Politics 3 min read By Bethany Hadley
Trump-backed Republican candidates lose key races in Democratic midterm sweep
Democrats regained control of the House and Senate as several Senate and gubernatorial candidates endorsed by Donald Trump were defeated, and Trump blamed Republicans and candidate quality rather than himself.
Democrats regained control of the House and the Senate in a midterm election that swept through traditional Republican strongholds, including Kansas, South Carolina and Texas, and left several Republican candidates personally backed by Donald Trump defeated. The results have exposed the limits of a president who has long acted as kingmaker in GOP contests, and they have prompted him to distance himself from the candidates he endorsed.
Among the Senate contenders Trump handpicked and who were easily beaten were Ken Paxton in Texas, Michael Whatley in North Carolina, Mike Collins in Georgia and Darline Graham in South Carolina. In the governors' races, Vivek Ramaswamy in Ohio and Steve Hilton in California also lost. Byron Donalds in Florida narrowly won his contest. Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff was reelected in Georgia, while Democrats needed a net gain of four seats to take back control of the Senate.
Trump responded with a series of posts on his Truth Social account late on Tuesday. Singling out Greg Abbott, the Governor of Texas, he wrote: «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. He went back to his original formula, and it wasn't pretty!» Abbott lost his re-election bid even after reversing an earlier pro-data center stance amid a broad backlash against artificial intelligence. While in office he had been a staunch conservative and a strong Trump supporter.
Trump also argued that he had not been on the ballot himself. «I wasn't on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!» he wrote. A White House official made a similar case, telling NewsNation: «President Trump was not on the ballot, and it's proven that Trump voters show up when he is on the ballot». The official added: «Also, candidate quality matters, and President Trump did a better job promoting many of the candidates on the ballot than the candidates did themselves.» The explanation sits uneasily with the fact that Trump had been stumping for Republican candidates across the country and encouraging voters to treat the races as though he were on the ballot.
The president also turned his criticism on Fox News, claiming its ratings were down because it was spending too much time covering what he called the «Trump Deranged Dumocrats!» He wrote: «All of those people who used to watch Fox, and no longer do, get it. It's them, not me — My numbers are better than they have ever been.» He further attacked the network's polling, describing its questions as hit jobs and dismissing its answers, a line of criticism he said has been going on for years.
Source: fortune.com
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