Trump Says ‘Wasn’t On The Ballot’ After Democrats Sweep Election Night

Topline

President Donald Trump said Democrats’ sweeping wins Tuesday night—in the first big elections since his return to the White House—were a result of him not being on the ballot, while also blaming the prolonged government shutdown on Republicans’ poor performance.

President Donald Trump doubled down on his demand that the Republicans must ditch the Senate filibuster.

Getty Images

Key Facts

Speaking at a breakfast with Senate Republicans on Wednesday morning, Trump admitted the election the night before went poorly for his party, telling Senate leadership upfront “I don’t think it was good for Republicans, I’m not sure it was good for anybody.”

Trump said the ongoing government shutdown was “a big factor, negative for the Republicans,” while also noting his absence on ballots could have been “the biggest factor.”

Trump’s remarks matched his comments in a post on his Truth Social platform earlier on Tuesday night: “‘TRUMP WASN’T ON THE BALLOT, AND SHUTDOWN, WERE THE TWO REASONS THAT REPUBLICANS LOST ELECTIONS TONIGHT,’ according to Pollsters.”

Trump didn’t specify which “pollsters” he was citing in the post, but many of the candidates who lost key races on Tuesday night had been endorsed by the president, including the GOP’s New Jersey gubernatorial candidate, Jack Ciattarelli, and New York Mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo.

The president also doubled down on his demand that Republicans in the Senate should scrap the filibuster, after last week saying the GOP could end the shutdown by using the “nuclear option” and getting rid of the filibuster.

In a follow-up post, Trump clarified what he meant by voter reform, writing: “Pass Voter Reform, Voter ID, No Mail-In Ballots. Save our Supreme Court from ‘Packing,’ No Two State addition, etc.”

The president made another cryptic post a short while later, saying: “…AND SO IT BEGINS!”

What Has Trump Said About The Filibuster?

In a lengthy post made on Tuesday morning, Trump reiterated his complaints about the filibuster: “The Democrats are far more likely to win the Midterms, and the next Presidential Election, if we don’t do the Termination of the Filibuster (The Nuclear Option!), because it will be impossible for Republicans to get Common Sense Policies done with these Crazed Democrat Lunatics being able to block everything by withholding their votes.” The post then echoed many of the claims he made last week, saying the Democrats wanted to end the filibuster when they were in power, as they knew it would give them “tremendous strength.” Trump noted they were blocked from doing so by former Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va, and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., and added “Well, now WE are in power, and if we did what we should be doing,” Trump suggested that by getting rid of the filibuster, the Republicans could end the government shutdown.

Key Background

Republicans have tried to place the blame for the shutdown on Democrats, but polling has consistently shown voters placing more blame on Republicans since it began over 36 days ago.

Tangent

In his victory speech on Tuesday night, New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani directly called out the president, saying: “Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: turn the volume up.” He then added: “New York will remain a city of immigrants, a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants, and as of tonight led by an immigrant…So hear me, President Trump, when I say this: to get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us.” After the result of the California redistricting ballot measure was called, Governor Gavin Newsom said, “We’re proud of the work the people of California did today to send a powerful message to a historic president. Donald Trump is a historic president; he is the most historically unpopular president in modern history.”