Trump says he accepts the results and will work with the Democrats, and that Republicans would have won if he had been on the ballot

Trump watched the returns from the East Room of the White House. He stayed off Truth Social for about three hours on Tuesday night while the losses mounted, then posted just after 10:30 p.m. Eastern: "I wasn't on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!"

Speaking to the New York Times while the results came in, Trump said he is "absolutely willing to accept" the results. "We'll work with the Democrats, and we'll, you know, look forward to working with them. We'll probably work something out," he said. On Fox News he said he did not view the night as a hit on him, and he pointed to the economy and to what his administration has done in its first two years. Asked about the causes, he said the war in Iran was part of it. He told the Wall Street Journal that higher gas prices from the conflict with Iran were a piece of the result.

Reuters reported that the White House had polling as far back as six weeks ago showing Republicans would lose both the House and the Senate, and that Trump then campaigned for a month around the country to try to hold the majorities. He rallied in Iowa and Kansas on the final weekend, two states his party once treated as safe, and both states elected Democratic senators on Tuesday.

The candidates Trump picked or backed in the biggest Senate races lost in Texas, South Carolina and North Carolina, and his preferred candidate in Michigan, Mike Rogers, lost to Abdul El-Sayed. In Texas, Trump had backed Attorney General Ken Paxton over Senator John Cornyn in the Republican primary. Paxton lost the general election to James Talarico on Tuesday. Republican strategist Doug Heye called the night a "Trump Quake" and pointed to prices, tariffs and the Iran war. Those are the strategists' readings. Trump's own stated position is the one he posted on Tuesday night, and his stated plan is to work with the new Democratic majorities where a deal can be made and to govern through the veto and the executive branch where it cannot.