For a couple of years or so in the mid-1990s, it seemed like every fourth pop song on the radio was by the Gin Blossoms. The jangly guitar-riffed, post-grunge, alt-rock band scored decent, if not blockbuster, commercial success. Highlighted by the group’s jealous guy breakout tune, “Found Out About You.”

That track, sung from the perspective of a scorned lover, and the similarly themed, if more upbeat, “Hey Jealousy,” both peaked at No. 25 on the Hot 100 chart. The Gin Blossoms’s highest chart position for a song was No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 with the up-tempo “Follow You Down.”

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The Gin Blossoms broke up in early 1997. Band members pursued individual projects, as often happens.

That didn’t work out so well, and the band reunited in late 2001. But renewed commercial success proved elusive. New albums released in 2006, 2010, and 2018 fell flat in sales, and none of their songs made the pop charts.

The group once sold out arenas during its album-era peak, with its songs in constant MTV video rotation. Yet the band ended up more of a musical footnote that peaked during the first term of then-President Bill Clinton.

As the 2026 midterm elections approach, a similar rise-and-fall trajectory may play out in the political realm for a pair of once-highly-touted Democratic candidates who had decent political success in the 2018 midterm elections but whose subsequent campaign defeats and failing comeback bids left them as relatively young political has-beens: 2018 Georgia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams and Beto O’Rourke, a Texas Democrat who lost his Senate bid that same year.

Trump first-term ‘resistance’ leaders

Abrams, 51, won the 2018 Georgia Democratic gubernatorial nomination after a stint as state House minority leader. By that time, Democrats hadn’t won a Georgia governor’s race in 20 years, and Abrams brought an impressive personal story to the contest. She was born poor, but in a family with a strong educational drive. Abrams earned degrees from Spelman College, the University of Texas, and Yale Law School.

As state House minority leader, Abrams worked well with Republican lawmakers who set the legislative agenda, at times making common cause on matters with a centrist political appeal.

Yet as a gubernatorial candidate in 2018, Abrams ran as an advocate of undiluted liberalism, not just on public policy matters, but by positioning herself as a “resistance” leader against President Donald Trump during his first term.

The 2018 general election pitted Abrams against GOP nominee Brian Kemp, then secretary of state. The gubernatorial race emerged as a battle about Trump, but also between clashing ideologies. The candidates divided sharply over Medicaid expansion, abortion, immigration, gun policy, and marijuana legalization. 

When the voters were counted, the margin was close, but not exactly a nail-biter. Kemp won with 50.22% to 48.83% for Abrams, a difference of about 55,000 votes out of 3.9 million cast. Though Kemp still had an 18,000-vote cushion above the threshold needed to avoid a runoff.

To be sure, Abrams’s campaign trail performance was impressive. She showed Democrats could be electorally competitive in Georgia. And the results presaged Democrats’ 2020 Peach State success, when Biden won the state — and the presidency — while the party nabbed both of Georgia’s Senate seats.

However, Abrams lost much of her political luster by refusing to concede the race. She charged that Kemp, as Georgia’s chief elections officer, improperly purged voter rolls to the point that it could have made the difference between victory and defeat. That was all conjecture, and even many Democrats urged Abrams to concede and move on. Abrams would only go so far as to state that while she accepted Kemp as the legal winner of the election, she wouldn’t say the election was legitimate.

Four years later, the pair faced off again. Yet the 2022 gubernatorial rematch proved to be less than titanic, as Kemp led comfortably the entire campaign. While Abrams sought to energize voters unhappy with the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, Kemp had a big advantage by appealing to traditional conservatives as well as centrists due to his refusal to follow Trump’s 2020 orders that he try to overturn the Republican ticket’s election loss.

That continuing opposition to Trump drew appreciation from a crucial sliver of suburban Republicans who backed Biden in 2020, and were unhappy with the Trump-supported, scandal-laden 2022 Senate Republican candidate Herschel Walker. 

Some polls also showed perceptions of Abrams as a sore loser from the race four years prior soured voters on her. Kemp ended up defeating Abrams 53% to 46%.

Over in Texas, O’Rourke also won national media plaudits as a resistance character during Trump’s first term. In 2018, O’Rourke proved a media-friendly challenger to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), an outspoken conservative seeking a second, six-year term, with a middling approval rating stemming partly from his bruising and ultimately unsuccessful 2016 Republican presidential primary battle against Trump.

To that point, O’Rourke had an impressive political resume. As a seven-year city councilman in El Paso, in 2012, he beat a Democratic House incumbent in the party’s primary to represent a deep blue, far-west Texas district between the U.S.-Mexico border and the New Mexico state line.

In the House, O’Rourke won some attention for his work on veterans’ matters. But the charismatic politician had his sights set on higher office. So, O’Rourke gave up his safe House seat to challenge Cruz.

O’Rourke spent the campaign visiting all 254 Texas counties. It was a mixture of internet savvy — most of O’Rourke’s events and even car rides were live-streamed — and old-style retail politics.

Yet, even with Democrats landing a serious political blow against Trump in the 2018 midterm elections, O’Rourke came up short, losing to Cruz 50.89% to 48.33%. That was the closest a Democrat running for Senate in Texas came to winning in decades. It was even more shocking on the financial side. O’Rourke raised $79 million to Cruz’s $45 million.

O’Rourke tried to capitalize on the media coverage he earned in his Senate loss. He entered the crowded 2020 Democratic presidential primary fray. Yet, facing lagging polls and fundraising challenges, he was out of the race by the end of 2019.

Next came O’Rourke’s 2022 gubernatorial bid. No Democrat has won the office since 1990, and O’Rourke did no better than his recent predecessors. The former congressman, as the Democratic nominee, lost to Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) by about 55% to 44%.

‘Til I Fall Away’

Such defeats would seem to be the end of the line for the political ambitions of Abrams and O’Rourke. Like the Gin Blossoms, who once scored decent hits on the music charts, the pair did pretty well in their 2018 statewide bids for office. But comeback bids by all three failed. Nonetheless, the 2026 election cycle could include yet more efforts to win high office.

Various news reports suggest that Abrams is considering a third bid for Georgia governor. If Abrams makes a go of it, she’ll be entering a crowded Democratic primary field. Three notable candidates — state Sen. Jason Esteves, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, and state Rep. Derrick Jackson — are seeking their party’s nod to try and replace Kemp, who must leave office after eight years due to state term limits.

O’Rourke, 52, is also considering yet another political comeback. He’s been making the political rounds and holding town hall meetings in north Texas and across the state. In a CBS News interview, O’Rourke said he is eyeing either a Senate or gubernatorial bid, citing Trump’s recent actions while back in the White House.

“There are a lot of folks in Texas who are really hurting right now. They’re being hurt by this administration, whether it’s cuts to the VA or proposed cuts to Medicaid,” O’Rourke said. “I really think there’s power in bringing people together right now. Folks need to know that we’re not isolated, that we’re not alone.”

A campaign trail return by O’Rourke and/or Abrams would keep them roughly in the same strata as the 1990s-era Gin Blossoms. The band still tours today, with upcoming gigs at the Pittsburgh Brewing Company on July 13 and the Delaware State Fair on July 21.

That’s a long way from playing sold-out arenas, as the band did during its popularity apex three decades ago. Online videos of recent Gin Blossoms concerts show crowds full of paunched-stomached middle-aged guys and their wives, many likely with college-age or young adult children, their age range when the music blew up in popularity.

Still, for members of the Gin Blossoms, it’s got to be a more fun way of making a living than most office jobs. In addition to the money, it’s a nice, nostalgic way of bringing happiness to people with fond memories of their music and songs like “Til I Fall Away” and “Allison Road.”

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However, Abrams and O’Rourke face a problem in that politics doesn’t work that way. Unlike musicians of the past, voters are happy to cast off defeated candidates from memory, particularly repeat losers.

Currently, both can still get themselves booked on podcasts, news interview shows, and other forums. However, another loss might make even a public access television appearance tough to get.