Former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel pressed Democrats to include moderate Republicans in their coalition. (Getty Images)

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Former Obama White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel encouraged the Democratic Party to appeal to moderate "McCain-Romney Republicans" in an op-ed Wednesday.

"The top story from the 2026 cycle will be the electoral opening Democrats seized — and will have to maintain," Emanuel wrote for The Wall Street Journal . "Most important, the McCain-Romney Republicans, who are politically homeless, need to be welcomed into Democrats’ governing and electoral coalition."

Emanuel argued that moderate Republicans who associate their politics closer with former Utah Sen. Mitt Romney and former Arizona Sen. John McCain have been dissuaded from the GOP by President Donald Trump and could be the deciding factor in the 2026 midterm elections.

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