Midterm Election Republican Losses: Trump Sqaundered His Mandate

Two years ago, on November 6, 2024, as the world awoke to the most breathtaking and remarkable political comeback in American history — ’s return to the White House — I wrote that “Donald Trump is the most consequential American political figure of the 21st century so far.”

Two years later, that remarkable comeback has ended in a crushing electoral defeat on a scale not seen since the post-Watergate election of 1974. The Republican Party’s majority in the House of Representatives was washed away, which was not unexpected. But its Senate majority also went down to stunning defeat — swept away in the Blue Tsunami in heretofore red states. Kansas’s Roger Marshall lost. South Carolina’s Darline Graham lost. Democrats won in Senate races in North Carolina and in Iowa and, in an almost unimaginable turn of events a year ago, the Republican Party lost a U.S. Senate seat in Texas. Republicans also lost the Texas governor’s mansion. Republicans lost the Texas lieutenant governor’s race. The Texas legislature is likely to tip to the left. Republicans’ majority on the Texas Supreme Court may go from 9–0 to 5–4.

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Mark Antonio Wright

Mark Antonio Wright is the executive editor of National Review.

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Two years ago, on November 6, 2024, as the world awoke to the most breathtaking and remarkable political comeback in American history — ’s return to the White House — I wrote that “Donald Trump is the most consequential American political figure of the 21st century so far.”

Two years later, that remarkable comeback has ended in a crushing electoral defeat on a scale not seen since the post-Watergate election of 1974. The Republican Party’s majority in the House of Representatives was washed away, which was not unexpected. But its Senate majority also went down to stunning defeat — swept away in the Blue Tsunami in heretofore red states. Kansas’s Roger Marshall lost. South Carolina’s Darline Graham lost. Democrats won in Senate races in North Carolina and in Iowa and, in an almost unimaginable turn of events a year ago, the Republican Party lost a U.S. Senate seat in Texas. Republicans also lost the Texas governor’s mansion. Republicans lost the Texas lieutenant governor’s race. The Texas legislature is likely to tip to the left. Republicans’ majority on the Texas Supreme Court may go from 9–0 to 5–4.