Public disputes concerning the 2026 U.S. midterm election cycle, including campaigns, candidates, conventions, advertising, endorsements, and election-related policy promises.
At an Atlanta reelection rally, Senator Jon Ossoff said President Donald Trump did not want to do the work of the presidency and instead wanted to build a ballroom and “travel with Natalie” on a Qatari aircraft. Trump allies accused Ossoff of misogyny and of implying an affair with White House aide Natalie Harp. Ossoff did not apologize and said senior White House aides are powerful taxpayer-paid public officials whose influence is fair to scrutinize.
At an August 11 Savannah campaign event, Mike Collins said the federal government has a liability when it harms someone after a pardoned January 6 defendant asked about compensation for people he said were targeted by a weaponized political system. Jon Ossoff said the answer backed taxpayer-funded payments to violent January 6 participants; the Collins campaign said it did not back automatic or blanket payouts for people prosecuted for January 6.
Jon Ossoff’s campaign ran an ad using Mike Collins’s words “get off of Social Security, get back into the workforce” to say Collins wanted to push beneficiaries off Social Security. Collins’s campaign said he misspoke and meant Medicaid; Ossoff’s campaign said the ad fairly reflected Collins’s support for pressuring beneficiaries into work. The full radio interview contains the surrounding discussion of tax cuts, Medicaid, Social Security, and work incentives.
Hasan Piker affirmed a hypothetical preference for Hamas over Israel through lesser-evil reasoning. Jon Favreau disputed the moral comparison, while the ADL cited it as whitewashing terrorism. Piker later acknowledged Hamas war crimes and denied endorsing its domestic policies, while maintaining that Israeli occupation was the overriding concern.
Role at the time: Libertarian commentator, on her own X account
Mixed or conditional
Responding to
Trump’s $5,000 election-contingent pledge amounts to bribing people to vote Republican, according to Sam Stein.
"Trump’s bribe is more explicit, but it’s not all that different."
Why we used this label
Combines a negative characterization with a materially different comparison that rejects treating the pledge as fundamentally exceptional. It is not support for the policy.
Abdul El-Sayed's cycle of violence framing after the Temple Israel attack
"Every constituency must occasionally remind its party that support is earned, not owed."
Why we used this label
The campaign conditions political support on stated commitments. This is one collective position, not a separate condemnation attributed to every signatory.
Role at the time: United States representative, Meet the Press interview
Mixed or conditional
Responding to
Hasan Piker’s “Hamas over Israel” comparison
"I think all of that is an irrelevant distraction."
Why we used this label
His answer minimizes the electoral focus on Piker but contains an explicit condemnation of Hamas, so it is not a Hamas endorsement or a refusal to answer.
Ossoff’s remark was sexist and misogynistic because it reduced a female White House aide’s professional role to a sexual implication.
"I thought that the attack was tough, fair, pointed. I thought the ‘with Natalie’ part was gratuitous and unnecessary and distracted and detracted from the attack."
Why we used this label
Expressly splits approval of the political argument from disapproval of the personal phrasing.
Role at the time: Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Georgia
Mixed or conditional
Responding to
Did Mike Collins support compensation for January 6 defendants?
"“A lot of things have been politicized and weaponized. And when the federal government harms you, then yes, they have a liability to you. That’s easy, yes sir.”"
Why we used this label
Collins’s answer is conditional on government harm and responds to a question broader than January 6 defendants, but the question was posed by a pardoned January 6 defendant who explicitly included January 6 participants.
Bernie Moreno is a Republican U.S. senator representing Ohio, serving in the Senate since 2025. Before entering elected office, he operated automobile dealerships in Ohio and co-founded CHAMP Titles, a company that develops digital vehicle-title systems.
Catherine Rampell is an economics journalist and commentator, economics editor at The Bulwark, and an anchor at MS NOW. Her work focuses on economics, politics, public policy, and immigration. She previously wrote an opinion column for The Washington Post and reported for The New York Times and PBS NewsHour.
Sam Stein is a political journalist and managing editor at The Bulwark. He previously served as politics editor at The Daily Beast and oversaw White House and campaign reporting at Politico, after beginning his journalism career at HuffPost.
Marc Goldwein is senior vice president and senior policy director at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, where his work focuses on fiscal policy and the federal budget. He also teaches economics at Johns Hopkins University and the University of California's Washington program.
Sarah McBride is a Democratic U.S. representative for Delaware. She previously served in the Delaware Senate and worked as a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign. Her legislative work has included paid family leave, health care, and worker protections.
