From red-state Kansas to red-state Texas, Democrat candidates flipped seat after seat to give Democrats a sizeable majority, in the House and Senate, in January.
In the U.S. Senate, where the GOP was expected to maintain a narrow majority, Democrats flipped seven red seats to blue across the country, Fox News reported. That gives Democrats a 54-44 majority so far with two seats, in Alaska and Mississippi, undecided as of Wednesday morning.
One of the biggest Democrat wins happened in The Lone Star state. Far-left Democrat candidate James Talarico defeated Ken Paxton 55%-42% to flip the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. John Cornyn.
After losing the race, Paxton is predictably being criticized as a poor candidate, but Texas primary voters chose Paxton over alleged “RINO” incumbent Cornyn 63%-36% in that state’s May primary.
In the U.S. House, where Democrats were projected to become the majority, Democrats flipped a whopping 25 seats and the GOP flipped none. That lopsided victory gives House Democrats a 228-139 majority, a whopping plus-10 advantage, in January.
GOP ripped over 'affordability'
For the White House and President Donald Trump, the post-election analysis has been brutal.
“Wow it turns out that ‘actually affordability isn’t a big deal’ wasn’t a winning message,” Matt Walsh, the Daily Wire podcaster, commented on X.
Hours before election results would confirm a blue wave, Walsh was already accusing Trump and the Republican Party of ignoring voters’ complaints about gas prices and grocery prices.
“Trump launched an unpopular and pointless war. Gas prices are too high. People can’t afford groceries. Trump abandoned the American First message. This is why Republicans are getting crushed. It’s very simple,” Walsh wrote Tuesday night.
Republican podcaster Todd Starnes made a similar observation Tuesday night. In an X post he blamed a "complete disconnect" between the American people and the Republican Party.
"Months ago, I said the White House needed more advisors from Mayberry and fewer from Mar-a-Lago," he wrote.
Washington Times columnist Robert Knight cited polling in which nine of 10 voters cited gas and grocery prices as their biggest concerns. Trump's tariffs, and the war with Iran, Knight said, were blamed for making their lives more expensive.
"So they took it out on his party in a big way," Knight said. "He made the election all about him, and Americans obliged by turning Congress and several governorships over to Democrats, including socialists and Islamists."
Trump: 'Pretend I'm on ballot'
In a pre-election story, AFN reported election polls were reflecting anger and frustration from voters, including Republicans. That anger came after ground beef prices and gas prices jumped significantly since Donald Trump took office in January 2025, when he promised a "Golden Age" was coming.
Even though it can be argued a U.S. president doesn't control the price of groceries, the White House was boasting "Americans are paying less" for dinner rolls and frozen vegetables during the 2025 Thanksgiving holiday.
In a similar fashion, Trump repeatedly told voters to "pretend my name is on the ballot," when he spoke to rallygoers during his midterm campaign blitz.
On election night, however, with bad news pouring in, a White House official was reminding the news media that Trump’s name wasn’t on the ballot.
"President Trump was not on the ballot, and it’s proven that Trump voters show up when he is on the ballot,” the official told Daily Wire reporter Mary Margaret Olohan.
Conservatives blame Iran war, youth vote
On Wednesday, social media was filled with numerous conservative activists and writers criticizing President Trump and the Republican Party.
Much of those comments ripped Trump for attacking Iran, which caused gas prices to jump.
Other online comments, citing exit polling, lamented that Trump and the GOP had lost the under-30 vote that had helped Trump in 2024.
Jack Posobiec, a loyal Trump defender, shared a poll showing the only age group Republicans won was 65-plus voters.
Rather that just piling on, Walsh was warning Republicans and the White House about voter anger as far back as August. A social media post from Walsh, on August 3, said rising grocery prices “should be the number one priority of every elected leader.”
On election night, Republican pollster Patrick Ruffini shared a September poll of registered voters who voted for Trump in 2024. Asked why they now disapprove of Trump, 42% chose “Economy and Cost of Living.”
“Not that complicated,” Ruffini wrote on X.
AFN has asked the White House for comment on the affordability issue as well as its comment about President Trump not appearing on the ballot.
