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James Gale is a middle school teacher and a musician who lives in Bowdoinham.
This column is intended for anyone considering not voting for Troy Jackson for the U.S. Senate, or for Matt Dunlap for U.S. representative for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District.
Once upon a time, our two-party system categorized ideologies into liberals (typically Democrats) and conservatives (typically Republicans). Liberals tended to lean toward policies that emphasized equality, while conservatives supported policies that focused on family values and lower taxes. Liberals supported government regulation and funding of programs to address education and poverty, while conservatives aimed to reduce the size of government and limit government spending. Liberals supported stricter regulations on business, while conservatives supported greater freedom to encourage healthy competition. There were other distinctions that arose, including disputes on 2nd Amendment rights and gun control, as well as marriage equality and abortion.
While those distinctions still exist today in theory, in reality our two-party system has been impacted by something much darker as of late. In particular, I see the Republican Party of today has been hijacked by an administration that does not limit government spending, does not support freedom or healthy competition, and it does not support family values.
I realize a plea from a self-described liberal like me to Republican readers might feel futile and strange, but I ask you to look past our ideological differences and consider what is at stake today. I understand that a midterm defeat for Republicans threatens a major setback for the party, but I propose that the alternative is much worse.
A midterm defeat for the Republican Party in 2026 may seem like a blow to the party, but in actuality, it is a blow to the two-party system. Yes, if the Democrats win big across the country in November, as many pundits predict, there will likely be upheaval, impeachments, even prosecutions. This will mean the Republican Party will have to regroup, revisit its platform, its values, and who its leaders of the future are.
But if that outcome does not occur, and Democrats do not flip the U.S. House and/or the U.S. Senate, our two-party system, and many freedoms along with it, will likely crumble in favor of not just an oligarchy that rewards the super-rich, but a government that hides corruption and crime at the grossest level, that refuses to act to stop flagrant crimes against humanity in Ukraine and Palestine, that forges ahead on a war in Iran that causes nothing but death, destruction, and global insecurities, and that protects individuals guilty of what many to be the worst crimes on earth: violent abuse of children.
When you vote for a Republican in the 2026 midterm election, I believe you are voting for candidates who support this current mutated and heartless administration, and in doing so, support what I consider the undoing of American democracy.
This is not just a liberal talking point; it is a moral emergency. Politics are not what they used to be. This midterm election is not like other midterm elections. You may disagree with Troy Jackson’s progressive ideology or Matt Dunlap’s politics. But I believe these two candidates will not frivolously vote to send your children into a dangerous and foolish war with no exit strategy. I believe these two candidates will not sacrifice freedoms of expression, of the press, of competition. And I think these two candidates will never look the other way when any powerful politician, Democrat or Republican, commits a war crime or a felony, whether the crime is abusing powers of finance or physically abusing other human beings.
Please think long and hard before you vote for any Republican this November, for the sake of both parties, and for the sake of the future of the United States of America. Consider crossing party lines instead, and vote for Troy Jackson for U.S. Senate, and for Matt Dunlap for U.S. representative if you live in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District.