Can Scandals Influence Midterm Elections?

Foreign Policy columnist Julian Zelizer surveys a 2026 midterm season thick with scandal on both sides: Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner's exit amid assault allegations, Rep. Eric Swalwell's resignation, and a string of Republican controversies including Texas candidate Ken Paxton's impeachment and corruption probe, plus resignations or ethics findings against several other House Republicans.

Zelizer asks whether any of this moves votes the way 2006's corruption wave did, when scandal combined with an unpopular war and Hurricane Katrina's fallout to hurt Republicans. The piece frames the current moment as an open question rather than a settled analogy.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.