We are the change we need to see.
Some of these Courage Candidates are not who you expect to see in Congress next year. They don’t necessarily have a lot of money coming in, or media attention yet. That isn’t a good reason to give up, though. Organizations interested in picking winners might say that these races “aren’t viable,” but we know that good things come to people who work for them. What’s been interesting to watch over this year is how drastically the window of viability has shifted, with some candidates that were written off months ago suddenly coming within a few points in polling.
When people ask if a candidate is viable, they’re often looking for a big campaign budget, major backers, media attention. These can be signals that a race is taking off, but without quality candidates already in the race, they’re just noise. Courage for Democracy supported candidates like Elizabeth Lee (AZ-05) and Ashley Bell (NC-10) before they were in the spotlight. As people suddenly start to consider those “impossible” R+15 seats as in-play, we think we’ll see a lot of newly-crowned stars coming to the forefront.
The candidates breaking through right now are the ones who are standing up, calling for real change, and being willing to put their name and reputations on the line to say what we all know. None of these things happening at the federal level are right, and they need to change. And, that there’s no real change until Donald Trump is no longer the President, so we might as well start on that right now. Do you really want to tread water, losing popularity and interest, for the next two years? No. This is the time to uphold those oaths of office you’ll be taking, and do what you can to remove him.
And so, even as the ballots are being printed, this is our call. It’s not enough to just be standing there, keeping the seat warm for 2028. (And frankly, this attitude makes it even more likely that the candidates who do want to make a difference will never get that chance.) To those candidates who are entering the big spotlight for the first time, who suddenly have a fighting chance: hold on to your courage. Think about the values that led you to this moment, that made you believe you could contest a seat where no one even bothered running last time, and know that is what will make you stand out on the ballot.
For everyone at home, there are a lot of ways to show up and fight right now for you, too. Donating, door-knocking, voting, organizing, talking to your friends and family: these are the whole ballgame. Community enthusiasm is real, it’s contagious, and it’s the first step to a really viable wave election. We encourage you to find your local courage candidate, the one you thought didn’t have a chance, and start working to make that chance a possibility–and then a reality.
Good things are possible, but they don’t happen on their own, or in a vacuum. They happen because hundreds, then thousands, and finally millions of people come together to force the issue, to make sure people are paying attention, and then taking advantage of whatever chance they find. In short, good things happen because we fight for them. Thanks for getting in the fight with us.
