Voters handed President Donald Trump a sharp midterm rebuke on Tuesday, giving Democrats control of the Senate after rejecting candidates he had personally backed, according to PBS. The president responded early Wednesday by crediting the opposing party's campaigns and faulting Republican candidates for their losses.
In an interview with Fox News that aired hours after the results came in, Trump said Democrats "did a good job" in their races, PBS reports. He placed responsibility for the Republican defeats on the party's own nominees rather than on his own record.
The outcome followed a campaign in which the president repeatedly asked voters to treat the election as a verdict on him. He told audiences to "pretend I'm on the ballot" while stumping in mostly conservative states, and he defended his tariff policy and the war with Iran, which voters linked to rising prices.
Why it matters
A Senate led by Democrats gives the party tools it has not had during the past two years, when congressional Republicans largely deferred to the White House. Democrats will be able to open investigations into the administration and can block the president's picks for Cabinet positions and lifetime federal judgeships, per PBS.
The results also shift influence toward Capitol Hill, where Democrats will look to constrain executive power. PBS reports that the losses leave Trump with substantially reduced political standing at home and abroad.
The president watched returns at the White House with advisers and Cabinet members. Roughly a day after urging voters to imagine his name on the ballot, he began assigning blame elsewhere as results arrived, writing on social media that he "wasn't on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!"
Seats fall in states Trump carried in 2024
Democratic candidates took Republican-held Senate seats in North Carolina, Ohio, Iowa, Texas, South Carolina and Kansas, all states Trump won two years ago, according to PBS. In several of those races, the president had chosen the GOP nominee himself or campaigned on the candidate's behalf.
In Texas, Republican Ken Paxton lost to Democrat James Talarico. Paxton had been impeached by his own party over corruption allegations and was embroiled in a public divorce, PBS reports. Trump backed him over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, whom he considered insufficiently supportive.
In South Carolina, Republican Darline Graham, sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, lost to Democrat Annie Andrews after facing questions about her lack of experience. In North Carolina, incumbent Republican Sen. Thom Tillis chose to retire after clashing with the president; Trump then endorsed ally Michael Whatley, who lost to Democrat Roy Cooper.
Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown won back the Senate seat he lost two years ago, defeating appointed Republican Sen. Jon Husted in a state where Trump and Vice President JD Vance campaigned repeatedly. In Kansas, Democrat Adam Hamilton beat Republican Roger Marshall, and in Iowa, Republican Ashley Hinson lost to Democrat Josh Turek. PBS notes that both Midwestern states were hit hard by high diesel prices and the tariff dispute.
Democrats also held a Senate seat in Georgia, where Jon Ossoff defeated Republican Mike Collins, a Trump ally who struggled to answer for ties to white nationalists and an unresolved House ethics investigation, according to PBS.
Down-ballot, Democrat Gina Hinojosa unseated Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, whom Trump had endorsed and praised. The president later blamed Abbott for the loss in a social media post, labeling him a "RINO," or Republican in name only.
A gamble on making the race a referendum
Putting himself at the center of the campaign was a deliberate bet by the president and his advisers, who believed it would turn out his base, PBS reports. Democrats welcomed the approach, calculating that an unpopular president tying himself to the race would remind voters whom to hold accountable for the economy.
Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., who campaigned in Iowa, Georgia and Texas, told PBS that the strategy had worked as intended for Democrats. "Everyone is thinking about him and the harm that he has done to them directly," Kim said.
The AP Voter Poll, a broad survey of the midterm electorate cited by PBS, found few voters viewed Trump's economic stewardship favorably. About two-thirds said his policies had made economic conditions worse, while roughly three in ten said they had improved them. A similar share said his tariff policies had hurt the national economy or their local economy.
Views of the president's priorities and leadership were also largely negative. More than half of voters said he is not a strong leader, does not fight for people like them, does not have the right priorities and lacks the mental capability to serve effectively. About six in ten said he puts his own personal interests first.
What to watch next: how Senate Democrats use their new investigative and confirmation powers, and whether the president's public assignment of blame to individual Republican candidates reshapes his relationship with the party heading into the next election cycle.
