Republican figures attributed the losses to the administration’s policies and candidate quality. Outgoing Senator John Cornyn wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that Republicans “forgot how to win elections” and shrank their coalition by running unlikable candidates with “bad personal character,” costing the party the House, the Senate, and his home state of Texas, which Trump had carried by 14 points in 2024. Former Senator Mitt Romney blamed “erratic tariffs, impulsive Iran war, blanket pardons” and “mountainous deficits,” calling for a party course correction as NBC exit polls showed Trump at 37% approval and 63% disapproval.

Incoming Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and incoming House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries take control of Congress in January after Democrats secured at least 54 Senate seats and flipped at least 28 Republican House seats. Schumer said Wednesday that “the days of Trump’s supplicant Senate are over,” vowing to use Congress’s constitutional spending authority to end the war in Iran and to launch investigations and court challenges against the administration. TD Cowen analysts said the loss of Congress will prevent Republicans from passing a $1.5 trillion defense budget by a simple majority and threatens funding for Trump’s defense priorities, including the $175 billion Golden Dome missile defense system and the $275 billion Golden Fleet shipbuilding plan.