With the Senate map tightening and competitive House districts becoming harder to find after redistricting, both parties are increasingly turning to unconventional political tactics to improve their odds in 2026.
From Republicans intervening in Democratic primaries to Democrats experimenting with independent candidates in red states, campaigns are increasingly focused not just on persuasion, but on shaping the battlefield before voters even cast ballots.
“It’s because there are simply fewer races now,” Republican strategist Brian Seitchik told the Washington Examiner. “In decades prior, there could be upwards of 50, 60 House races and nearly a dozen Senate races that were competitive. That is simply not the case now.”
“So at the end of the day, in some of these House races, you can only spend so much money, and $1 is no longer worth $1 spent in the campaign,” he added. “People are looking for other avenues to affect the election.”
One of the most unusual examples of unconventional campaign maneuvering this cycle has emerged in Alaska, where Republicans have accused Democrats of attempting to exploit the state’s ranked choice voting system by encouraging another candidate named Dan Sullivan to enter the Senate race against incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK)
The unusual dynamic has drawn attention partly because a third prominent Alaska political figure, former Anchorage Mayor Dan Sullivan, is also well known statewide, fueling what some Republicans have dubbed the “three Dan Sullivans.”
While Democrats have denied coordination, Republicans argue the effort is designed to create voter confusion and siphon support away from the incumbent senator in one of the few Senate contests Democrats hope to make competitive next year.
A spokesman for former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola’s Senate campaign previously said it had “no involvement with either Sullivan campaign,” while Alaska Democratic Party officials similarly denied any affiliation with the second candidate. Seitchik said the tactic’s intent is obvious, even if its effectiveness remains unclear.
“The goal is to confuse people,” he said. “That is clearly the attempt, is to take votes of people who just see Sullivan’s name, think they’re voting for the Republican, and move on.”
Still, he questioned whether the strategy would ultimately work against a well-established incumbent.
“Sen. Dan Sullivan’s been around a long time as a Republican,” Seitchik said. “I’m not sure how effective that’s going to be.”
Republicans, meanwhile, have increasingly embraced another tactic: intervening in Democratic primaries to elevate candidates they believe would be weaker general election opponents.
In Nebraska’s competitive 2nd Congressional District, a PAC called Lead Left spent heavily attacking Democratic state Sen. John Cavanaugh while backing political consultant Denise Powell, who ultimately won the primary by just over 1,000 votes. Republicans reportedly viewed Powell’s ties to a state investigation into alleged foreign donations to left-wing groups as a potential general election vulnerability.
The same PAC later spent heavily in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley to boost former Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure over better-funded Democratic rivals viewed as stronger threats to Rep. Ryan MacKenzie (R-PA), though McClure ultimately lost the primary to Bob Brooks. Democrats allege Lead Left is doing the bidding of the GOP, citing reports that the PAC has ties to WinRed, the GOP’s main fundraising platform.
And in Texas, GOP-linked groups poured money into supporting Democratic runoff candidate Maureen Galindo, a progressive activist whose comments about Israel and “Zionists” drew accusations of antisemitism and condemnation from Democrats. Republicans viewed Galindo as a potentially weaker opponent than former sheriff’s deputy Johnny Garcia in a Latino-heavy district Democrats still hoped to compete for despite Republican redistricting efforts. Garcia ultimately won the runoff.
“If Democrats are determined to nominate candidates who can’t win swing districts, Republicans are going to take every opportunity to encourage that outcome,” one GOP strategist said on condition of anonymity to discuss primary strategy candidly. “We’re just taking cues from Democrat’s previous playbooks.”
The tactic is hardly new. Former Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill famously aired ads in 2012 boosting conservative Republican Todd Akin during Missouri’s GOP primary, viewing him as a weaker general election opponent. Democrats later employed similar tactics to aid then-Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) in West Virginia, and by 2022 Democratic groups had spent heavily in several Republican primaries to elevate election-denying candidates they believed would be easier to defeat in November.
But the current cycle has expanded beyond simply meddling in opposing primaries. Democrats have also increasingly experimented with backing or accommodating independent candidates in deep-red states where the Democratic label itself has become politically toxic.
In Nebraska, Democratic officials have effectively aligned themselves with independent Senate candidate Dan Osborn rather than fully consolidating behind their own nominee. Democratic Senate candidate Cindy Burbank has publicly signaled she intends to eventually leave the race in an effort to unify anti-Republican voters behind Osborn.
A similar dynamic is emerging in Montana, where independent candidate Seth Bodnar, the former president of the University of Montana, has built a stronger fundraising operation than the Democratic field that competed in a primary last week. Campaign finance reports showed Bodnar outraised the combined Democratic field and also surpassed Republican nominee Kurt Alme, who is backed by President Donald Trump.
The strategy reflects growing concern among some Democrats that anti-establishment candidates may be more viable in red states than nominees running directly under the Democratic banner.
“What I think it does show is that in very independently-minded states, like Nebraska or Alaska, party brands are not popular,” Democratic strategist Jon Reinish told the Washington Examiner. “While it may not be a Democrat who’s running or gathering steam or even winning that seat, it’s not a Republican either.”
But other Democratic operatives argue the party is overthinking the problem and searching for tactical shortcuts instead of investing in stronger local candidates and infrastructure.
Democratic strategist Michael Ceraso said national Democrats often spend too much time focusing on branding and electoral maneuvering instead of building deeper ties in conservative communities.
“Republicans are embedded for generations in their communities,” Ceraso told the Washington Examiner. “Most Democrats who want to make a career, they’re not living in those communities.”
He argued Democrats would be better served recruiting stronger candidates rather than trying to engineer complicated electoral strategies.
“Just tell donors you’re going to go into these communities to find the best candidates to run, and then go run them,” Ceraso said.
Republicans have also experimented with their own forms of behind-the-scenes maneuvering this cycle, particularly in high-profile Senate races where party leaders are eager to avoid messy primaries and shape the field early.
In Montana, Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT) withdrew his reelection bid just minutes before the filing deadline, effectively clearing the path for Alme, who quickly secured endorsements from Trump and the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
And in Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp’s (R-GA) decision not to challenge Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) triggered an immediate effort among Republican operatives to consolidate behind former football coach Derek Dooley in hopes of avoiding a bruising multicandidate primary, though the race has remained crowded despite those efforts.
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Seitchik said the increasingly aggressive tactics reflect a political environment where both parties believe even small strategic advantages can determine control of Congress.
“This is now just part of the process,” he said. “Both sides can cry foul all they want, but both sides have done this.”