And now, Talarico will have to share the podium with former Michigan public health official Abdul el Sayed, and Wisconsin state Rep. Francesca Hong, whose own resurfaced comments are giving Republicans even more room to give their attacks some anti-Americana flair.

“The beautiful part about negative ads are that once a story breaks containment, there’s simply no going back,” one veteran Republican aide who works closely with the president’s team told the Washington Examiner. “They can disavow or try to fight it or whatever, but the ads write themselves.”

“Whether it’s a jihadi jester in Michigan or trans kid lover in Texas, Democrats are nominating candidates who are chronically unhinged and wildly out of touch,” Republican National Committee spokeswoman Natalie Baldassarre added in a statement. “We will continue to contrast their clown car of socialist extremists with our strong slate of commonsense Republican leaders who will put Americans first.”

Here’s what you need to know about the pending attack wave.

El Sayed: July Fourth fireworks suck and football is toxic

El Sayed, who narrowly bested Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) in Michigan’s Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate earlier in August, has spent the past seven years hosting a podcast in partnership with Crooked Media. However, prior to announcing his Senate campaign last year, he scrubbed his channels and social media accounts of more than 100 videos featuring potentially inflammatory commentary, according to reporting from CNN.

One now-deleted episode in particular seems tailor-made for Republican attack ads. In the video, el Sayed outlined four reasons why “fireworks suck” and urged viewers to “please” find a new, different way to celebrate the Fourth of July.

Some of the content that el Sayed declined to scrub could still be potentially damaging in a general election, especially in a state like Michigan. CNN noted that, in a 2023 episode, el Sayed questioned whether or not football could ever be “safe” and “ethical” and claimed that the sport “echoed” narratives justifying slavery and other forms of oppression.

El Sayed’s campaign dismissed CNN’s reporting with a statement, though the candidate himself has not spoken on the issue.

“Abdul is the former captain of his high school football team, loves Michigan football on Saturdays, and celebrates the Fourth of July with fireworks like the next Michigander,” the campaign wrote. “Cherry-picked comments from old podcasts don’t reflect his beliefs today.”

Hong: ‘Cancel Thanksgiving’

The Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate and former chef threw a wrinkle into her own race when one of her 2020 tweets resurfaced just a week before the state’s August 11 primary.

In the deleted post, Hong argued that the United States “should cancel Thanksgiving,” adding that the country “should have done this in 1621.”

“If it takes a worldwide pandemic for us to realize we should stop celebrating colonialism and the original superspreader event that killed Indigenous folx and women so be it,” she wrote at the time.

A number of Hong’s Democratic primary opponents took umbrage with her comment, but Hong herself has stood by the remark, albeit with a more moderate twist.

“Thanksgiving is also a time that’s incredibly painful for many people in our communities. So I think there I wanted to make sure that people understood there are multiple views, but views can evolve,” she told CNN in an interview, days before telling USA Today that she’s “not going to cancel Thanksgiving” if she wins in November.

Talarico: ‘A vegan’

Texas takes its barbecue seriously, so it’s no surprise that Republican Senatorial nominee Ken Paxton has spent months claiming that his opponent doesn’t eat meat.

The vegan line stems from comments Talarico made back in a 2022 video in partnership with the Texas Humane Legislation Network. At the time, Talarico stated that “it is now existential that we try to reduce our meat consumption,” as a means of combating global warming.

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Talarico is not a vegan and has largely rolled with Paxton’s punches, claiming that he’d “been eating barbecue since before Ken Paxton’s first indictment.” Furthermore, he’s parlayed the food-based barbs into conversations on social media about elevated food costs, blaming Trump’s economic platform.

Still, a May 2026 campaign appearance alongside former President Barack Obama gave Republicans just enough wiggle room to keep up the attacks. During the stop, Talarico ordered potato, egg, and cheese breakfast tacos.