Republican campaign ads are relying more heavily on former president Joe Biden than on progressive figures such as Zohran Mamdani, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders as the party searches for a clear villain in the 2026 midterm elections.
A review of hundreds of adverts in battleground House and Senate races found that Biden was the Democrat most frequently named by Republicans this cycle, appearing across dozens of contests. Progressive politicians have featured far less prominently in paid media than some Republicans had expected.
The approach reflects a broader difficulty for Republicans as they seek to persuade voters that Democratic control of Congress would be worse than retaining a Republican majority. Attacks on older figures such as Biden and former House speaker Nancy Pelosi no longer have the impact they once did, while emerging democratic socialists have proved more complicated targets.
Biden was repeatedly blamed by Republicans for inflation and the cost of living during the 2022 and 2024 election cycles. But he has become a less effective target since leaving office and largely disappearing from the political spotlight.
At the same stage of the 2024 campaign, Biden had been mentioned in more than 1,000 Republican House and Senate adverts, according to AdImpact data. President Donald Trump has continued to blame his predecessor for high prices and other problems facing his administration, although polling now suggests voters are more likely to hold Trump responsible for the state of the economy.
Even Kamala Harris, the Democrats’ 2024 presidential nominee, has been mentioned less often in Republican advertising this cycle than Biden. Among possible future Democratic presidential contenders, only California governor Gavin Newsom and Ms Ocasio-Cortez have appeared as Republican foils, and neither has featured as frequently as Biden or Ms Harris.
Republican ads struggle to replace Pelosi
Ms Pelosi, who stepped down from Democratic leadership at the beginning of 2023, was invoked in more than 80 Republican adverts during the 2022 campaign, when she was still House speaker. This year she has appeared only a handful of times, while House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries has not featured in any battleground television adverts reviewed.
Doug Heye, a long-serving Republican operative, said no figure was likely to match the role Ms Pelosi played for his party during the 2010 midterms. He pointed to the political significance of the Obamacare vote and recalled still having “Fire Pelosi” campaign merchandise from the Republican rout that year.
Republicans have instead frequently attacked Democratic candidates by associating them with socialism or communism, rather than relying on a single individual. Such adverts have appeared in dozens of competitive House races and in nearly every major Senate contest.
A national, 20-million-dollar campaign-style advertising operation funded by the Department of Homeland Security was launched this week featuring Mr Trump criticising “communism, socialism, and Marxism”.
Ms Ocasio-Cortez and Mr Sanders have been used together in Republican attacks, particularly where Democrats have links to the party’s progressive wing. In Michigan’s closely fought Senate race, Abdul El-Sayed has been targeted over endorsements from both politicians.
One advert from the conservative Sentinel Action Fund said: “El Sayed is endorsed by extreme liberals like AOC, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders.” In Texas, an advert from governor Greg Abbott and the state’s Republican comptroller pledged to oppose Ms Ocasio-Cortez, Mr Sanders and the “new radical left”, despite neither politician endorsing either race.
Mamdani has also proved an awkward target. Republicans had hoped to use New York City’s mayor as a national symbol of the left after his election last year, but his first year in office has improved his standing with voters, complicating attempts to portray him as a liability for Democrats.
Mr Trump’s continued public support for Mr Mamdani has made that strategy still more difficult. Last week, the president said he hoped the mayor would “be a great mayor”.
Republicans have nevertheless tried to link Democratic candidates to Mr Mamdani in several competitive New York congressional districts. In the 21st District, which Mr Trump won by more than 20 points two years ago, Democratic dairy farmer Blake Gendebien accused his Republican opponent of pretending to be running against the mayor, saying: “That’s a load of bull.”
Matt Towery, a veteran Republican pollster, said the word “socialist” no longer automatically provoked the response Republicans expected. “I don’t think just calling a candidate ‘socialist’ works that well for Republicans, particularly this late in the game,” he said.
Mr Towery said attacks could be effective if Republicans focused on specific elements of the Democratic Socialists of America’s platform and convincingly linked them to an opponent. But, he added, Republicans “just assume people have a bad reaction to the term socialist, and the term doesn’t elicit the same reaction it used to”.
Democrats, meanwhile, have a more obvious target in Mr Trump, whose approval rating is in the mid-thirties amid continued high prices and the war in Iran.
