US President Donald Trump attempted to brush off a stunning rebuke from voters in the US midterm elections as he delivered his first public remarks since the Democrats swept Congress in a bizarre appearance at his new White House ballroom.
Republican Trump faces a radically transformed political landscape after the Democrats seized both the House of Representatives and the Senate on Tuesday. His own vice-president, JD Vance, then publicly split from him over the Iran war.
Vance said the "reason we lost is the war," distancing himself from the unpopular conflict ahead of a possible 2028 White House run and signalling the start of what could become a major round of Republican infighting.
The result was a personal humiliation for the 80-year-old Trump, leaving him a lame duck president for the remaining two years of his term.
The Democratic flipping of Congress signals an end to Trump's stranglehold on US politics and gives Democrats the power to block legislation, probe his administration and thwart his appointments.
But in his first public appearance, Trump signalled his priorities lay elsewhere. He took journalists to the site of the US$400-million ballroom and talked about marble and columns without mentioning the midterms for several minutes.
Trump eventually took questions and conceded that what Vance had said about the Iran war was "largely true because it drove the gasoline up" – a key issue for voters angered by the rising cost of living.
"But at the same time, if I had it to do again, I'd have to do it again. Because long term, it's the only answer. You can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon," he added.
Trump said he would "get along" with Democrats, repeating the conciliatory tone he took as the results emerged on Tuesday night, but reiterated his threat to veto legislation he disliked. He warned that a third impeachment attempt would "destroy" the Democratic Party.
Democrats flipped seven Senate seats held by Republicans, scoring historic breakthroughs in South Carolina, North Carolina, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Texas and Maine – several of which had not changed hands for decades.
Two Senate races – in heavily Republican Mississippi and Alaska – remain too close to call midweek.
Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said Wednesday that the Iran war "must end," suggesting his party could use its control over government funding to press for that goal.
Hakeem Jeffries, set to become the next speaker of a Democratic-controlled House, hailed an "American tsunami" and predicted Democrats could win as many as 255 seats in the 435-member chamber.
"We're humbled by the outcome," Jeffries said, vowing to "fight hard for every single American, wherever you may reside."
In Texas, James Talarico, one of several young, charismatic politicians put up by the Democrats, won a Senate seat. Democrats also won the governor's race, ending decades of Republican rule.
In Maine, former logger Troy Jackson defeated longtime Republican Senator Susan Collins. In Kansas, Methodist minister Adam Hamilton became the first Democrat elected to the Senate from the reliably conservative state since 1932. Iowa had not elected a Democratic senator since 2008.
Democrats protected key Senate seats of their own, including rising star Jon Ossoff in Georgia and an open seat in New Hampshire. In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed – whom Trump derided as a "jihadist" during campaigning – became the first Muslim elected to the upper chamber.
Democrats also won Georgia's governorship, electing former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms as the first Black woman governor in US history.
But the night was "a big wipeout and a strong repudiation of Donald Trump and his policies", said George Washington University professor Todd Belt.
Trump's defeat upends another US election too – the race to replace him in the White House in 2028.
The crushing Republican defeat is particularly stinging for Vance, who had been the frontrunner but now risks being tied to his lame-duck boss.
The MAGA coalition that shot Trump to power in 2016 and 2024 effectively collapsed in Tuesday's midterms, leaving any presumptive Republican heir with a mountain to climb.
Long seen as the odds-on favourite for the Republican nomination in 2028, Vance is the most obvious victim after hitching his wagon to Trump.
Trump's Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, is the other main name being bandied about.
The Democratic field is crowded but the midterms have boosted some likely candidates. Ossoff's re-election as Georgia senator has fuelled speculation about a 2028 run.
Before the midterms, former vice-president Kamala Harris, 62, had been the favourite for the nomination, but many in the party would prefer someone without a losing track record.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, 53, who was interviewed by Harris to be her running-mate in 2024, had a good night as he stormed back to re-election in the key battleground state.
Outgoing California Governor Gavin Newsom, 59, is another prominent figure who has repeatedly taken on Trump.
A potentially divisive choice would be left-wing New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who said in September she was weighing a run, questioning whether a Latina could win in a country that rejected female nominees in 2016 and 2024.
Numbers that tell the story
Total turnout numbers are not in yet, but US citizens cast more than 61.7 million votes even before election day, according to the University of Florida's Election Lab. That figure, a runaway record for early voting in US midterms, undoubtedly boosted Democrats, who traditionally cast their ballots early more often than Republican voters. The numbers showed large turnout among African Americans, young people and other groups that typically support Democratic candidates, National Public Radio reported.
Total spending for the 2026 midterms soared to a record US$11.9 billion, substantially higher than the US$8.9 billion racked up in 2022, according to OpenSecrets, a non-partisan authority on spending in US politics. Campaign fundraising and ad buys jumped in the 2026 races, driven by the outside spending of so-called political action committees. Such outside spending, led by Trump's mega-billionaire ally Elon Musk, favoured Republicans by some US$360 million. But Democratic candidates proved adept at raising their own funds.House and Senate candidates spent an unprecedented US$3.7 billion from their campaign warchests, with Democrats outspending Republicans by US$800 million, according to OpenSecrets. In Texas, Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico broke records by bringing in a staggering US$145 million, several times the US$22 million raised by his Republican rival Ken Paxton who was forced to rely on outside groups to fund his campaign.
Ninety-four years ago was the last time Kansas sent a Democrat to the US Senate. But on Tuesday night, Adam Hamilton unseated Republican incumbent Roger Marshall. Hamilton, the pastor of a Methodist megachurch who was registered as a Republican until recently, became the first Democrat to win a Senate race in the largely rural, conservative state since 1932. Texas also went blue for the first time in decades, with Talarico scoring a massive upset to flip a Senate seat in the Lone Star State for the first since 1988 – the year before he was born. South Carolina also defied history, ousting Senator Darline Graham – who had been appointed earlier this year to fill the seat of her late brother Lindsey Graham – in favour of Democrat Annie Andrews. No South Carolina Democrat had been elected to the Senate since 1998.
Young men and Latino voters turned sharply away from the president and his Republican Party, exit polls showed. Hispanic voters had helped bring Trump to power in 2016, and were instrumental in his victory in 2024, when they only narrowly went to Democrat Kamala Harris in the presidential election, 51 percent to 48 percent, according to Pew Research. But in recent weeks, several Latino voters have expressed anger at Trump, saying they felt betrayed. It showed in NBC News exit polls on Tuesday, when Latino voters backed Democratic candidates by 62 percent to 35 percent over Republicans. Young voters also soured on Trump. NBC News reported that its exit polls showed 18-29-year olds, men and women, voted for Democrats by a 72 percent to 25 percent margin. That is a sharp shift from 2024 when young voters were split between Trump and Harris.