Donald Trump has claimed Republicans would have won the 2026 midterm elections “IN A LANDSLIDE” if he had been on the ballot, after Democrats secured control of both chambers of Congress.
In a post on social media, the president wrote: “I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP.”
Mr Trump also sought to distance himself from the Republican defeats, saying Democrats had run effective campaigns while blaming candidates from his own party for failing to hold their seats.
Trump blames Greg Abbott for defeat
The president singled out Texas governor Greg Abbott, who lost his re-election bid, accusing him of moving away from the conservative base that had previously supported him.
“If Greg Abbott, the Governor of Texas, hadn’t become a RINO in the last six months of his Political Life, he wouldn’t have lost,” Mr Trump said. “He went back to his original formula, and it wasn’t pretty!”
Democrats made major gains across the country, flipping Senate seats in Kansas, Iowa, Texas, Ohio, Maine, North Carolina and South Carolina while holding key contests in Georgia and Michigan.
In Texas, Democrat James Talarico defeated Republican attorney general Ken Paxton, while former Ohio senator Sherrod Brown returned to the Senate after winning his race. Democrat Roy Cooper also captured a Senate seat in North Carolina.
The result in South Carolina was among the most striking setbacks for the Republican Party. Democrat Annie Andrews defeated Republican Darline Graham in a state Mr Trump carried by nearly 18 percentage points in 2024, becoming the first Democrat to win a Senate election there since 1998.
Ms Andrews’ victory came despite Mr Trump’s backing for Ms Graham and his campaigning on her behalf. Democrats also held on to competitive Senate seats in Georgia and Michigan, while Chris Pappas won in New Hampshire against former senator John Sununu.
In the House of Representatives, Democrats flipped more than two dozen districts, including several that had voted decisively for Mr Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
The Democratic victories will leave Mr Trump facing a divided government for the final two years of his presidency, with Republicans no longer controlling either chamber of Congress.
