OhOn their first day back on Capitol Hill after comprehensive defeats in last week’s midterm elections, Republicans were divided into two camps: those who saw disaster coming and those who did not.
“I told you exactly what was going to happen. Over and over again, I told you,” West Virginia Sen. Jim Justice said. “I truly and sincerely said that if you weren’t concerned and you were a Republican, you were living in a cave. Those were my exact words.”
“No one anticipated the magnitude,” said Congressman Warren Davidson of Ohio. “I mean, you can’t tell me the guy who ran for Democratic senator in Mississippi thought he was going to win.”
Although Scott Colom has not been officially declared the winner of the U.S. Senate race in Mississippi — a state that has not sent a Democrat to the chamber since 1982 — there was indeed ample evidence before Tuesday’s vote that Republicans were biased.
Not only does the ruling party historically suffer defeats in midterm elections, but Donald Trump’s approval rating has plummeted with voters, even on issues he previously polled heavily on, while Democrats have surged in special and off-year elections.
Still, few pollsters or political analysts publicly predicted that Democrats would win a 54-seat majority in the Senate and a 254-seat majority in the House — both positions could expand even further as vote counting continues.
“People are angry, and they have a right to be. They’re disappointed, and they feel like we didn’t keep our promises, and that we deserved exactly what we got,” said Sen. John Curtis of Utah. His state is deeply red, but last Tuesday Democrats managed to break the Republican majority in the House of Representatives by winning at least 14 seats – a feat repeated in legislatures across the country.
Over the past two years, Republican lawmakers have vacillated between doing what Trump wants — they rushed to pass his major domestic policy bill in time for last year’s July 4 Independence Day — and standing aside, including when he has taken steps that appear to run counter to Congress’s constitutional role.
That meant rejecting efforts to end the war with Iran — which Congress has not authorized — as well as repealing its tariffs. Last year, Republicans were tormented by a bipartisan rebellion following the investigation into disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, before finally capitulating and voting to release documents that Trump insinuated would be made public if he were elected.
It all led to the worst midterms any party has seen since the aftermath of the Watergate scandal in 1974, and among Republicans, theories abounded about where they lost the plot.
“At the end of the day, every election is about pocketbooks,” said Glenn Thompson, the Pennsylvania Republican who chairs the House Agriculture Committee. He insisted that better days were ahead, “in a few months,” because of the “long-term success of the president’s policies.”
“Unfortunately, all of these things are going to come too late for this election,” Thompson said.
Davidson, the Ohio representative who is among a small group of House Republicans to vote against the Iran war, said, “If we had kept the promises we campaigned on in 2024, we probably would have had a different election outcome.” »
Asked to elaborate on what Republicans failed to accomplish, he said, “You can dig into a number of things, but you know, it’s a mixed bag. But I think a lot of people didn’t feel heard and went out to make sure they had everyone’s attention.”
Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley had an inkling of something Republicans had done wrong: cutting Medicaid under the One Big Beautiful Bill and jeopardizing rural hospital finances.
“Congress has spent months talking about how we could cut Medicaid to the bone, and you know, at the same time, it turns out they’re finding ways to fund data centers. Big mistake,” Hawley said.
An anti-abortion lawmaker and outspoken Christian, Hawley announced an hour of fasting and prayer next month for people “worried about the direction the country is going” under the new Democratic majority.
Congress still has a long list of things to do before the end of the year and before the new political configuration is cemented.
Government funding expires on December 11 and is to be extended, ideally until next September. A major defense policy bill remains unfinished, as does a long-delayed agricultural measure. All of this legislation will require buy-in from both parties to move forward.
“The House will work. We will stay here 24 hours a day if necessary,” Republican Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Monday evening, while calling the election results “a moment of sober reflection for us as a party.”
But first, House Republicans will have to face the uncomfortable question of whether or not to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The resolution is the swan song of Thomas Massie, a Republican dissident who was a thorn in Trump’s side for much of his second term and who lost his primary because of it.
Some within the Republican Party believe the party should think bigger — after all, who knows when they will regain control of Congress under a Republican president. Perhaps they could advance another party bill on a policy like anti-fraud or defense funding, these lawmakers say.
Technically, the votes are there to do such things, but it’s unclear if the time is right, as the House of Representatives is scheduled to end on December 17 and the Senate the next day. Democrats will likely do everything they can to resist adopting other elements of Trump’s agenda, when members of their new majority are already going in circles – literally.
In the tunnels beneath the Capitol, former and future Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown fielded questions from a crowd of reporters, while Troy Jackson of Maine, James Talarico of Texas and Chris Pappas of New Hampshire were seen making their way through the crowds outside the Senate chambers. Everyone was at the Capitol for new member orientation.
Seeking a change of direction after voters delivered a thorough rebuke to him, Trump said he would like to work with Democrats on some areas where he believes there is agreement to be made, even though few in the party think he means what he says, particularly after naming Stephen Miller, an immigration hardliner, as chief of staff.
What can be accomplished under a soon-to-be sharply divided government was on the mind of veteran Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who leaves office after Trump orchestrates his primary defeat to Ken Paxton, only for Talarico to beat him.
“It’s going to be fascinating to watch,” the senator said, “from my television.”
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