BBC: Most Republicans expected to lose control of the House and were clear-eyed about the challenge of holding onto the Senate in a tough election cycle that favoured the party out of power.
But some said in interviews that Trump dragged them down with unpopular policies, a low job approval rating and obsession over construction projects in Washington.
“It was just one mistake after another,” said Gregg Peppin, a Republican strategist in Minnesota. “Clearly, in state after state, people did not like the president’s policies.”…
‘The money didn’t work’: Big Tech’s $600mn midterm campaign falls flat
“Tech executives spent hundreds of millions of dollars but their efforts proved to be nothing more than a paper tiger,” said Sacha Haworth, who heads the non-profit Tech Oversight Project. “Americans rejected their corruptive influence and any candidate associated with them.”
“The money didn’t work,” said one political operative who had co-ordinated Big Tech spending in the months leading up to the midterms. “Elon Musk spent half a billion dollars and lost every race he showed up in.”…
The beginning of the end of the age of Trump
The rebuke Americans delivered at the ballot box is a sign that the fundamental anchors of democracy have held firm. It offers a chance, if Democrats can seize it and Republicans start to see sense, to begin repairing America’s political system…
How Democrats pulled off the blue wave in maps and charts
The Democrats’ focus on affordability paid off, with the party winning 51 per cent of the vote among the two-fifths of voters who said the economy was the most important issue facing the country. That marks a massive shift from 2024, when Kamala Harris won just 18 per cent of voters most worried about the economy…
Anthony Zurcher: Midterm carnage weakens Trump but he still wields power for now
Left unsaid was that even without control of Congress, American presidents still have broad powers that they can exercise. And Trump has already shown that he is more than willing to push the boundaries of his executive authority.
But also unacknowledged was that the clock is ticking on Trump’s presidency – and it will get increasingly more difficult for him to use the powers at his disposal…
Trump’s loss limits powers at home, but it will likely be different abroad
As president of the United States and commander-in-chief of its armed forces he retains broad powers to use America’s military might.
…The president might be tempted to blot out the electoral rout of the midterms by taking actions abroad. He might try to make moves that he can boast about as the decisive and victorious moves of a strong president, undiminished by an election that he insists, despite all the evidence, that was only lost because he was not on the ballot paper…
‘Rupert does not want to be with a loser’: Murdoch’s media empire cools on Trump
“Rupert does not want to be with a loser,” the executive said. “He doesn’t care about Trump anymore, he cares about the audience.”
But moving away from the president presents a commercial dilemma. Fox must retain its core audience while appealing to younger viewers, particularly with the rival network Newsmax waiting to capitalise on any shift…
How Democrats Turned Texas Blue
Redistricting efforts undertaken by Republican state legislators to redraw a more favorable map left their own candidates vulnerable in a Democratic wave election. Democrats won four of the five districts that Republicans had redrawn to favor them, and they also reversed many of the gains Republicans made along the border in 2024…
The historic firsts of the 2026 election
Keisha Lance Bottoms is projected to become the first Black governor of Georgia, the first female governor of Georgia and the first female Black governor in US history…
‘How did we get here?’: Inside a losing GOP campaign defined by Trump
“People are so mad,” one glum Texas-based GOP operative said in the run-up to Election Day. “And Trump hasn’t done anything to help any of that.”
What Democrats can and can’t do with their new power after taking Congress
A shift in the balance of power in Washington doesn’t necessarily mean Democrats will immediately get to start checking items off their legislative wish list. Democrats have Congress, but Republican President Donald Trump still has the power to reject legislation…
Iran’s chief negotiator says Americans voted ‘no to war’
“We endorse this message,” parliament speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf wrote on X.
“If the US [government] betrays their public will to serve international paymasters and blackmailers, it will learn our NO comes with a Nightmare,” he warned…