Democrats win Congress as Trump blames GOP candidates for midterm losses

Democrats take control of Congress

Democrats won control of the House and Senate in the midterm elections held on Tuesday, 3 November 2026, and early Democratic wins began appearing on Tuesday night. Trump had repeatedly told rally crowds to pretend he was on the ballot, but after the results came in he and his aides described the outcome as something other than a referendum on him. He later said he would accept the Democratic majorities and work with them, a notably conciliatory response. The shift in Congress is likely to limit his ability to pass legislation, although he retains latitude on foreign policy.

Trump blames candidates and his absence from the ballot

Trump said his absence from the ballot kept Republicans from turning out enough voters. In an interview with The New York Times, he said the following:

“I wasn't on the ticket, and because I wasn't on the ticket, we couldn't get enough people out to vote.”

Trump also faulted the Republicans he had endorsed and campaigned for at multiple rallies, saying some of them had many flaws and were not acceptable to voters. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, lost his reelection bid to the Democrat Gina Hinojosa, and Trump wrote on Truth Social that Abbott would not have lost had he not become a Republican in name only in the last six months of his political life. A White House official, speaking anonymously to The Washington Post, said Trump had promoted many of the candidates better than they had promoted themselves. Trump also said he would make no changes to his Cabinet.

The Iran war and gasoline prices

Trump acknowledged that voters were upset about higher gas prices stemming from the Iran war, but he maintained that his decisions were correct. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal about the war, he said:

“I did the right thing. I would have done it again.”

Republican strategist James Davis said the war was part of the party's setbacks and helped shift the electorate toward Democrats. He argued that the bigger problem was the lack of a clearly articulated strategy that would give people confidence in the war. Davis also cited higher energy and especially diesel costs, which affected all sectors of the economy and intensified concerns about affordability. Vice President JD Vance pointed to the same war and to the US relationship with Israel as reasons for the losses, writing in a lengthy social media post:

“The reason we lost is the war.”

Europe braces for a Trump response

The Irish Times reports that senior European Commission officials had privately cautioned colleagues for weeks that big Republican losses could leave Trump bruised and looking for a fight elsewhere. That fight could take the form of the war in Iran, a further cut in the already waning US support for Ukraine, or a new row with the European Union. Relations between Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy have fallen to a fresh low, and Ukraine relies on US military intelligence and Patriot interceptors. Brussels accepted a 15 per cent tariff rate on EU goods sold into the US to stabilise the trade relationship, and Trump's tariffs and the energy crisis have raised the cost of living, an issue that featured prominently in many midterm races.