Gun-Control Supporters Made Major Gains In Red States During Midterm Wipeout

Screenshot/YouTube/The Joe Rogan Experience

Supporters of gun-control helped flipped seats in states President Donald Trump carried in 2024 as part of a Democratic sweep in Tuesday’s midterm elections.

Republicans lost the House and Senate as Democrats swept races in the South and Midwest, including flipping open seats in Iowa, North Carolina and Texas while ousting incumbents in Ohio, Kansas and South Carolina. Among the new gun-control candidates elected are Democratic Texas Sen.-elect James Talarico, South Carolina Sen.-elect Annie Andrews and Ohio Sen.-elect Sherrod Brown after former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a billionaire, donated at least $36 million to Everytown for Gun Safety.

In a 2020 podcast hosted by South Asian American Voter Empowerment Texas, Talarico, who has an anti-Second Amendment record from his time in the Texas House of Representatives, expressed support for restrictions on gun rights, including support for a gun licensing system, mandated safety standards for handguns and a ban on modern semiautomatic firearms.

Brown had an extensive anti-Second Amendment track record during his time in the House of Representatives and United States Senate, according to a 2024 alert by the National Rifle Association’s Political Victory Fund, which was backing Bernie Moreno’s successful effort to oust Brown. Brown supported bans on modern semiautomatic firearms, so-called “red flag” laws and received the backing of anti-Second Amendment organizations.

In South Carolina, Republican Sen. Darline Graham lost her reelection bid to Andrews, a former volunteer for Moms Demand Action, an anti-Second Amendment group backed by Bloomberg.

Republican Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall, a prominent supporter of reforms to the National Firearms Act, also lost his reelection bid Tuesday after he was outspent by $17 million by supporters of Adam Hamilton, a minster who became the first Democrat to win a Senate seat since the Franklin Delano Roosevelt administration.

In elections for the House of Representatives, influencer Brandon Herrera, the Republican nominee for the 23rd Congressional District in Texas, lost to Democrat Katy Padilla Stout.

The shift in the balance of power in Congress could see efforts to impose higher transfer takes on suppressors, short-barreled rifles, short-barreled shotguns and firearms falling into the category of “any other weapon.” Democratic Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy introduced an amendment known as SA 4159, which would restore the taxes and increase them to $4,709 per item, back in January during debate over a funding bill.