Daily Update - January 1, 2026

2026 Will Be A Good Year For Conservatives

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About Reuel Sample

This is the Wilmington Standard Daily Update for Thursday January 1st, 2026.

Happy New Year!

2025 was a year of ups and downs for Conservatives. We saw Donald Trump once again installed into office, we held the line in the House and took over the Senate. We have exposed corruption and waste at all levels of government, rounded up and exported some of the worst of the illegal immigrants in our country, passed laws to protect women in sports and prevent minors from being mutilated by mentally unstable parents and medical professionals.

We have also seen some losses. While the right has seen a tremendous revival as the result of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, we would rather have him back. We saw a Democrat governor replace the last Democrat governor here in North Carolina, and we lost several local elections across the land – including being completely shut out here in Wilmington.

It was indeed a mixed year.

Conservatives however can take heart in the fact that 2025 was a loss-leader year. No one likes seeing sausage being made – and that exactly is the description of the year gone by. Lasting economic and social change takes some short-term upheaval and pain for long lasting benefits. 2025 was that year. 2026 – when results of the hard work kicks in – will be the beginning of a cultural and economic revolution that will last ages.

Conservatives need to be smart. We need to be working for practical change to the problems that 80% of our citizenship gets behind. We need to be wise in our speech and deliberate in our actions. And most of all, Conservatives need to stop forming circular firing squads whenever we disagree. We rarely see Democrats and Liberals taking down one of their own. But we see it all the time in the Republican party. We need to remember, no matter how great we think the differences are among Conservatives and Republicans – they are nothing as compared to the difference between Republicans and Democrats.

2026 will indeed be a great year.

For the Wilmington Standard, I’m Reuel Sample. Thanks for listening.

Reuel Sample is the Editor-in-Chief of The Wilmington Standard. A graduate of Grove City College and Princeton Theological Seminary, he has served as both a Presbyterian Pastor and a Navy Chaplain. He is the product of a classical liberal arts education combined with real world experience in politics and business and conservative Christian worldview firmly rooted in the Reformed tradition. He is the host of several podcasts including the NHC GOP Podcast, the Pastor's Voice, and co-hosts the Nikki and Reuel Podcast Experience. An avid sailor, he has sailed around the world as a youth and to the Azores as a teen as well as extensive trips up and down the east coast of the United States. He is honored to be married to his wife Pam and makes his home in Wilmington, NC.