GOPs midterm malcontents weaken the party and could cost it the Senate

This year’s midterms don’t just pit Democrats against Republicans — they also set Republicans against Republicans, and have Democrats at war with Democrats.The coalition that better holds together is the one that will win control of the Senate.Republicans have only a slim chance to keep the House of Representatives, but they head into November with a modest three-seat majority in the upper chamber — really a four-vote margin, since Vice President JD Vance would be the tiebreaker in a 50-50 split.Headlines have been filled with tales of Republican infighting lately, but polls tell a more complicated story.Democrats are having a tough time securing their leads in states like Minnesota and Michigan, while Republicans look anemic in GOP bastions like Kansas, Iowa and even Texas.Some of these developments are so surprising, the first reaction is to think the polls must be wrong — and they often are.But Michigan and Texas provide two clear pictures of intra-party turmoil, as Democrats drift toward the Democratic Socialists of America while Republicans settle scores between MAGA and the party’s old guard.For Team Blue, Michigan should hardly be competitive right now: Democrats have held the Senate seat that’s at stake there since 1979.Yes, President Donald Trump won the state in 2024, but midterms typically go against the president’s party, so Democrats ought to have an easy time retaining the seat Carl Levin and Gary Peters have kept in the party since Jimmy Carter was in the White House.Yet recent polls have Abdul El-Sayed up only 2 percentage points over Republican Mike Rogers.The Democrat’s troubles begin in his own party: Though polls predicted a double-digit primary win for El-Sayed, he finished less than a single point ahead of rival Haley Stevens.Black and Jewish Democrats remain hesitant to back him even now.Many black voters haven’t forgiven his unwillingness to support Kamala Harris in 2024, while his eagerness to accuse Israel of genocide an...