The Democrats were tipped to lose the Senate and House but it’s not yet certain which way these races will go, as a red wave doesn’t materialise and Trump-endorsed candidates don’t have a great night. You can listen to US Midterms: Why Trump’s Red Wave Became A Ripple as you scroll.
Fox News pundit says results are ‘searing indictment of the Republican Party’
A right-leaning Fox News pundit has warned the Republican party needs to “do a really deep introspection look in the mirror” if it is to turn things around before the presidential elections.
Speaking as results were coming in early this morning, Marc Thiessen said the Republicans should have done much better against their opponents.
“There is a broader issue, and think about this: we have the worst inflation in four decades, the worst collapse in real wages in 40 years, the worst crime wave since the 1990s, the worst border crisis in US history, we have Joe Biden, who is the least popular president since Harry Truman, since presidential polling happened, and there wasn’t a red wave,” he said.
“That is a searing indictment of the Republican party. That is a searing indictment of the message that we have been sending to the voters. They looked at all of that, and looked at the Republican alternative, and said ‘no thanks.'”
He called the results an “absolute disaster” for the Republicans – although they still remain unclear.
It’s not known yet who will have control of the House or the Senate, but the expected “red wave” has certainly not happened.
How did candidates backed by Donald Trump do?
By Sky News Data and Forensics Unit
One of the biggest talking points of this year’s campaign was how the army of Republican candidates backed by Trump would do. How influential the former president still is on US politics and whether his seal of approval carries weight with the electorate at large as well as with his base.
Mr Trump officially endorsed 174 of the 430 Republican House candidates, and initial analysis of their results suggests he didn’t help them very much.
Counties with candidates backed by Trump increased Republican vote share by an average of 1.3 percentage points compared with the 2020 election, far less than the 6.9 percentage points gained by the Republicans in counties where he didn’t announce support.
The difference was largest in areas that had been Democrat before, but was still clear in districts that Republicans were defending as well.
This analysis is based on early results from fewer than half of counties, so may not be representative of the final outcome but at least gives us a glimpse of how things are going as we look ahead to the next election in 2024.
Mr Trump is yet to even announce his candidacy but he’s still favourite with the bookies, or at least he was before this election.
How a Republican and a Democratic strategist thought last night went
We’ve been getting some reaction from two sides of the spectrum as more results come dripping in.
Republican strategist Charmaine Yoest and Democratic strategist Tim Hogan can both agree last night’s results were better than expected for the Democrats – but there’s not too much else they agree on…
The Republican view…
Ms Yoest believes the Republicans will likely flip the House of Representatives, and her “money is on” them taking the Senate too.
“In politics, a win is a win,” she says.
She points out the “resounding win” for Ron DeSantis in the Florida governor’s vote.
While she admits the Democrats did better than expected, she said they would be “really well advised to not be looking at this as a huge endorsement of their policies” as President Joe Biden remains “stunningly unpopular”.
The Democrat view…
“A win is a win but it’s also about expectations,” says Mr Hogan.
He points out that this is a “terrible loss” historically for the Republicans, who had needed little gains to flip either the House or the Senate.
“Historically, we lose 25 seats in elections like this, we lose four Senate seats, and both chambers are still in question,” he says – although it is still more likely than not that the Republicans will take the House.
If the Republicans fail to flip either chamber, he says this will be “potentially the best showing for a party in power since 2002”.
Trump cost Republicans votes, says former aide
Donald Trump has costing the Republicans valuable seats, one of his former aides has said.
Sarah Matthews, former deputy White House press secretary, said Mr Trump hindered the party by “boosting poor quality candidates”.
As we outlined at 5.15am, candidates back by the former president fared less well than those who didn’t get his endorsement.
Ms Matthews said…
“You have record inflation, increased fears over crime, the worst border crisis in history, an unpopular president and Republican performance was still underwhelming. And that was in large part due to the candidates that Trump backed. They weren’t up to quality. I think this is lessons learned for Republicans that, a/ Trump is not a national winner, and b/ candidate quality matters.”
Republicans will now be questioning the power of Donald Trump
Pollsters had predicted a bad night for Joe Biden – but it was Donald Trump who had a bad night instead, is how US correspondent James Matthews sums up the election results so far.
He says the former president had been “looming large” over these midterms, but ultimately voters – and largely independent voters – rejected his candidates.
They appeared to vote against the Trump-backed candidates in Pennsylvania, Arizona and Georgia – which Matthews says will leave some Republicans questioning “the value of Donald Trump”.
It will “not have gone unnoticed” that Mr Trump’s main Republican rival Ron DeSantis did well, with a landslide victory in Florida.
Matthews says Republicans will now be asking why they should trust Mr Trump to win the presidential election in 2024.
Jen Psaki: White House ‘giddy and gleeful’
The former press secretary of President Joe Biden has said the White House is feeling “giddy and gleeful” about the midterm election results.
For weeks, the Republicans have predicted a “red wave” would carry them to power in Congress but the party have only made modest gains and the Democrats have done better than expected.
Speaking to MSNBC after the Republican’s sweeping victory failed to materialise, Jen Psaki said: “I’ve been in touch with the White House.
“They are giddy and gleeful, as they should be, about where things are sitting right now.”
The latest estimate from NBC News has the Republicans winning 219 House seats compared with the Democrats’ 216, meaning they would still take control but with much less authority than the 40+ gains anticipated by some pollsters.
The Senate is still a toss-up, with the pivotal battles in Arizona, Georgia and Nevada still in play.
The Georgia Senate race could end up in a 6 December runoff, possibly with Senate control at stake.