Trump told Americans to ‘pretend I’m on the ballot.’ They did — and voted against him

Trump told Americans to ‘pretend I’m on the ballot.’ They did — and voted against him The president blames Fox News and his own candidates — everyone but himself, writes Alex Woodward, after Republicans lose control of both the House and Senate in resounding fashion - Bookmark - CommentsGo to comments Become an Independent member to bookmark this article Already a member? Log in In what will likely be his final blitz of campaign rallies after a decade full of them, Donald Trump repeatedly told voters to “pretend” he’s on the ballot the past few months. “When Trump’s on the ballot,” he told Fox News in August, “they win.” Voters took his advice. The 2026 midterm elections were a Trump-directed referendum about his favorite person. And the Republican president — whose popularity has fallen to historic lows — lost it in a landslide. Democrats had anticipated a challenging path to winning control of the U.S. Senate; the party needed to win races in at least two states that Trump won by double digits. Instead, they flipped at least seven. In Texas and Maine, voters elected the first Democrats to the Senate in their states in nearly 40 years. In Kansas, voters elected the first Democratic candidate to the Senate in nearly 100 years. By midnight, the possibility of Republicans losing a Senate seat in deep-red Mississippi wasn’t off the table, and Abdul El-Sayed was projected to defeat Trump-backed Republican Mike Rogers in a closely watched Senate race in Michigan. Democrats also captured governor’s offices, flipped entire state legislatures and secured Democratic trifecta state governments. And after following Trump’s command to redraw congressional districts to give them a legally dubious competitive boost in midterm elections, Republicans ended up losing House seats in newly drawn districts they were expecting to win — including in districts that Trump won just two years ago. In early warning signs for Trump’s “pretend” ballot scheme in the moments after polls closed, Democrats won a Kentucky House district that voted for Trump by 15 points as well as two Florida seats that Republicans had redrawn explicitly so they could win them. Over the last several years, Florida Republicans have narrowly held two-thirds of both the Florida state Senate and House, giving them significant power to support Gov. Ron DeSantis’ agenda while passing procedural rules without any Democratic input. “Florida Republicans have abused their power for years to push an unpopular and dangerous agenda, including attacking voting rights and rigging their congressional maps,” Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee President Heather Williams said in a statement on Tuesday night. “Now that we have broken the supermajority in the House, Democrats are better positioned to fight back against rampant extremism and protect against attacks on our democracy,” she said. Georgia voters also elected Keisha Lance Bottoms to the governor’s office, marking the nation’s first-ever Black woman governor — and flipping a critical seat of power in the South that has been held by a Republican for more than 20 years. In Ohio, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy lost the governor’s race to Democrat Amy Acton after Trump repeatedly came to the defense of his ally’s attack ad that featured Acton’s estranged mother, who had allegedly abandoned Acton with a stepfather accused of sexually abusing her. Democrats in Arizona, Michigan and Minnesota secured a trifecta in their states — with Democrats in the governor’s office and with a majority in the state legislature — and expanded their power elsewhere. Democrats also expanded a state House majority in Pennsylvania and flipped the state Senate, won flipped New Hampshire’s House and Senate, broke Republican supermajorities in Missouri’s state legislature, flipped Wisconsin’s state legislature, flipped North Carolina’s house for the first time since 2008, and secured a Democratic majority in Georgia’s House for the first time in two decades. All of this was achieved against the backdrop of one of the most expensive election cycles in history. Republican-backed groups spent $5.45 billion on advertising, rivaling roughly $5 billion in spending from Democratic campaigns. The race between Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico for a Senate seat in Texas was the most expensive non-presidential race ever, with nearly half a billion dollars pumped into campaigns against Talarico by Elon Musk, who spent the last several months invoking white supremacist dogwhistles and fear-mongering about transgender people. Republican campaigns — and Trump’s closing messages defending his taxpayer-funded renovations projects — were in stark contrast to what Americans were actually looking for. Voters were worried about the cost of living, healthcare, the war in Iran — and Trump himself. Trump — who has cried “fake news” and “fake polls” and “rigged” elections for more than a decade — said Tuesday night that he would accept the results, echoing recent statements that signaled he was aware of imminent losses. “Well, I say this, congratulations to the Democrats,” he told Fox News. “They did a good job.” But it wasn’t his fault, he said. He had plenty of people to blame. And, of course: “I wasn’t on the ballot,” he told the network. The president called into Fox after spending the evening complaining about its coverage on his Truth Social account. Shortly before midnight, he complained that Fox allowed Bill de Blasio, the Democratic former New York City mayor, to appear on the network. “Fox News bears responsibility for these losses by constantly and consistently putting on the Dumocrat opposition, and worse,” he said. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott would have won election against Gina Hinojosa if he “hadn’t become a RINO in the last six months of his Political Life,” Trump wrote of Abbott, who has staunchly defended the president. “I wasn’t on the Ballot” he wrote in another post, “and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!” Join our commenting forum Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies Comments