WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — President Donald Trump will host Republican senators for breakfast at the White House on Wednesday, offering his first extended reaction to Tuesday’s election results after Democrats collected major victories in several key races.
A White House official confirmed to The Hill that invitations were sent to Republican senators. The breakfast will take place before Trump travels to Florida for remarks at an economic conference.
Wednesday marks the 36th day of the government shutdown, with little progress toward reopening.
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The White House said Trump stayed up late watching results, and the president took to Truth Social after key races were called, claiming pollsters attributed GOP losses to the prolonged shutdown.
“‘TRUMP WASN’T ON THE BALLOT, AND SHUTDOWN, WERE THE TWO REASONS THAT REPUBLICANS LOST ELECTIONS TONIGHT,’ according to Pollsters,” Trump wrote.
White House source: ‘Nothing has changed’ from 2024
Election Day marked the first real test for voters of Trump’s second term. Republican candidates lost races in New Jersey and Virginia by wide margins, among other state races.
A White House source told NewsNation that “nothing has changed” since 2024 and that the results were indicative of national politics, brushing off Tuesday night’s races as limited to Democratic strongholds.
The source went on to call Virginia’s Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who lost the governor’s race to Democrat Abigail Spanberger, an “incredibly weak” candidate who never fully supported Trump.
The source also argued the race might have been closer if incumbent Glenn Youngkin had been eligible to run again, adding that Youngkin has “no legacy” and that Virginia’s Republican Party has some “soul-searching” to do.
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Wins are a referendum on Trump: DNC
Democratic winners saw their high-profile wins as a strong message to Trump and his supporters.
“Right now, our federal workforce is under attack, and the chaos coming out of Washington is killing Virginia jobs and creating economic uncertainty for tens of thousands of families,” said Spanberger.
“We’re not going to give in to our darker impulses here in New Jersey,” said New Jersey Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill. “We know that this nation has not ever been nor will it ever be ruled by kings.”
The Democratic National Committee echoed that sentiment, describing the results as a referendum on Trump’s “failure to lower costs and make life better for working families.”
