Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) told Republicans their November problem is not a lack of targets but the danger of voters staying home while Democrats put forward candidates he called “dangerous, radical and weird.”
The National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman used Fox News’ “Hannity” on Friday to frame the closing stretch of the midterms around Democratic nominees’ past statements, arguing that the GOP has to make those remarks impossible for voters to miss.
When Sean Hannity asked whether GOP surveys were registering how far left Republicans believe those candidates are, Scott pointed to a series of close contests.
“Our polling shows that we have races that are toss-ups,” Scott said. “The one thing we have to do is continue to put lead on the target.”
Scott argued that Democratic Senate candidates are trying to appear less extreme as ballots approach, while Republicans have to keep tying them to their own records.
Are the polls capturing just how extreme these Democrats are? No!
These Democrats are being exposed, and voters are taking note.
Republicans are engaging, voting, and donating.
It’s the combination we need to win. pic.twitter.com/CSAZbXABgj
— Tim Scott (@votetimscott) October 3, 2026
“We’re talking about dangerous, radical and weird candidates all across the map for the Senate Democrats,” Scott warned. “If we expose their lies and let the American people know exactly who they are, we will win.”
Scott began with James Talarico, deriding him as “six gender James” and “non-binary God Talarico” before turning the attack toward capitalism.
“He believes that free markets and capitalism is racist,” Scott argued. “I can’t understand where he’s coming from. My life was changed because of free markets and capitalism.”
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Abdul El-Sayed drew Scott’s next round of criticism, with the senator tying the Michigan Democrat to positions on ICE, law enforcement, prisons and football.
Scott said El-Sayed backs abolishing ICE and defunding police and prisons, then ridiculed the notion that football is racist.
“We love our football,” Scott told Hannity.
Scott told viewers that Democrats in competitive races are trying to sound less ideological now than they did earlier in the campaign.
“These are wolves in sheep clothes,” Scott charged. “They want to run to the center, but everything you watch they’ve ever said is lunatics talking like lunatics.”
The South Carolina Republican also brought up Troy Jackson in Maine and Chris Pappas in New Hampshire, accusing Pappas of repeatedly favoring tax increases.
“America, believe the words that these Democrats said, these socialists said, frankly, communists said before they were at the ballot box,” Scott urged. “We’ve got to believe them, expose them, and defeat them.”
Scott framed the party fight as one between Republicans who love the country and Democrats he accused of wanting to transform it.
“Time and time again, Democrat after Democrat, the most dangerous, radical group of people who want to change America, not love the America that you and I love, Sean,” Scott declared.
House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) carried the same turnout warning into House races, telling Hannity that about 25 to 30 seats are commanding Republican attention.
Scalise said he had recently visited eight of those districts during a swing through the Northeast, including New York, and believed voters were starting to see what he called the divide between “common sense and crazy.”
He accused Democratic primary voters of pushing aside ordinary liberals in favor of candidates who support open borders and ending private insurance.
“The Democrats have nominated not just liberals, they’re beating liberals in primaries with socialists,” Scalise said.
In Pennsylvania, Scalise said he joined Barb Bresnahan in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre and used that race to attack her opponent’s policing views.
The Louisiana Republican said the Democrat wanted officers disarmed in addition to defunded.
“Not the criminals’ guns, Sean, but the cops wouldn’t have guns, but the criminals would,” Scalise explained.
Scalise said Republican voters should treat every race as if their own ballot could decide whether candidates he described as socialists gain power.
“Everybody’s got to vote, like your vote will make the determination on whether we have a socialist country or not, because if people show up, we will win,” Scalise warned. “If people stay home, these crazy socialists can win.”
Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) went further in a Fox News interview, saying the left-wing candidates Republicans are attacking should not be softened with the phrase “democratic socialists.”
“You got to be kidding,” Emmer said. “They want us to call them democratic socialists, there’s nothing democratic about these people.”
Emmer zeroed in on El-Sayed, citing the Michigan Senate candidate’s remarks about NFL football and his support for Hasan Piker, whom Emmer painted as hostile to the United States.
“These people are anti-American more than anything else,” Emmer argued.
Emmer contrasted that with Paul LePage, describing him as a candidate who loves his state, loves the country and believes in “the promise of America.”
“We should be out there celebrating it and defending it, not tearing it down,” Emmer said. “That’s why you vote for Paul.”
President Donald Trump made his own name part of the midterm argument at a Durant, Oklahoma, rally, asking supporters to behave as though he were personally on the ballot.
“Pretend I’m running, please, because I am on the ballot. And if we don’t win, they’ll end up impeaching me,” Trump said.
Trump warned the crowd that Democrats would “ruin our nation” if they regained power.
Trump was impeached by the House in 2019 and 2021 and acquitted by the Senate both times. Last month, the House tabled an impeachment resolution sponsored by outgoing Rep. Al Green (D-TX).
On MS NOW’s “Deadline,” Al Sharpton urged Democrats not to shrink from Trump, saying the president was showing “real signs of instability.”
Sharpton invoked Biden’s 2020 victory and argued that Democrats had no reason to fear a politician they had already defeated.
“You’ve got to wonder if he’s losing it,” Sharpton said of Trump’s TIME Magazine interview. “I mean, it doesn’t even make sense what he’s saying.”
Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), who served as White House chief of staff, warned Democrats against answering a House victory with another impeachment fight.
During an appearance on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Emanuel said Democrats should focus on ethics reform instead.
“Short answer: No, because it’s not going anywhere, and it’s going to be a food fight, and it’s just going to be we return to the politics of fighting,” Emanuel said.
“You’re never going to get an impeachment,” Emanuel added. “Then if you do that, you just basically prove all Washington is what the American people think. It’s Disneyland on the Potomac. Deliver the change. Deliver a comprehensive ethics package that uses the investigations to then deliver change.”
