Trump Provides 2 Possible Reasons for GOP Losses on Tuesday Evening

The president said that he wasn’t on the ballot and that the shutdown hurt Republicans’ prospects.

President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Feb. 11, 2025. Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

President Donald Trump responded to Republican election losses in several areas on Tuesday by saying that there were two reasons why.

“Trump wasn’t on the ballot, and shutdown, were the two reasons that Republicans lost elections tonight,” he wrote in all caps in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday, citing what he said were pollsters.

In a separate post on Truth Social, the president said his recent “60 Minutes” interview that aired on Sunday evening “was the highest rated 60 Minutes IN YEARS!”

The shutdown, initiated on Oct. 1, became the longest in U.S. history on Tuesday evening as members of Congress couldn’t reach a funding agreement. Democrats have said they wouldn’t fund a stopgap bill unless it contained health care provisions that are due to expire at the end of the year, while Republicans have said that any talks with Democrats on policy need to come after the government is reopened.

Democrats on Tuesday won governor’s races in Virginia and New Jersey, the only states electing new chief executives this year. They also swept a trio of state Supreme Court contests in swing-state Pennsylvania and ballot measures from Colorado to Maine.

Trump was largely absent from the campaign trail, but GOP candidates closely aligned themselves with the president.

Tuesday’s elections were limited to a handful of states, most of which lean toward Democrats, and the party that holds the White House typically struggles in off-year elections.

The president endorsed Republican Jack Ciattarelli in New Jersey but held only a pair of tele-town halls on his behalf, including one Monday night. Trump also did a Monday night tele-town hall for Virginia Republican candidates, but he focused mostly in favor of the GOP candidate for attorney general, who also lost. Trump did not specifically endorse Republican candidate Winsome Earle-Sears, who lost to Democrat Abigail Spanberger.

In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom led a charge to redraw congressional maps to give Democrats as many as five more House seats in upcoming elections. Democrats said the measure is needed to counter Republican-led efforts in other states, namely Texas, to redraw maps ahead of the 2028 midterms.

Maine voters defeated a measure that would have mandated showing an ID at the polls while approving a “red flag” rule meant to make it easier for family members to petition a court to restrict a potentially dangerous person’s access to guns.

In Pennsylvania, Democrats swept all three elections for state supreme court justices.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.