In the summer of 2025 Donald Trump called on Republican ran states to break from convention and redistrict congressional maps mid-decade in order to help the party keep their weak grip on the House majority. Trump mostly got what he wanted and analysts ultimately reported that the scheme could help the GOP flip 10 house seats in the mid-terms which were thought at the time might be enough to offset some expected mid=term losses for the party in power. Things were looking good for Trump and the GOP until the voters had their say.
Washington " House Speaker Mike Johnson told staffers that he will not run for minority leader in the new Congress, according to a source familiar with the matter, stepping aside after the GOP's extensive losses in the midterm elections.
No one knows what Trump will do this week or in the coming two months before the new Congress is sworn in. On other issues such as the Iran war, Trump has said that nobody knows what he will do. So he almost takes pride in being unpredictable.
But in the case of the midterm elections, his being unpredictable is exactly why so many people are worried.
Remember, this is a guy who once said in a 2019 speech that article two of the constitution allows him to do whatever he wants as president.
And in February of 2025, he posted on social media, he who saves his country does not violate any law. And of course, the one who is saving the country in Donald Trump's eyes is Donald Trump.
Perhaps the biggest reason for all the anxiousness surrounding what Trump might do is that the winners of the midterm elections will need to wait 2 months before they are sworn in. and that happens on January 3rd, 2027.
A lot can happen in 2 months.
As the scale of the Republican Party's losses came into focus late Tuesday, President Trump watched from the White House and went looking for someone to blame. First it was Fox News. Just before midnight, with Democrats projected to seize control of the House, Trump wrote on Truth Social that the network "bears responsibility for these losses by constantly and consistently putting on the Dumocrat opposition, and worse." Then it was the fact that he had not been on the ballot, otherwise, he said, "we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!" Minutes later, Trump was on the phone with the same network he had just accused of sabotaging his party. And over a 22-minute interview, conducted before the Senate had been called for Democrats, his tone shifted from grievance to something closer to acceptance, though never to the idea that the election results were a rebuke on his administration.
Fetterman, who has long faced criticism from wings of his party for obstructing the Democratic agenda by voting with Republicans, will now have less power to force his party to listen to the views he represents. Pennsylvania state Representative Malcolm Kenyatta was one of several who celebrated this as a win, writing in a post on X: "We just Fetterman proofed the U.S. Senate."
Far-right activist Laura Loomer, a close ally of President Donald Trump, spent election night declaring the death of the United States as Democrats took control of Congress. "Democrats now control the House and Senate. America is over," Loomer posted on X Tuesday night. "Many of us warned for years about the Islamic-communist takeover of America. Our country only declines from here. It's best for people to come to terms with the death of our country sooner rather than later." There is no good that can come from working with people who want to impeach you and kill you," she wrote. "Democrats don't want to work with Trump. They want to murder him and his supporters." She instead urged Trump to go on the offensive. "Hopefully President Trump is more vengeful in the next 2 years of his administration," Loomer wrote. "It's time for him to take vetting seriously and purge the radical left."
David Corn:As the disastrous news for Trump and the GOP poured in, Trump zapped out a series of social media posts bitching about Fox News. And White House aides frantically reminded reporters that Trump was not on the ballot. (Roll the video of Trump: "I'm just asking everybody to pretend I'm on the ballot.") These results signaled that Trump's ugly politics of lies, deceit, division, bigotry, tribalism, hate, and demagoguery"which the GOP has fully embraced"no longer resonate with most of the United States.
President Donald Trump has weighed in on the results of the Texas gubernatorial election after a Democrat ousted the Republican incumbent. In a social media post, Trump criticized Gov. Greg Abbott loss to Democratic challenger Gina Hinojosa on Nov. 3. "If Greg Abbott, the Governor of Texas, hadn't become a RINO in the last six months of his Political Life, he wouldn't have lost. He went back to his original formula, and it wasn't pretty!" Trump wrote. Trump had been a supporter of Abbott during the election cycle, saying, "Vote for your governor, Greg Abbott," to Republicans at his Oct. 27 rally in Lubbock.
Gov. Hochul beat Republican Bruce Blakeman Tuesday to win reelection for a second full term as governor as New York Democrats turned out in droves in a blue wave driven by President Trump's deep unpopularity. Hochul led Blakeman by a landslide with the early reporting, capping off a remarkable political comeback from her uncomfortably narrow first reelection win in 2022. "Together, New York Democrats are leading the way for a country that is hungry for progress and we're giving people a reason to believe again," Hochul told cheering supporters as results rolled in. Read more
Several, but not all, Republican AIPAC candidates lost on Election Day. In Texas, Ken Paxton and Greg Abbott lost, Susan Collins (R) in Maine lost and Islamophobe Bruce Blakeman (R), a champion of the Israeli Death Forces (IDF) and ICE, lost against NYS Governor Kathy Hochul (D) who has been riding the coat-tails of NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D). In Ohio, serial wife-batterer Max Miller (R) was humiliated at the polls, as was Vivek Ramaswamy (R). Six non-AIPAC Democrats won their races: Darializa Avila Chevalier (NY), Claire Valdez (NY), Melat Kiros (CO); Donavan McKinney (MI), Chris Rabb (PA), and importantly, US Senator-elect Dr Abdul El-Sayed (MI). In Florida, the despicable Byron Donalds (R) will become that state's first African-American governor. Watch for an increase in Florida-Israeli commercial ties, as well as an uptick in firearms violence, banana republic-style political appointments, and zero efforts to combat flooding, pollution, and disease.
A federal judge in Oregon says he can no longer assume ICE agents are telling the truth in their arrest paperwork, declaring Monday that live testimony is now "necessary" after finding that warrantless arrests are still being made and facts are being "fabricated in official records" by immigration officers
Recently, reports emerged that LG TVs are sniffing around your local network, and even listening to your local environment, even when the TV is purportedly "off." Some of those voice commands were then stored in plain text and uploaded to the internet. LG's response? To deny everything.
Michigan Rep. Haley Stevens has requested U.S. marshals' protection after the Democrat told authorities she had received death threats for endorsing Republican Mike Rogers in the swing state's hotly contested Senate race, two senior Trump administration officials tell Axios.
Everybody ready? Read more
The 2026 US midterm elections feature firebrand progressives trying to stake out new territory, moderate Republicans struggling in the shadow of Donald Trump, and a host of scandals that have made races closer than they should be.
These candidates could shape not only power in Washington, but public and political understanding of what works " and wins votes " in different places across the country.
Can a Democrat win in red Kansas? Could Texas finally flip away from Republicans?
Will abuse allegations or absenteeism tank incumbents? How important is capturing online attention?
A New York clinical psychologist has accused US President Donald Trump of sexually exploiting her when she was a child and attempting to intimidate her decades later. Dr Larissa Portnoff, a former Miss Teen USA contestant, made the allegations in a video going viral online ahead of the November 3, 2026, US midterm elections. Her claims also include alleged attempts to contact her through a political intermediary and access sealed records identifying her as "Jane Doe". "I was one of the child victims of Donald Trump beginning when I was around 8 years old," Portnoff said in the video. She alleged that the abuse began when she was eight, intensified around the age of ten and continued until she was about twelve. She further claimed that Trump targeted her again when she was 16 and 17, and that inappropriate and exploitative interactions involving him and members of his inner circle continued into her adulthood.
