There’s an underreported issue that is proliferating the 2026 midterm elections newscycle. Typically, election newscycles center around kitchen table issues, mixed in with a great deal of culture war hysteria. This watered-down mix dilutes us from the very real pillaging that is taking place at not only our expense here at home, but to the global majority abroad. The “real issue” I am alluding to here is much greater than we realize, one that is taking place right under our noses. 

According to reporting from the Brennan Center for Justice, super political action groups (known as super PACs) will spend an estimated 12 billion dollars to influence the outcomes of races all around the country in the 2026 midterm election cycle alone. Yet, if you turn the channel over to the CNNs, Fox Newses and the MSNBC’s of the world, you’d have no conception that such a situation is taking place. Instead, our airwaves are discussing hypothetical men in women’s sports, whether it’s anti-semetic or not to condemn the senseless killing of children or the ol’ reliable: Hasan Piker’s impact on our elections. 

This is all an intentional ruse to stop you from considering a fundamental truth of our “democratic” electoral system: the fact that this two-party system exists purely to maintain the status quo for the capital ownership class. We grow up being taught that we have the freedom of choice at the ballot box, a rubber stamp of our tried and true democracy. Yet, at this present historical epoch, capital rules our electoral process all the while giving us the illusion of autonomy. At its core, the United States is a one-party state that bends the knee to multinational corporations, and in typical U.S. extravagance, we have two of them.  

Taking a look around the globe presents a far different situation than the one we’re confronted with here at home. Both Brazil and Serbia held massive elections in which left wing movements won surprising races, shifting the needle ever so slightly in favor of the working class. If even temporarily, these results show us that there’s more to political involvement than going to the ballot box. In Serbia, election victories came from a years-long organizing effort from a student-led movement which culminated in a win for the Student List party. Their platform centered on the blatant corruption from the countries’ right wing party. Lula De Silva’s victory to remain in power in Brazil tells us a similar story. Flávio Bolsonaro Jr – son of neo-fascist leader Jair Bolsonaro – won in a run-off election after not reaching the full 50 percent needed to win. Lula’s campaign was met with heavy opposition from Donald Trump, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, who used their power to attempt to influence the election results. 

Both of these movements give us an incredible amount of hope for the international working class and our shared future. However, I’ve seen a lot of discourse positing that it’s our turn to “vote out” the neo-fascists in power here in the United States for this mid-term election. The problem with this assertion is that the year’s worth of organizing that went into these victories hasn’t happened to the same degree here in the States. We have a tendency to get stuck into believing that voting is the full extent of political power as Americans. 

We must learn from the lessons of our friends in Brazil and Serbia. These were movements that were highly organized and centered around genuine working class politics. Our solution lies in our collective identity. Voting is of the utmost importance; however, it must be paired with strong central organizing.