AJ.... all the way in Papua New Guinea.... sees reality. A very good summation. 👇👇👇
HERE IS HOW YOU END UP “HOLDING YOUR NOSE” IN NOVEMBER:
STEP 1: A Republican incumbent repeatedly breaks with the voters who elected them.
STEP 2: Conservatives complain online but fail to recruit a serious primary challenger.
STEP 3: Nobody builds the organization, raises the money or gathers the signatures early enough.
STEP 4: The incumbent enters the primary with millions of dollars, party connections, name recognition and years of constituent data.
STEP 5: Most Republican voters ignore the primary because they are waiting for “the important election” in November.
STEP 6: A tiny fraction of the district decides the Republican nominee.
Look at the actual numbers:
MARIA ELVIRA SALAZAR: FL-27
Salazar publicly attacked President Trump’s immigration enforcement, saying it had gone “too far” and was alienating Hispanic voters.
She won the 2026 Republican primary with 28,914 votes against 6,642 for her challenger.
Only 35,556 Republicans participated in that primary.
Compare that with the 329,867 people who voted in the district’s 2024 general election. Republican primary participation was equivalent to only 10.8% of that general-election voting base.
In other words, roughly one voter out of every nine who participated in the previous general election helped decide who would carry the Republican banner into the next one.
BRIAN FITZPATRICK: PA-01
Fitzpatrick has opposed President Trump on major tax legislation, tariffs and war powers. He even stayed away from Trump’s midterm convention while continuing to market himself as one of Washington’s most bipartisan congressmen.
In 2024, Fitzpatrick defeated conservative challenger Mark Houck with 45,052 votes to 28,180.
Only about 73,200 Republicans participated in that primary, compared with 463,432 total voters in the general election - just 15.8% of the November voting base.
Then, after all the complaints about his record, Fitzpatrick faced NO Republican primary challenger in 2026.
No challenger. No real contest. No opportunity to replace him.
ZACH NUNN: IA-03
Nunn recently joined Democrats in voting to restrict President Trump’s war powers in Iran.
Whatever your opinion of that specific vote, conservatives who objected to his record had their opportunity before November.
But Nunn faced NO Republican primary opponent in 2026. He received approximately 48,300 votes while running uncontested.
Compare that with 412,905 candidate votes cast in the district’s 2024 general election. His uncontested primary total was equivalent to only 11.7% of that voting base.
More than 400,000 people participated when the final choice was presented - but nobody even gave Republican voters an alternative when the nominee was being chosen.
DAVID VALADAO: CA-22
Valadao voted to impeach President Trump following January 6 and has continued distancing himself from Trump politically.
Yet in 2026, he was the ONLY Republican running in California’s top-two primary.
Valadao advanced after receiving roughly 32,500 votes. Around 79,800 total votes were cast across every candidate in the primary.
For comparison, 167,507 votes were cast in the district’s 2024 general election. California subsequently redrew the district, so this is not a perfect apples-to-apples comparison - but the underlying failure remains: conservatives did not put another Republican on the primary ballot.
You cannot defeat an incumbent with a candidate who does not exist.
MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS: IA-01
Miller-Meeks also joined Democrats in voting to restrict President Trump’s war powers in Iran.
She defeated MAGA challenger David Pautsch 71.6% to 28.4%.
Approximately 49,200 Republicans participated in that primary. Compare that with 414,078 voters in the district’s 2024 general election - primary participation equivalent to only 11.9% of the November voting base.
But turnout wasn’t the only problem.
Miller-Meeks entered the primary with approximately $4.2 million available. Pautsch had raised around $57,000.
That means the incumbent had roughly 74 times more financial firepower than the MAGA challenger.
Republicans didn’t merely wait until November. They sent their challenger into the primary badly outgunned and then acted surprised when the incumbent won.
STEP 7: The primary ends. The ballot is locked.
STEP 8: November arrives and conservatives suddenly start screaming, “Why are we stuck with another RINO?”
Because you waited until the selection process was over.
By November, the decision is no longer between a MAGA Republican and a RINO. It is between the Republican nominee and a Democrat who could hand the House back to the same people determined to obstruct President Trump for the next two years.
That is when everyone tells you to “hold your nose.”
But you didn’t have to hold your nose.
You CHOSE to - when you ignored candidate recruitment, donated nothing, volunteered nowhere and skipped the primary.
Primaries are where you replace weak Republicans.
Midterms are where you stop Democrats from taking power.
Why scream at the top of your lungs in November when the problem was created months earlier - and you weren’t there to prevent it?