Fox News chief political analyst Brit Hume warned that Republicans could lose races nobody thought were close in the midterms on Nov. 3, 2026.
Hume, 83, delivered that assessment on Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier,” with the election less than three weeks away and his own network’s new poll on the screen. Republicans are far behind on the issues voters rank first, he said. The comparison he reached for was 1994, when an unpopular then-President Bill Clinton toured the country and Republicans captured both houses of Congress for the first time in four decades.
“The Republicans have to worry that something like that might happen to them in this race, where not only do they lose the close ones but they lose a lot that weren’t even thought to be close, and you get a big washout,” Hume said.
“I’m not saying it’s gonna happen, but I think it could happen,” he said.
When Clinton Toured and Lost Congress
Hume covered the Clinton White House as a reporter, and he raised the specter of 1994 earlier in the broadcast, before the discussion turned to the new numbers. That election was 32 years ago. President Donald Trump, 80, is out on the road now the way Clinton was then.
Trump has insisted that voters treat the midterms as though his own name were on the ballot. Hume said that approach makes sense for driving Republican turnout. It does less for everyone else on the ballot, he said, given where the president’s numbers sit.
Democrats Ahead 57 to 41 on Inflation
The figures Hume was working from came out of a new Fox News poll, and they run one direction. Democrats lead Republicans on foreign policy, 54 to 45 percent. On gas prices, Democrats lead 55 to 43 percent. On inflation, it is 57 to 41 percent.
Hume called that trio the biggest issues of the campaign. Baier noted that Democrats have taken the lead in areas where Republicans used to hold the edge, foreign policy above all. The survey was the network’s own.
A 36 Percent Approval Rating
Then Hume turned to the president himself. Trump’s support among Republicans has slipped since Election Day, he said, pointing to the polling now available. The president’s approval rating stands at 36 percent, with 64 percent disapproving. That 36 percent, Hume said, may be close to all the vote Trump can drive to the polls.
“That is really bad at this stage when he’s out there front and center,” Hume said.
Trump’s standing, he said, may lead some people to wonder whether he should be the face of the campaign at all. The president has not scaled back. He has kept himself at the center of it.
Republicans are clinging to a narrow House majority. Fox News’ own power rankings now project Democrats taking the House back, with the Senate also up for grabs.
Trump has hit the midterm trail, with a campaign blitz aimed at key states as the election nears. In Oregon, the governor’s race has tightened, with Republicans eyeing a major upset.
Hume did not call the race over. Republicans are in a tough spot, he said. “They may be able to overcome it, but it won’t be easy,” Hume said.