The Senate’s questioning of U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer featured more discussion of strangulation than usual.

There’s still a lot of time until the 2026 midterm elections. We don’t know what the state of the world, or the state of the economy, will be in autumn of next year. But there are signs that the tariff fight is already making Republicans eye the upcoming midterms more warily.

As Audrey writes, former New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu just walked away from a U.S. Senate race in which he would have been the heavy favorite. Sununu said, “It’s not for me,” but it’s hard to believe that the recent economic turbulence, and the prospect of running for office when the public is angry at Republicans, played no factor in his decision. (Or he just wanted to make me look silly for having said on Monday, “I think all in all, if he weren’t interested, he’d be saying he’s not interested.”) Just two weeks ago, Sununu had sounded quite interested in running for the seat.

And one of the Republicans who must sweat his reelection chances in 2026, North Carolina’s Thom Tillis, was not exactly subtle in his questioning of U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

“Whose throat do I get to choke if this turns out to be wrong?” Tillis asked. He added, “I’m not condemning it because I’m not a trade expert. . . . I’m just trying to figure out who’s throat I get to choke if it’s wrong and who I put up on a platform and thank them for the novel approach that was successful, if they’re right.”

A prolonged trade war would have serious repercussions for the Tar Heel State’s economy. According to the office of the U.S. Trade Representative, last year North Carolina exported a record $42.8 billion of goods to the world, making it the 15th largest state exporter of goods. In 2022, according to the latest data available, exports from North Carolina supported an estimated 145,000 jobs.

Oh, and don’t forget that former Governor Roy Cooper is likely to be Tillis’s opponent.