News analysis
US midterms: Trump hand-picked Senate candidates, Republicans paid the price
AI generated
asserted
Republicans → pick → price
US President Donald Trump asked voters to pretend he was on the ballot in the US midterm elections and handpicked Republican candidates in some of the country’s most consequential Senate races.
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he → ask → races
By the night of Nov 3, voters had rejected them.
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voters → reject → them
Trump-backed candidates in South Carolina, North Carolina and Texas all lost, while the President’s preferred pick trailed in early results in Michigan.
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pick → back → Michigan
The defeats handed Democrats control of the Chamber and exposed the limits of Trump’s political power.
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defeats → hand → power
Trump has spent more than a decade reshaping the US Republican Party around his MAGA movement, dictating primary match-ups and pushing aside conservative figures he felt were insufficiently loyal or not aligned with his vision.
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he → spend → vision
Trump repeatedly favoured loyalists and ideological allies over more established Republicans with stronger statewide networks and proven electoral track records, betting that his endorsement could overcome their political liabilities.
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endorsement → favour → liabilities
The Nov 3 results revealed he was unable to persuade the broader electorate to back his choices.
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he → reveal → choices
One of the most stunning repudiations came in South Carolina, which had not elected a Democratic senator since 1998 and which Trump won by 18% points in 2024.
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Trump → come → 2024
Trump backed Darline Graham, the sister of late Republican senator Lindsey Graham.
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Trump → back → Graham
But Democrat Annie Andrews won the seat in a stunning upset.
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Andrews → win → upset
In North Carolina, Trump endorsed former national Republican campaign official Michael Whatley, who lost in a rout to former Democratic governor Roy Cooper.
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who → endorse → Cooper
In Texas, Trump intervened in a messy Republican primary election to promote scandal-plagued Attorney-General Ken Paxton over Senator John Cornyn, a Trump ally who some in the party considered a safer pick in the general election.
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some → intervene → election
Democrat James Talarico glided to a victory on the night of Nov 3, delivering Democrats a seat the party had not won since 1988.
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party → glide → 1988
Former US representative Mike Rogers, Trump’s choice in Michigan, trailed Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in an uncalled race.
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Rogers → trail → race
El-Sayed would be the first Muslim to serve in the Senate.
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Sayed → serve → Senate
The losses came as Trump’s popularity was lower heading into the Nov 3 vote than in the aftermath of the Jan 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, according to Reuters/Ipsos polls.
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popularity → come → polls
That helped fuel concerns among Republicans that the President had become a drag on the party he remade around himself.
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he → fuel → himself
“This is a Trump Quake,” said Doug Heye, a veteran Republican strategist, pointing to voter frustration over high prices caused by tariffs and the war in Iran.
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Heye → say → Iran
“Trump spent the year telling voters what was important to him, not to them.”
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what → spend → them
Trump struck a defiant tone as election returns arrived.
“I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!” Trump wrote in a social media post on the night of Nov 3.
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Trump → strike → Nov
One White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Trump “did a better job promoting many of the candidates on the ballot than the candidates did themselves”.
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candidates → speak → themselves
A senior White House official, also speaking anonymously, told Reuters the administration had polling data as far back as six weeks ago showing Republicans would lose both the US House of Representatives and US Senate, and Trump embarked on a month-long nationwide campaign to try to salvage Republicans’ prospects.
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Trump → speak → prospects
Some independent analysts said the US Senate losses bore Trump’s fingerprints specifically.
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losses → say → fingerprints
Thomas Kahn, a professor at American University, said the President’s intervention in the Texas Republican primary had cost his party a safe seat, arguing that a nomination for Senator John Cornyn “would have been a slam dunk for Republicans to win”.
North Carolina, Kahn said, was another clear case.
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Kahn → say → Cornyn
The Republican incumbent senator, Thom Tillis, said in 2025 he would not seek re-election after a public split with Trump, who threatened to back a primary challenger against him after Tillis baulked at Medicaid cuts in the President’s tax-and-spending Bill.
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Tillis → say → Bill
“He essentially gave that seat away to Democrats,” Kahn said.
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Kahn → give → Democrats
“Roy Cooper would not have run if Thom Tillis had run for re-election.”
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Tillis → run → election
Former North Carolina governor Pat McCrory, a Republican, said Trump’s interventions in his party’s primaries had divided Republicans in state after state.
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interventions → say → state
In South Carolina, McCrory said, the President went against two local congressmen, a fight that “really divided the party” – an example, in his telling, of a president spending his political capital against his own side.
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that → say → side
McCrory’s sharpest criticism was aimed at Trump’s connection with the voters who built his coalition.
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who → aim → coalition
“I think President Trump’s greatest strength was he had a common touch with the working class people,” McCrory said.
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McCrory → think → people
“He lost that skill.
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He → lose → skill
He better regain that skill for the good of the country.”
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He → regain → country
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