Former President Donald Trump “is livid” and “screaming at everyone” after last night’s disappointing GOP leads to the midterms, a Trump adviser who has been in touch with Trump’s inner circle tells CNN.
“Candidates matter,” the Trump adviser said. “They were all bad candidates,” the adviser continued, critiquing lots of Trump’s handpicked contenders in key battleground states.
This adviser said it’s unlikely Trump would delay his expected presidential announcement because “it’s too humiliating to delay.” However the adviser said there are too many unknowns at this point.
Essentially the most striking loss for Trump got here in Pennsylvania, where Republican Mehmet Oz fell to Democrat John Fetterman in what was the most costly Senate race within the country. Trump endorsed Oz, through the contentious Republican primary, effectively pulling through a brutal primary and narrowly into the final election. But where the previous president’s backing was decisive in the first, it was an albatross in the final election for a Republican Senate candidate who was attempting to make inroads within the suburbs by touting his own moderation.
While Trump did rating some Senate wins — Trump-backed GOP JD Vance defeated a stronger than expected challenge from Democrat Tim Ryan within the Ohio Senate race, while Republican Ted Budd defeated Democrat Cheri Beasley in North Carolina — those wins have to date been limited to obviously lean Republican states.
Within the House, too, Trump acolytes lost in what were seen as competitive contests that Republicans needed to win in the event that they were going to construct a big majority within the legislative body.
In Latest Hampshire, former Trump aide Karoline Leavitt lost to Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas in what was seen as a highly competitive contest. In North Carolina, Trump-backed Republican Bo Hines lost to Democrat Wiley Nickel in a race that was widely seen as a test of the previous President’s influence. And in Ohio, Democratic state Rep. Emilia Sykes defeated Republican Madison Gesiotto Gilbert who bullishly touted her ties to Trump.
Trump’s evening was particularly bad when viewed through the lens of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ romp of an evening.
DeSantis, Trump’s clearest rival for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, overwhelmingly won reelection on Tuesday, crushing Democrat Charlie Crist by nearly 20 percentage points, continuing to consolidate Latino support in Florida and even by winning populous counties like Miami-Dade.
The headline in Trump’s one-time hometown paper, the Latest York Post, said all of it: “DeFUTURE,” the headline blared, showing the Florida Republican on stage together with his family.
