Opinion: Let’s Celebrate These 10 Truly Ridiculous 2026 Campaigns

Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty/Reuters On November 3, our nation will decide its future—and give its verdict on Donald Trump as well as countless other controversial characters on ballots across the United States.

With the stakes so high, the Daily Beast is dedicated to breaking story after story, exposing the truth about the races that matter, and the people who count.

Head over to The Swamp on Substack and subscribe to get our exclusive Midterms Meltdown newsletter.

And while the real victories will come on Election Night, the Daily Beast’s comedic genius Michael Ian Black has participation trophies at the ready.

Here, a selection of “superlative” awards for the candidates who really put the ‘most’ into... well, the categories speak for themselves: Most Likely to Deny His Own Election Results—Even if He Wins: Michigan Republican gubernatorial candidate John James.

After losing a 2020 Senate race , James refused to concede, asserting that Michigan Secretary of State (and his current opponent for Governor) Jocelyn Benson had “rigged and manipulated the election process to defeat me and Donald Trump .” There is no evidence to support this claim. (He likewise claims Trump won Michigan three times, despite the unfortunate truth that he did not.) But when did that ever matter? And Most Likely to Be Accused of Stealing an Election Despite Having No Opponent in Said Election: Rep.

Ayanna Pressley.

The four-term congresswoman and “Squad” member is running unopposed in the Massachusetts 7 th District.

Pressley has repeatedly drawn fierce opposition for saying things like that the Trump administration “would rather Black Americans pick cotton than pick the president, than pick their congressperson, than pick a senator.” Can accusations of a “DEI election” be far behind? Most Likely to Be Teleported to a Waffle House, and Therefore Also the White House: FEMA’s Gregg Phillips.

A few months ago, the world at large learned of the delightful Phillips, the FEMA official who claimed to have once been teleported 50 miles to a Waffle House in Rome, GA after, we can only assume, feeling an urge for the chain’s All-Star Special.

Phillips left FEMA following the revelation, but he’s clearly able to get back into the building—or any building.

He’s still on the government payroll too, and look, if you can be teleported to a Waffle House just because, you can win an election you’re not even running in. (By the by, I’d like to see a Biblical-minded candidate like Iowa’s Rob Sand or Texas’s James Talarico step up and promise to pass divine transportation methods for all Americans.