NEWT GINGRICH: Republicans can win the 2026 midterms — if they follow the plan

They can expand the House majority, win Senate races, strengthen Republican governors and state legislators, and build a much broader national majority.

But victory will not happen automatically.

REPUBLICANS NEED A REAGAN-STYLE VISION TO WIN THE BATTLE OVER AMERICA'S FUTURE

Republicans have a bad habit of assuming that if Democrats are sufficiently unpopular, voters will simply turn to us. History does not work that way. Elections are won by parties that understand the choice, define the choice, and relentlessly communicate the choice. That is why I developed a five-part series on How to Win 2026.

It is not intended simply as political commentary. It is a practical framework for Republican candidates, campaign staffs, activists, donors, and voters who want to understand what must be done between now and Election Day.

The first requirement is strategic clarity.

There are always two political realities. One is the reality described every day by the Washington establishment, the national news media, consultants, and conventional polling. The other is the deeper reality of what Americans actually believe and how they will behave when presented with a clear choice.

Republicans must operate in the second reality.

The great lesson of successful campaigns — from Ronald Reagan to the Contract with America to President Donald Trump — is simple: Win the argument, then win the vote (to borrow a phrase from British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher).

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The second part of the plan is to make Democrats explain their own party.

The Democratic Party is being steadily pulled toward a big government socialist ideology which is far more radical than most Americans understand.

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Republicans should not exaggerate. They do not need to.

Use Democrats’ own words. Use their votes. Use their proposals. Show voters what leading Democrats are actually saying about immigration, policing, government spending, taxation, energy, healthcare, and the role of government.

Then ask a simple question: Is this really what you want for America?

The third part is to deal directly with the issues which affect people’s lives every day.

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Affordability is real. Families feel it every time they go to the grocery store, pay rent, buy a house, visit a doctor, or fill up their car.

Republicans must describe the progress they’ve made to lower costs, grow the economy, create better-paying jobs, and increase take-home pay. They must also talk about the things they’ve done which will help the economy in the future but need a little time to make an impact (such as attracting new manufacturing to the U.S.). Then of course, they must explain what still needs to be done – and articulate their plan to do them.

At the same time, we must communicate a serious strategy for dealing with Iran and the growing national security challenges facing the United States.

You do not win elections by avoiding difficult issues. You win by solving them.

The fourth part of the plan may be the most important.

Republicans should become the American Party.

This does not mean creating a new party. It means identifying the issues on which 70 percent, 80 percent, and even 90 percent of Americans already agree — and making those issues central to the campaign.

There are enormous majorities for common-sense positions on border security, voter identification, lower taxes, health care transparency, government accountability, and other reforms.

Why would Republicans allow themselves to be trapped inside a 50-50 political system when they can campaign on 70-30 issues?

The fifth part is a positive vision for a healthier America.

Healthcare gets its own section, because it is a matter of life and death for every American and makes up roughly one-fifth of the economy. The current health system is too expensive, too bureaucratic, and too often designed around institutions rather than patients.

Republicans should champion price transparency, greater choice, stronger rural health care, direct primary care, new medical technologies, and aggressive efforts to eliminate fraud and waste from Medicare and Medicaid.

This is not simply a health care agenda. It is an opportunity to improve the lives of every American family.

Taken together, these five parts form a roadmap for victory.

Republican candidates should study it.

Campaign managers should build messages around it.

Activists should share it.

Voters should use it to hold candidates accountable.

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The choice in 2026 can be made remarkably clear: big-government socialism or free enterprise; higher costs or greater prosperity; ideological extremism or American common sense; bureaucratic healthcare or a healthier America.

Republicans can win this argument.

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If they win the argument, they can win the election. The plan is here.

Now they must use it.

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Newt Gingrich was Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995-1999 and a candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. He is chairman of Gingrich 360.