“Disaster”: Trump says government shutdown “a big factor” for GOP election night wipeout
The ongoing government shutdown is now the longest in U.S. history — and President Donald Trump admitted that it hurt the Republican Party in Tuesday’s elections, resulting in coast-to-coast wins for Democrats.
Trump said the 36-day shutdown played “a big role” on election night, which saw progressive Zohran Mamdani elected mayor of New York City, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., defeat a Trump-backed candidate for New Jersey governor, and Virginia elect Democrat Abigail Spanberger, its first female governor.
“Last night, it was not expected to be a victory, it was very Democrat areas,” Trump said at a breakfast with Senate Republicans at the White House. “I don’t think it was good for Republicans. I don’t think it was good for anybody. We had an interesting evening and learned a lot.”
On Truth Social, Trump also claimed that the losses were so numerous due to his name not being on the ballot, leading to less participation by MAGA voters. “I don’t know about that but I was honored that they said that,” he said Wednesday.
On the Democratic side, lawmakers claimed Tuesday as a great victory for their policies, and a rebuttal of the Trump administration. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said the GOP was “wiped out” on Tuesday, while Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, said that Tuesday night “has given me so much hope.”
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Former President Barack Obama offered his congratulations to the Democratic winners, though stopped short of declaring total victory. “We’ve still got plenty of work to do, but the future looks a little bit brighter,” Obama said in a post on X.
Republicans seemed to take the loss hard. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called the night a “disaster.”
“They are frequently a canary in a coal mine,” Cruz said of the elections in New Jersey and Virginia on his podcast. “This ain’t good.”
Vivek Ramaswamy, a Trump ally and candidate for Ohio governor, offered a blunt assessment of election night in a video posted to X.
“We got our asses handed to us,” Ramaswamy said.
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