Trump’s Jones Act blunder could hand the Senate to the socialists

But America’s rescue could ride in on the barges, cargo ships, and tugs of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron — under American flags.A Republican Senate would be an important check on a Democratic-controlled House with a small army of DSA progressives that will band together to pass bill after bill to enact their radical agenda. With media outlets, discredited pollsters, and Democratic candidates painting a picture of a “blue tsunami” that could swallow the country like a whale, their hopes are that conservative and moderate voters give up on the midterm elections.There’s still time to change that.Republicans don’t need to win: We need to lose better than Democrats do. Even a 50-50 Senate will mean continued Republican control with Vice President JD Vance’s tiebreaking vote.The path to Senate control for Republicans leads through Texas, Maine, Alaska, and Michigan.In Texas, Republican nominee Ken Paxton is an awful candidate who has run a terrible campaign. Petty, preening, and ungrateful, he’s still going to the Senate to spend six years being loathed. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) will be thrilled.In Maine, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) has done an effective job against a weirdo jerk of a Democrat who married his cousin. She should retain her seat.Alaska is a libertarian-leaning state that is prepared to send a Democrat to the Senate for the first time since 2008, with Mary Peltola beating Dan Sullivan — and Dan J. Sullivan. Democrats have left her alone and allowed her to run an effective, centrist campaign. It doesn’t hurt that she once boasted about owning 176 guns.That leaves Michigan as the pivot point for the nation. If it goes blue, the Senate belongs to the Democrats and Zohran Mamdani’s DSA. If it flips red, it salvages President Donald Trump’s second term.Quack doctor Abdul el Sayed is a polished provocateur in the mold of Mamdani. He hides his radicalism behind a smirk and slick videos that depict the fun he’s having rather than the plans he has to overhaul the United States.The Mike Rogers campaign has been slow to recognize the game they’re playing against a celebrity candidate who uses flash and dash to blind voters. They’ve just launched an effective ad that asks black voters why el Sayed cares about Gaza more than their communities.Rogers lost his last race by just 20,000 votes, and that can happen again without a bloc of voters that could save the day. El Sayed’s pro-Hamas liability is well known, but there’s a positive message Rogers can close with that team el Sayed may not see coming.Michigan’s maritime industry supports nearly $3 billion added to the state’s gross domestic producteach year, and employs over 12,000 workers. The state’s maritime workers, their support staff, and their voting-age family members are almost certainly larger than the 2024 vote margin. And their prosperity will be greatly enhanced by dropping the waivers the Trump administration has issued of the Jones Act.The Jones Act is meant to protect America’s maritime industry, ensuring that ships tracking goods into our ports are American-owned and American-crewed, and under an American flag.But since the war with Iran began, the president has instituted a waiver that allows foreign ships to do what American ships and seamen should be doing.The well-intentioned waiver was meant to bring in more oil more quickly, compensating for disruptions to the oil market and high gas prices created by the war and the instability in the Strait of Hormuz.Studies have shown only a trickle of oil has come to the U.S. due to the waiver, and gas prices have barely budged since the spring. In August, the president took a half step by allowing waivers on a case-by-case basis.But if he does more, he will do right by Michigan’s maritime industry and hand Rogers a valuable bloc of voters that could decide a close election.Rogers should petition the president to drop the waiver and bring back American dominance of American oceans — including our vast inland seas in the Great Lakes. Mariners will thank him for it, and America’s maritime industry will have the America First advantage it deserves. A move like that could also help build Collins’s margin in Maine and drive voters to Republicans in states such as South Carolina, New Hampshire, and Minnesota with smaller but still valuable maritime industries.Absent presidential action on the Jones Act waiver, Rogers should pledge as a senator to legislate one — a maverick act to help his state that will demonstrate his independence — always a popular trait among swing and independent voters.If Rogers falls, the Senate is lost. And Democrats know it.Bad polls? Ignore them.THE PRESIDENT STILL THINKS HE’S ON REALITY TVPolls aren’t forecasts — that’s for the weather. They’re predictions based on human behavior that can change until the minute the polls close on Nov. 3.Get out and vote Republican, up and down the ticket. While there’s still time to make a difference.Alex Zdan is a former Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in New Jersey and the founder of the Authentic Leadership PAC.