The self-styled stars of the anti-Trump resistance had a rough season at the polls, with a string of high-profile primary losses raising fresh questions about whether opposition to the former president remains a winning formula for Democratic candidates.
According to a report from NOTUS, several of the movement’s most recognizable figures sought elected office this year and came up short amid broader turmoil within the Democratic Party over its direction and tactics. The defeats, which unfolded across multiple states, suggest that anti-Trump hysteria has real limits as an electoral strategy.
Vindman’s Big Spendi
The most striking casualty came Tuesday in Florida, where former Lt. Col. Alex Vindman—the whistleblower at the center of the first Trump impeachment—lost the Democratic Senate primary to state Rep. Angie Nixon by a wide margin: 56.1% to 43.9%.
Vindman entered the race with a formidable financial advantage, raising $16.3 million compared to Nixon’s $975,000. Most major media outlets and national figures viewed him as the frontrunner on the strength of that war chest. But primary polling was thin, and a July survey from the University of North Florida indicated Nixon showed slightly better relative strength against Republican incumbent Sen. Rick Moody in general election matchups—a sign of momentum that ultimately proved decisive.
Trump celebrated the outcome on Truth Social, calling Vindman “a real treasonous creep” and deriding Nixon as a “Radical Left Lunatic, who can’t speak or think properly.” The former president’s commentary was characteristically blunt.
Igor Bobick of NOTUS summed up the broader lesson: “This election and others like it have shown that relying solely on an anti-Trump message may no longer be a viable winning strategy.”
A Pattern of Defeats
Vindman was hardly alone. George Conway, the lawyer and prominent Trump critic who is the ex-husband of former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, ran for Congress in New York’s 12th Congressional District in June’s primary. He received only 6% of the vote, a humiliating result that drew a mocking response from Trump: “Wow, Mr. Kellyanne Conway, a Trump Deranged Loser at the highest level, is getting absolutely CRUSHED,” the former president wrote as the race was being called. “Have a nice life, George!”
Several figures tied to Trump’s second impeachment—which centered on his efforts to overturn the 2020 election—also saw their political ambitions collapse. Former U.S. Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn lost his bid in Maryland. In Georgia, former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who switched from Republican to Democrat, raised $1.7 million for his gubernatorial run but captured just 7% of the vote, finishing far behind Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, the eventual nominee. Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger also lost his race.
Olivia Troye, a former national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence who became a vocal administration critic, withdrew her House bid in Virginia after the state’s Supreme Court invalidated a Democratic-drawn redistricting map. Lev Parnas, a former Trump ally turned critic, also dropped his congressional bid in Florida. Both had planned to run as Democrats.
Not All Resistance Faded
Not every impeachment figure fell this cycle. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland), who led the prosecution of Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, easily won his primary, according to the report.
But the overall trend was unmistakable. Democrats, the NOTUS analysis suggests, may have realized too late that hinging their electoral prospects on a hysterical anti-Trump narrative was never a reliable path to victory. As the party grapples with its identity ahead of the general election, the primary results offer a cautionary tale: celebrity resistance can raise money, but it doesn’t always translate into votes.
Source: pjmedia.com — https://pjmedia.com/rick-moran/2026/08/19/anti-trump-resistance-members-get-clobbered-at-the-polls-n4956318
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