Republicans lost because we failed to deliver. Why? The power of money.

By VICTORIA SPARTZ
U.S. Representative

Republicans lost because we failed to do the one thing voters hired us to do: stop Washington from treating taxpayers like an open ATM.

Some will blame the Iran war. Others will point to the hatred of President Trump or the Democrats’ well-oiled Obama machine. Those factors mattered. But the central failure is simpler and more damning: Americans handed Republicans the House, the Senate, and the White House to lower costs, cut spending, challenge monopolies, and confront corruption. Too many of my colleagues chose instead to protect the same special interests that bankroll both parties’ political machines.

I pressed for a stronger reconciliation package and voted against the weak instructions because I refused to pretend half-measures were victories. I reluctantly supported a revised version only after securing limited reforms to claw back some of the trillions insurers and hospital systems have siphoned off through Medicaid overbilling. It was not enough. Worse, Republicans failed to explain even those modest wins, allowing Democrats to rebrand efforts to stop fraud and overbilling as “cutting benefits.”

Washington runs on legalized corruption. Special interests extract subsidies, regulatory protections, no-bid contracts, and government-protected monopolies. They return a fraction of that money through campaign contributions, PAC donations, and lucrative future K Street jobs. Powerful lobbyists and entrenched D.C. staffers control the agenda, while members either lack the backbone to resist or dream of cashing in themselves. Challenge the machine, and you become the target of fabricated attacks and multimillion-dollar smear campaigns. Play along, and the money and favorable coverage arrive on schedule.

The legislative scorecard tells the story. A reconciliation-compatible SAVE Act died in the Senate. Healthcare price transparency never reached the floor. Medicare PBM transparency and hospital billing reforms were pushed to 2028. Medicare Advantage overbilling was ignored entirely. No serious fiscal commission was created to confront the debt, Social Security, and runaway spending. Housing reforms to help first-time buyers stayed bottled up. Energy, agricultural, and small-business reforms, including incentives for struggling rural communities, were stripped or left out in the Senate. Delphi pension restoration remains stuck in the Senate, leaving retirees waiting.

When lobbyists cannot kill reforms in the House, they run to the Senate, where the swamp runs even deeper.

Meanwhile, Democrats spent years building a permanent grassroots, data, and communications machine designed to exploit frustration and shift blame. Republicans still have nothing comparable. Too many in our own ranks refuse to confront corruption within the party, fight special interests, or support candidates who will actually deliver.

We still have weeks left with a Republican Congress. Leadership should force votes on unfinished business: immediate healthcare transparency, a fiscal commission, Delphi pensions, housing, energy and rural reforms, and a viable path for election integrity. Let voters see who is willing to fight, and who is not.

The same dynamics play out in state and local races, just with smaller checks. The establishment will now use these losses to argue that primary challenges are reckless and that so-called “sensible moderates” must be protected. Yet these are the same politicians whose failure to deliver created the opening for Democrats, and who have repeatedly joined them to protect special interests.

We cannot rebuild the Republican Party by protecting the politicians who helped break it. Unless we confront corruption within our own ranks, 2028 will be even worse.

George Washington lost battles, but he never surrendered the war. Thomas Paine was right: “These are the times that try men’s souls.”

We lost a battle, not the Republic. Americans can still take it back, but only if enough Republicans choose the voters over the money.

Congresswoman Victoria Spartz, a Republican, has represented Indiana’s Fifth District since Jan. 3, 2021. She will leave office on Jan. 3, 2027.