Trump Admits Midterms Were 'Somewhat Disappointing' for Republicans

Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday expressed disappointment in the outcome of Tuesday night's midterm elections after a campaign season in which his influence—and the specter of the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol—loomed large over the electorate.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump—who failed to win a majority in two consecutive elections at the top of the ballot—downplayed projections that Republicans could fail to reclaim a majority in Congress while prematurely claiming his party had secured a congressional majority.

"While in certain ways yesterday's election was somewhat disappointing, from my personal standpoint it was a very big victory—219 WINS and 16 Losses in the General," Trump posted. "Who has ever done better than that?"

At the time Trump posted, Republicans had locked up 204 seats in Congress, though many projected that they would narrowly claim the 218 seats needed to claim a majority with votes still to be counted. But it was still far fewer than the amount many believed Republicans would win, with many candidates underperforming in races otherwise believed to be competitive.

Many on the Republican side blamed Trump, whom conservative writer Charles C.W. Cooke called "a loser" in a write-up in the National Review.

In races like New Hampshire (where Republican candidate Don Bolduc, a longtime loyalist of the former president, ignored Trump's endorsement) and Michigan, candidates that bought wholesale into Trump's unfounded rhetoric about the 2020 election being "stolen" were defeated handily in what some believed were potentially competitive races.

Trump-aligned far-right candidates whom national Democrats had boosted in their primaries lost in races believed to be winnable. In other battleground states like Pennsylvania, Trump's recent presence in the state only appeared to hurt candidates like Mehmet Oz, who lost a grind-it-out race to Democrat John Fetterman for a seat that could have potentially sealed Republican control of the Senate.

"Trump's rally in Pennsylvania the Saturday before the election, and his signaled intention to announce another presidential bid later this month, may have done more damage than anyone knew," conservative columnist Salena Zito wrote on election night after the race was called for Fetterman.

Issues that the GOP ran against, like abortion and the public's perceptions of threats to democracy prompted by Trump's claims about the 2020 election, proved to be strong motivators to many voters, according to exit polling.

Some blamed the Republican National Committee and the party's campaign leadership arms for tying too much of their fate to Trump and ignoring candidates who could bolster the party's future.

Other prominent conservatives noted the performance of other mainstream Republicans, including figures like Brian Kemp, Mark DeWine and Lee Zeldin, who outperformed Trump where others faltered.

In Florida, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis notably performed better than Trump did in many blue corners of the state, demonstrating a mainstream viability that Trump—the only president to lose the popular vote twice—could not.

"This is the path to the future," Marc Thiessen, a former White House speechwriter for George W. Bush, said in a postmortem on Fox News early Wednesday morning. "And electing these radical candidates who ran far behind them has put the Republican Party in a terrible position. And voters have left. They have indicted the Republican Party."

"We need a Republican overhaul," tweeted Caleb Hull, a Republican operative who campaigned for Trump in 2016. "Trump pushed a bunch of candidates that SUCK and everyone knew it but we have no choice but to go along. We had everything on our side and missed the mark. DeSantis is the new head of the party, not a 76-year-old man."

Trump has stuck to his guns. Prior to the election, he told NewsNation: "Well, I think if they win, I should get all the credit. If they lose, I should not be blamed at all."

Shortly after Bolduc's loss, Trump took to Truth Social to weigh in on the New Hampshire race. In Trump's view, Bolduc did not lose because he backed Trump—he lost because he did not back Trump strongly enough.

"Don Bolduc was a very nice guy, but he lost tonight when he disavowed, after his big primary win, his longstanding stance on Election Fraud in the 2020 Presidential Primary," Trump wrote. "Had he stayed strong and true, he would have won, easily. Lessons Learned!!!"

Newsweek reach out to Trump for comment.