‘The reason is obvious’: Bloodletting begins over Republicans’ electoral wipeout

November 5, 2026 — 5:54amFollow our full live coverage of the 2026 US midterms hereWashington: Vice President JD Vance blamed the war against Iran for Republicans’ wipeout at the midterm elections and began distancing himself from Donald Trump as conservatives grappled with a generational reckoning meted out by American voters.Democrats could end up with as many as 56 seats in the Senate – a gain of nine – with races in Alaska and deep red Mississippi still too close to call. Projections also had Democrats winning up to 258 seats in the 435-seat House of Representatives, a pickup of more than 40.Vice President JD Vance said the reason for the Republicans’ electoral drubbing was obvious: the Iran war.GettyVance, who was sceptical of the Iran war from the beginning but defended it publicly, said the war was almost solely responsible for the Republicans’ heavy defeat, and declared that it was not worth the cost.“The real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone,” he wrote in a 600-word statement on X. “The reason we lost is the war … If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next six years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay.”Vance, 42, said the problem was not low voter turnout among Republicans, but that people who voted for Trump and Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats this time.The reasons, he said citing work by a favoured pollster, were that they wanted to end the Iran war, focus on the cost of living and inflation, “put America first” and change the country’s relationship with Israel.The vice president did not praise Trump in his remarks. He observed that the president conceded on election night that voters were upset about paying more for gasoline due to the war against Iran.Vance also pushed back against accepting some form of amnesty for undocumented migrants in the country, predicting that some “establishment politicians” would recommend that as an answer to Republican woes.“Anyone pushing amnesty is lying to you,” he said. “Everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.”President Donald Trump speaks during a tour of the White House Ballroom construction a day after the midterm elections.AP Photo/Alex BrandonAt lunchtime on Wednesday (US time), Trump made his first post-election public appearance by showing off progress on his new ballroom at the White House.He signed a large steel beam that had also been signed by construction workers, which was then raised and installed as members of the administration and reporters watched.Asked about Vance’s reflections on the election drubbing, Trump conceded the war was “probably” to blame because of the impact on petrol prices.But he maintained that it was worth the cost. “I thought the oil would go up a lot more … You have no choice, you can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”The president maintained that Republicans would have won if he were on the ballot, citing the crowds at his election rallies. “There was such love at those rallies [but] we weren’t able to transfer the love to candidates.”In Florida, Republican governor Ron DeSantis, who was term-limited and did not stand for re-election, cast the GOP defeat in even more apocalyptic terms.“To call it a [blue] wave I don’t think would be fully accurate,” he said at a news conference. “It’s the political equivalent of meteor strike that went all around the United States – blue states, red states, everything in between.”DeSantis noted that of the 10 largest states in the union, only Florida would still be under Republican control following Tuesday’s bloodbath.“This is as close to an extinction level event for Republicans in many parts of the country as we have seen probably in the last 100 years,” he said.DeSantis, who ran for president in 2024 before withdrawing and endorsing Trump, is also seen as a potential contender for the Republican nomination in 2028.Asked whether he could be the party’s saviour, he said there were no saviours in politics. But he cast Florida under his leadership as a blueprint for how to “deliver big results and build a durable coalition”.Elise Stefanik, a retiring Republican congresswoman from New York and a prominent Trump ally, told CBS on Wednesday morning (US time) that the outcome was a reckoning and a reset for the GOP, but not necessarily a reflection on the president.Republicans had portrayed the election as a choice between “common sense” and “crazy”, Stefanik said, but that was a theme, not a policy agenda, and the party didn’t have enough to say on the cost of living.“I believe that Democrats have been able to co-opt that populist message, focusing on issues like affordability, focusing on bread and butter, kitchen table issues,” she said. “There was a tone-deafness this election cycle from Republicans.”Meanwhile, Democrats began to turn their attention to the legislative agenda they would pursue once they took control of the US Congress in January.Hakeem Jeffries, who will become the first black speaker of the House of Representatives, said Americans had chosen the economy over extremism, common sense over corruption, and more broadly a “dramatic change in direction”.Democrats would prioritise reversing Medicaid cuts, extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits, ending the Iran war and stopping Trump’s tariffs, he said.Jeffries said no members of the Democratic caucus had spoken with him about impeaching the president, and their focus was affordability and accountability. “The cost of living is way too high. It is out of control.” People were “stressed the F out”, he added.Asked whether investigating or impeaching Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth was on the Democrats’ agenda, Jeffries replied: “Is Pete Hegseth still around?”From our partners