Would've won if I were on the ballot: Trump as Republicans face midterm losses This comes as media projections indicate that the Republican Party is poised to lose control of the US House of Representatives.

US President Donald Trump sought to distance himself from the Republican Party's poor performance in the 2026 midterm elections, claiming that his party would have won a landslide victory had he himself been on the ballot.

“I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!”Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social. The remark came as Democrats made sweeping gains in the midterm elections, putting them on the verge of wresting control of Congress from Republicans.

The president's post came even as several Republican candidates backed by him suffered defeats. Democrats flipped Senate seats in North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Ohio, while holding on to competitive seats in Georgia and New Hampshire. In Ohio, former Democratic senator Sherrod Brown defeated Republican incumbent Jon Husted. In Texas, Democrat James Talarico defeated Republican Ken Paxton, while physician Annie Andrews defeated Darline Graham in South Carolina.

Former North Carolina governor Roy Cooper also won his Senate race against Trump's chosen candidate, Michael Whatley.

You can The Democratic victories in Texas and South Carolina were particularly significant. Talarico became the first Democrat to win statewide office in Texas in more than 30 years, while Andrews became the first woman elected to the US Senate from South Carolina and the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in the state in more than two decades.

The party also made gains in the House of Representatives, defeating six Republican candidates in key battleground races. Among those who lost were Republican representatives Tom Kean Jr. of New Jersey, Ryan Mackenzie, Scott Perry and Rob Bresnahan of Pennsylvania. Democrats also won open seats in North Carolina and Kentucky, putting them on course for the three-seat net gain needed to secure a House majority.

The setback for Republicans extended to gubernatorial races. In Ohio, Democrat Amy Acton defeated Trump-backed Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, becoming the state's first Democratic governor since 2006. In Georgia, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms won the governor's race, becoming the first Black woman to be elected governor of a US state.

The results marked a significant setback for Trump, whose second term was at the centre of the midterm campaign. Republicans had spent heavily on competitive races and Trump had campaigned for candidates across several states, urging supporters to vote as though he were on the ballot. But the party struggled to hold on to seats even in states that had backed Trump in the 2024 presidential election.

Voter dissatisfaction with the economy and the country's direction appeared to play a major role. According to the AP Voter Poll, around three-quarters of voters said the economy was either 'not so good' or 'poor', while about eight in 10 said inflation had caused moderate or severe financial hardship for their households.

Roughly half cited corruption and the cost of living as crucial factors in their congressional vote. Around six in 10 voters also said Trump prioritised his personal interests over those of the country.

The outcome could reshape the final two years of Trump's second term. A Democratic majority in the House would give the party control of key committees and greater powers to investigate the administration. Democrats have also signalled that they would use congressional oversight to scrutinise the president and his officials.