Democrats risk derailing their chances in the 2028 election if they shift further left and refuse to cooperate with President Trump following their sweeping midterm victories, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich warned.
“Bernie Sanders … intends to push as hard as he can for a deeply left-wing Congress. That would be a serious mistake for Democrats,” Gingrich said during an appearance on the Cats Roundtable radio show.
“If the country is reminded of how cuckoo these people are, then by 2028 Americans will be far more willing to vote Republican,” he added.
Gingrich, who helped lead the Republican Revolution of 1994, called on both parties to set aside political combat and concentrate on producing results for Americans. He warned that Democrats could face the same backlash Republicans suffered Tuesday if they overreach after their victories.
“This is a moment to say to Democrats and Republicans: ‘Your first job is not to figure out how to pick fights. Your first job is to determine how you can work together to find solutions that improve life for the American people,’” he said.
The former speaker was equally direct about the Republican Party’s showing at the polls, acknowledging that voters had rejected the GOP.
“We got whooped,” Gingrich said. “As Republicans, we need to be honest and say, ‘We got whooped.’”
Still, Gingrich cautioned against reading too much into the outcome, noting that Tuesday’s losses ranked as only the seventh-largest midterm defeat since 1938.
He pointed to the GOP’s 1994 takeover of the House, which was even larger than the 2026 midterm result, as evidence that political fortunes can change quickly.
“You have to recognize that your customers just told you they weren’t happy,” he said, urging Republicans to examine what went wrong instead of dismissing the results.
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“If we don’t fix those problems, the American people will vote to throw us out again in 2028,” he warned.
Gingrich also offered Trump a strategy for rebuilding voter confidence: focus on five major policy solutions that matter to Americans rather than spending the final two years of his term attacking Democrats.
“My advice to Trump is to find five major solutions the American people truly want, make them the focus of his message every day, and pressure Democrats in Congress to either vote with the public or position themselves for defeat in 2028,” he said.
The former speaker questioned whether Democrats could withstand demands from their progressive wing, placing Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries at the center of the party’s next test.
“It really comes down to Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries. Are they willing to sit down in good faith and seek solutions, or are they under so much pressure from their big-government socialist radical wing that they must adopt positions no one can negotiate over?” Gingrich asked.
He also criticized defeated Republican Senate candidate John Paxton in Texas, arguing that the quality of GOP candidates contributed significantly to the party’s struggles.
“Paxton may have been the worst Republican candidate in the country,” Gingrich said, adding that voters can reach a point where they wonder whether they can “really, in good conscience, vote for this person.”
Gingrich drew on his own experience working with former President Bill Clinton in the 1990s, arguing that successful bipartisanship requires cooperation from the White House—not just congressional Republicans.
“I wasn’t the key to bipartisanship. Clinton was,” Gingrich said. “I was willing to be bipartisan, but unless the president was willing to be bipartisan, it couldn’t happen.”
