For months before Tuesday’s election, President Donald Trump carried the same request from rally to rally: Voters should act as though he were on the ballot. They did, but the result was the opposite of what Trump had plainly wanted.

Democrats seized control of the House and Senate in a stunning victory that will transform the balance of power in Washington. The outcome also delivered an early jolt to the political maneuvering surrounding the 2028 elections.

As defeat arrived, Trump rushed to distance himself from the campaign pitch he had repeatedly made. He posted on Truth Social that he had not actually been on the ballot and claimed Republicans would have won “IN A LANDSLIDE” if he had been.

His aides offered a similar explanation, arguing that MAGA voters stayed home because Trump was not personally running. “This is pretty much worst-case scenario,” one White House official said as returns showed margins that shocked aides and exceeded even pessimistic polling in numerous statewide races.

Another White House official insisted Trump voters participate when Trump is on the ballot and argued that candidate quality mattered. That official also claimed Trump had done a better job promoting many Republican candidates than those candidates had done promoting themselves.

The political arithmetic was brutal. Democrats appeared to gain at least 30 House seats while flipping seven Senate seats in red states, giving the party control of both chambers and handing Republicans one of the worst midterm defeats for a party in power in modern history.

The losses are expected to energize congressional investigations of Trump, shake up White House staffing and affect state governments during the final two years of his presidency. Republicans were also forced to confront the reality that Trump will never appear on the ballot again.

Inside the White House, aides quickly began blaming colleagues for strategic failures and pointing to the Iran war and high gasoline prices. One official eventually conceded, “There certainly was a lack of message discipline by the president.”

Trump remained unapologetic during a Fox News appearance just after midnight, blaming some candidates for their campaigns while defending the Iran war. “I think it’s the gasoline price. People agree with what I’m doing on Iran, but they really probably weren’t willing to do the short-term consequence of … paying more for gasoline, and that, you know, I understand that. That’s, it’s like I don’t agree with it,” he said.

Despite previously trying to cast doubt on the results, Trump said he would accept them and congratulated Democrats. “They did a good job,” he said, while maintaining that he did not consider the result a personal rejection.

Yet Trump had invested considerable political capital in the candidates whose losses helped flip the Senate. In Texas, he helped defeat incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the Republican primary and backed Attorney General Ken Paxton, whom even Republicans regarded as deeply flawed.

When asked in May whether Senate leaders supported his endorsement of Paxton, Trump brushed aside the concern. “They’ll be all right with it. They want to win. I know how to win,” he said.

Trump also predicted on Truth Social that virtually anyone could defeat Paxton’s Democratic opponent, James Talarico. Instead, the president’s confidence collided with the broader Democratic surge that swept across the country.

In North Carolina, Trump threatened GOP Sen. Thom Tillis with a primary challenge after Tillis opposed the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” Tillis declined to seek another term, and Trump selected former Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley, who struggled throughout the race.

Trump also intervened in South Carolina following the sudden death of Sen. Lindsey Graham. He personally asked Graham’s sister, Darline, a political novice, to run for the seat, but the state sent a Democrat to the Senate for the first time in nearly a century.

One staffer from a losing Trump backed campaign offered a blunt verdict: “Low-key, the party deserves this.” The staffer said Republicans had taken victories for granted and called for a future President Rubio, referring to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, rather than a party focused on “owning the libs.”

Trump had asked supporters in Mississippi to “pretend that I’m on the ballot.” Tuesday’s blue wave showed voters took that request seriously, leaving Republicans to sort through the wreckage of Trump’s candidate choices, campaign instincts and belated attempts to deny ownership.