DON’T GET COCKY: Democrats’ 2026 Problems Have Already Started.

Democrat Gary Peters won’t seek re-election in 2026, the two-term Michigan senator said Tuesday, complicating Democrats’ path to reclaiming a majority in the chamber.

“At this point in my life, I have been able to write many different chapters, and I look forward to the new ones with both anticipation and excitement,” Peters said in a video message. He cited the birth of his grandson as a reason for stepping away from Congress.

Peters’s announcement comes after a bruising 2024 election for Democrats in which they failed to win back the House and lost control of the Senate and the White House. Republicans now have a 53-47 Senate majority, and Democrats were hoping to claw back seats in 2026 in competitive states such as North Carolina and Maine. Michigan was already expected to be a tossup seat, as is Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff’s in Georgia.

President Trump won Michigan last fall—49.7% to Democratic nominee Kamala Harris’s 48.3%—en route to his demolition of the “blue-wall” states, and Republicans hold the majority in the state’s delegation to the House.

There might not be anything better Trump can do to secure midterm victories than to keep delivering on his campaign promises.