Full List of Republicans Who Have Dumped Donald Trump After Midterms Flop

Pressure is continuing to mount against Donald Trump following the Republican Party's poor showing in the midterm elections.

Three days after the November 8 polls opened, the GOP has been unable to gain a majority in the House as widely expected, with signs the Democrats may still hold on to the Senate.

Many people, including those within the GOP, have placed the blame squarely at the feet of the former president, whose MAGA and election-denying candidates suffered losses across the country.

As a result, many conservative figures are wondering whether Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who cruised to victory over Democrat Charlie Crist and helped turn Florida into an essentially a red state, should now be the de facto leader of the GOP going into 2024.

Newsweek has compiled a list of top Republican figures who have openly called for the GOP to move on from Trump in the wake of the midterm elections.

Winsome Earle-Sears

Virginia Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears, who traveled across the country to support Trump in his 2020 presidential campaign, has now denounced the former president as a "liability" following the midterms.

"What we saw was, even though he wasn't on the ballot, he was, because he stepped in and endorsed candidates," Earle-Sears told The Washington Post on Thursday, November 10. "And yet, it turns out that those he did not endorse on the same ticket did better than the ones he did endorse.

"That gives you a clue that the voters want to move on. And a true leader knows when they have become a liability to the mission," she added.

Sears made a similar statement during an interview with Fox News on November 10.

"The voters have spoken and they have said that they want a different leader," said Sears. "And a true leader understands, when they have become a liability, a true leader understands that it's time to step off the stage. And the voters have given us that very clear message."

Geoff Duncan

Another Republican lieutenant governor, Georgia's Geoff Duncan, told CNN that the midterm results showed that Trump was now "in the rearview mirror" of GOP and it's time for the party to move on.

"I think it sends a message to the country along with some other states that this is truly a pivot point for the Republican Party," Duncan said.

Pat Toomey

The outgoing Republican senator, whose soon to be vacant seat was won by Democrat John Fetterman in the fiercely contested race with Trump-endorsed Mehmet Oz, said he was "very disappointed" in the midterm results.

"I think a huge factor in all of this was the disastrous role of Donald Trump in this whole process," Toomey told the Wall Street Journal.

"All across the country we see that the hardcore MAGA candidates dramatically underperformed more conventional Republicans, so that's a big reality that we have to recognize."

In an interview with The Philadelphia Inquirer, Toomey added he doesn't believe there will be a "discrete moment" where the party breaks with Trump in "one fell swoop."

"I think Donald Trump's influence gradually but steadily declines, and I think it accelerates after the debacle that he's responsible for to some degree," Toomey said.

Sarah Chamberlain, head of the Republican Main Street Partnership—an alliance of GOP lawmakers—told the WSJ that the party "needs to make some decisions on Trump."

Mike Lawler

The soon to be Republican congressman, who beat head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Sean Patrick Maloney in the race for New York's 17th District, said he would like to see the GOP move past the former president.

"I would like to see the party move forward," Lawler told CNN. "I think anytime you are focused on the future, you can't so much go to the past. And I think people are really excited about the opportunity to address the challenges that we're facing as a country, and I think more focus needs to be on the issues and the substance of those issues than on personalities."

Liam Donovan

Liam Donovan, a former aide to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told The New York Times on election night: "If this proves to be another Senate flop in a year that was otherwise favorable to Republicans — even if not a wave — it will again be a function of the candidates they put up, which was unmistakably shaped and steered by Donald Trump."

A number of conservative media outlets have also turned on Trump in the wake of the midterm elections.

The day after the midterm polls opened, the normally conservative Wall Street Journal editorial team published several critical op-eds about the former president, including one headlined "Trump Is the Republican Party's Biggest Loser."

Also on November 9, The New York Post featured DeSantis on its front page after the Florida governor's election win, along with the headline "DeFuture."

The following day, The Post featured a mock-up of Trump as Humpty Dumpty with the "Trumpty Dumpty" on its front page and published an opinion piece entitled: "Here's how Donald Trump sabotaged the Republican midterms."

"It's time for even his stans to accept the truth: Toxic Trump is the political equivalent of a can of Raid," columnist John Podhoretz wrote in reference to the bug-repellent spray.

"What Tuesday night's results suggest is that Trump is perhaps the most profound vote-repellent in modern American history."

Trump has been contacted for comment.