Joel Pollak predicts Democrats' radical candidates could cost them the Senate
The California Post opinion editor says Abdul El-Sayed's temper and Haley Stevens' late switch to Mike Rogers could keep Michigan out of Democratic hands.
BECOME A MEMBER
Article by Rebel News staff.
Tonight on The Ezra Levant Show: as Americans vote in the midterm elections, polls suggest Donald Trump's Republicans could lose the House and possibly the Senate, opening the door to investigations, impeachment attempts and blocked appointments in the President's final two years.
Joel Pollak, opinion editor of the California Post, said Democrats have a good chance of taking the House, where Republicans hold only a small majority, but that so much gerrymandering has happened ahead of this election that the result is not clear. The Senate, he said, is a fight on multiple fronts. If Democrats win both chambers, he expects a united front against the administration and little new legislation, though he noted that Trump has relied mostly on unilateral action rather than Congress. He said Democrats might try to impeach Trump again and would try to block his judicial nominees if they take the Senate.
Pollak, a supporter of the President, argued Trump has already achieved almost everything he promised in his first two years, while foreign policy, including peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, proved more complicated than expected. He said tariffs helped some industries but put upward pressure on the price of goods.
In Michigan, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed is running for the Senate with polls that look strong for him, despite concern over his statements, his family's statements and the people he has campaigned with. Pollak said he might regret it after election day, but he does not think El-Sayed will win. He said the upper Midwest has been hard to poll and that Democrats there have underperformed their polls before. He described El-Sayed's demeanour as aggressive, saying he attacks questioners when challenged rather than handling difficult questions the way Barack Obama or Texas Democrat James Talarico do.
Pollak pointed to Haley Stevens, the Democratic member of Congress who lost the primary to El-Sayed and then endorsed him. She has since withdrawn that endorsement and is backing Republican Mike Rogers, a switch on the final weekend that Pollak said could affect control of the Senate.
Talarico is also polling strongly in the Texas Senate race. Pollak said that race is less about Talarico's strength than Ken Paxton's weakness. Paxton defeated incumbent John Cornyn, who had fallen out of touch with the conservative base, but Paxton carries a lot of baggage, including his impeachment and acquittal as a state office holder. Pollak said he expects Texas to stay Republican, barely, while allowing that he "could eat those words on Wednesday or Thursday."
Pollak said energetic presidents, on the left or the right, provoke equally energetic oppositions. He compared the current mood among Democrats to the Tea Party wave of 2010, after Obamacare passed, and said much of the anger is about Trump governing at all, whether or not he is governing well.
Immigration touches nearly every other issue in the campaign, from crime and housing to inflation and culture. Pollak said Trump can use his executive authority to keep the border secure even if Republicans lose Congress, and that if Democrats refuse to fund border enforcement or force a shutdown, it will backfire because Trump has shown the border can be secured without new legislation. Pollak said he was a one-issue voter in 2024 and that the border was his issue, in part because of his concern for Israel. He said much of the antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment in the United States has come from recent arrivals or their children, some of whom adopt an anti-Israel identity on university campuses.
He said America has made two commitments to Jewish Americans: George Washington's promise that Jews would never have to live in fear in the United States, and the 20th-century commitment that the United States and Israel would be the closest of allies. Newcomers, he said, do not get to overturn either one, and he called protests outside synagogues and Jewish schools completely beyond the pale.
Looking ahead to 2028, Pollak said JD Vance is in pole position for the Republican nomination, with early endorsements from groups like Turning Point USA, but is not a coalition builder and cannot win a general election. He said Marco Rubio would be a shoo-in for both the nomination and the presidency but has said he is not running, and that Ted Cruz is almost certainly running. On the Democratic side, he called Gavin Newsom the favourite, said Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez benefits from the left's appetite for authenticity, and dismissed Pete Buttigieg as lacking a record of success. He expects the race to come down to Newsom against whoever Republicans nominate, and said that against Rubio, "Rubio wins 40 states."
GUEST: Joel Pollak, opinion editor of the California Post
COMMENTS
-
marilyn aman commented 2026-11-02 22:55:14 -0500 FlagThe writing on the banner looks like it says “we were here”. -
Marilyn Hagerman commented 2026-11-02 21:56:59 -0500 FlagThe only country in the world with a leader that works for betterment of the people and cares deeply about the country…..and we have mindless idiots that want to install socialism and the Marxist Democrats….there is no sense or sanity in the minds of freeloaders!!
-
Bruce Atchison commented 2026-11-02 21:22:06 -0500In both segments of the November 2nd show, the left are sore losers. They figure tearing down western society is a good idea. It’s that freedom which doesn’t imprison them for wrong think. It’s that very system that let those sore losers grow up in luxury which Third World folks could only dream of.
I’m buying a poppy and I hope ALL viewers of this show do the same. Fill that collection box with purple bills! -
Paul Scofield commented 2026-11-02 20:34:40 -0500Don’t follow the polls’ nonsense, Ezra. For the last ten years their inflated predictions have been used as a major source of fundraising by the left as well as a means to suppress Trump voter turnout on the right. As such, they have proven themselves to be both disingenuous and full of caca. Remember, these are the same clowns who gave Hillary a 97% chance of winning in 2016. Pay them no mind. The right, as they usually do, are planning to vote like they are ten (percentage) points down anyway.
