WASHINGTON, NOV 4 (PTI): In a stinging rebuke to President Donald Trump, American voters on Tuesday gave the opposition Democratic Party control of the US Congress and flipped key gubernatorial posts in widely watched elections that will have consequences far beyond America.
Trump’s Republican Party faced stunning defeats in its strongholds such as Texas, Georgia, Iowa and Ohio, where it lost the governors’ posts to the Democrats. The grand old party also faced a drubbing in Senate races in Texas, Maine, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kansas, Iowa and Ohio, where Trump campaigned with a simple message urging voters to pretend that he was on the ballot.
The Democrats won control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, ending the Republicans’ hold on the two chambers of Congress.
The widespread losses were attributed to anger against Trump’s policies, including the war on Iran, which have contributed to rising living costs.
In interviews with PTI at polling booths, voters repeatedly cited Trump’s lies and boasts as reasons for turning away from him.
“Trump is a disgrace. I do not want him to be a role model for my children, and the sooner he is out of office the better,” a Democrat voter said in Georgia, which is traditionally a Republican state. Trump-backed Indian-American Vivek Ramaswamy was defeated in Ohio’s gubernatorial race by Democrat Amy Acton after a bitter campaign that even left the Republican Party divided. The Democrats also flipped more than two dozen House seats, including in several districts that Trump had won by double-digit margins in 2024. “The Trump era is over,” Republican leader Chris Christie told ABC News.
In media interviews, Trump conceded defeat in the elections, known as midterms because they are held in the middle of the president’s four-year term, and said he was ready to work with the Democrats.
“My message is, congratulations to the Democrats, and I look forward to working with you for the good of our country,” he told CBS News.
“I am absolutely willing to accept those results,” Trump said in an interview with The New York Times on Tuesday night as results trickled in. If that was uncharacteristically humble and conciliatory of Trump, he was quick to revert to his customary style of transferring the blame elsewhere.
He said his party lost because he was not on the ballot and said he had no regrets about endorsing candidates such as Senator Darline Graham, Republican of South Carolina, and Ken Paxton, the Republican attorney general of Texas.
In the outgoing Senate, Republicans had a 53-47 majority. The Democrats flipped the Senate after winning at least seven Republican-held seats, including in North Carolina, Ohio, Maine, South Carolina, Kansas, Iowa and Texas.
In the outgoing House, Republicans had a slim margin of 220-215. Democrats have now crossed the 218-seat threshold needed to take control of the chamber, reversing the balance of power.
“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,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
