Former White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt asserted that Republicans' significant midterm losses were due to voters forgetting about President Trump's "good policy" and succumbing to "the lying media."
Leavitt's comments came as election results showed a "blue wave" that defied polling expectations and handed Democrats control of both chambers of Congress. She suggested that voters were distracted from Trump's economic policies, such as his "energy dominance plan" which she claimed contributed to gasoline prices as low as $1.99 per gallon in states like Colorado during his administration.
"So unfortunately, I think the American people forgot about the good policy, maybe listened to the lying media on the other side," Leavitt stated on Fox News.
Trump himself acknowledged in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that the war in Iran was "partly to blame" for the Republican setbacks. The conflict, which began in February, led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and a subsequent rise in global oil prices. The national average cost of gasoline has reportedly increased to $4.12 per gallon, up from $3.05 a year prior, according to AAA.
Despite admitting the war's impact, Trump maintained he "did the right thing" and "would have done it again." He also posted on Truth Social that the losses occurred because he was not on the ballot, stating, "I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!"
Several of Trump's endorsed candidates faced surprising defeats. In Texas, Democrat James Talarico defeated Ken Paxton by a significant margin, marking the first time the state elected a Democratic senator since 1988. Trump had backed Paxton over incumbent Senator John Cornyn. Similarly, in South Carolina, Democrat Annie Andrews secured a victory over Darlene Graham, Trump's personally chosen candidate.
During a contentious call with Fox News's Bret Baier, Trump criticized the network's polling, suggesting they "ought to get yourself a good pollster, because your pollster is the worst." Baier countered that the election results largely aligned with Fox's predictions.
Amidst the election night results, Trump told The New York Times that he would accept the outcome and expressed openness to working with Democrats, stating, "We’ll, you know, look forward to working with them. We’ll probably work something out."