Dear Editor,

Washington is heading into the 2026 midterms with no margin for error and no time to waste.

The death of Senator Lindsey Graham and the reported hospitalisation of Senator Mitch McConnell have left Senate Republicans with an effective 51-seat majority. In the House, Republicans hold a razor-thin majority that is already paralysed by retirements, absences, and open infighting. At a time when the country is at war, a broken Congress is a national security risk.

For Democrats, this should be straightforward. The conditions are there. This is their election to lose — in both the Senate and the House. In my opinion, the Republicans are exposed on four fronts:

1) The economy: Americans are hurting. Inflation is sticky, recession talk is real, and household budgets are being crushed by food, rent, and fuel costs. Midterms are referendums on the economy, and voters are blaming the party that controls Congress.

2) National security: With Graham — Senate Budget Committee chair — gone, and McConnell — Senate Defense Appropriations chair — reportedly hospitalised, the Senate cannot move funding. In the House, Speaker and leadership cannot keep their caucus united to pass defence, crime, or fentanyl bills. The result: no budget, no border fix, no war funding.

3) Immigration: The border remains a crisis. The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act is dead in the Senate without Graham’s vote and bottled up in House committees because of divisions among Republicans. For the Republican base it’s failure, for independents it’s proof Congress cannot govern.

4) The war in Iran: This is the game-changer. The US is now engaged in a shooting war with Iran. The White House has requested emergency defence funding. But with leadership gaps in the Senate and chaos in the House, that funding is stuck. Congress cannot fund its own war while troops are deployed.

The impact of these issues is significant.

• On the USA: Troops deployed, billions in emergency spending needed, and families worried about escalation. Gas prices are climbing and the federal budget is being torn between war abroad and recession at home because Congress is gridlocked.

• On the world: Allies are questioning US reliability. Adversaries are testing US resolve. American leadership looks paralysed because both chambers cannot act.

• On the Caribbean: We are not spectators. A war in Iran means higher oil and shipping costs that hit Jamaica’s fuel bill, electricity, and food imports immediately. Tourism from a nervous US market softens. Remittances get squeezed if the US economy tips into recession. US attention and aid to Caricom on climate, security, and trade will be deprioritised. When America goes to war and Congress goes broke at the same time, the Caribbean pays the price.

With the economy in trouble, a war abroad, borders insecure, and a Congress in both chambers too broken to lead, Democrats need just three seats to take the Senate, and they need a small pickup to take the House. The issues, the energy, and the timing are all with them.

The only way they lose is by taking it for granted. They must run on costs, competence, and a plan to end the war and fix the economy. If they do this, the Democrats can take back Congress in November.

For Jamaica and the Caribbean, the next Congress will decide how much America has left for its neighbours while fighting abroad. That makes this vote matter far beyond US borders.

This is the Democrats’s election to lose, and they must not.

Brian E Richards

Security executive