Donald Trump wanted to launch into a third election campaign with a wave of Republican midterm gains behind him. Instead, he emerges from Tuesday’s overwhelming election night facing questions about his political future and the dynamic behind Florida Gov. Ron DeSandis, potentially his primary foe in a 2024 primary.
With key races still too early to call in Arizona and Nevada, and Georgia headed for a Senate runoff, Trump entered Wednesday with few wins and the possibility that they would soon be overshadowed by further losses.
His handpicked candidates for open Senate seats in Ohio and North Carolina prevailed, as did incumbent Republican Sen. Ron Johnson in Wisconsin. But he lost a crucial Senate contest in Pennsylvania, where Mehmet Oz, whom he supported in the primary despite widespread concerns about his electability, was defeated by Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman. In Michigan, Trump’s gubernatorial nominee failed to unseat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. And while Republicans still appear to be on track to win a majority in the House, it’s likely to be much more difficult than first thought.
“As powerful as Trump is in the Republican Party, we’ve learned that he can’t anoint any winner. You still need candidates who have the fundamentals,” said Brian Lanza, a longtime Trump adviser.
Others were more candid in their assessment of Tuesday’s known results.
Rep. Troy Nels, a Republican from Texas who won re-election and is endorsed by Trump, appeared to impersonate the former president at the expense of other GOP candidates in a radio interview Wednesday.
“There’s just a lot of negative attitudes about Trump,” Nels said. In a statement to CNN after this story was published, the congressman said he remains a supporter of Trump and “will support him as the 47th president.”
In the early hours of Wednesday, a current Trump adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, admitted that Trump “is in a difficult position tonight.”
“Two narratives will play out next week, and neither will be easy to dispel,” the adviser said.
Mindful of his unprecedented involvement in the Republican primary earlier this year, this adviser and other Trump allies said they expect the former president to be accused of fielding flawed candidates in some of the party’s most important contests — especially Oz, a daytime talk show host who had just taken up residence in Pennsylvania before launching his Senate campaign there.
Trump’s frustration was palpable inside the gilded ballroom at his Mar-a-Lago estate, where he gathered with dozens of aides, allies and donors to watch the returns Tuesday night. When he returned to the party in the middle of the night after a private dinner, his mood had clearly changed.
“Interesting night,” he called out to reporters before taking the stage for brief and unenthusiastic remarks.
As the crowd thinned, Trump sat at a table in front of a television tuned to Fox News with a handful of advisers. Meanwhile, several guests whose names appeared on a VIP list that a Trump adviser released to reporters were nowhere to be found, including some who apparently decided to skip the event — appearing as TV pundits throughout the night from studios in other parts of the country .
The end result was the exact scenario Trump’s advisers had hoped to avoid: an election where his top recruits failed or flopped and his Republican primary rival rose to new stardom.
Sources familiar with the matter said Trump left the party at the end of the night in a sour mood and resentful of the attention from DeSantis, who won re-election by a monster margin and became the first Republican governor to carry Miami County- Dad. a densely populated and diverse region, for the first time in two decades. Hours before the Florida governor’s win, Trump had dismissed DeSandis in comments to reporters on the 757 plane, threatening to spread unflattering information about him and saying he could have been “kinder” about the endorsement of Trump in his 2018 bid for the governor’s mansion.
“It wasn’t a great night for Trump, and it makes 2024 more competitive,” a Republican operative said.
As of Wednesday morning, Trump was in touch with allies in early 2024 as he worked to develop a message that could carry him forward, according to two people briefed on those talks. In Iowa, Trump plans to tout Republican Brenna Byrd’s defeat of incumbent Democratic Attorney General Tom Miller, even though he didn’t endorse Byrd until Nov. 5, three days before her election.
As he works to plan his next steps, one of the biggest questions he faces is how to approach DeSantis, sources said.
Before his resounding success Tuesday, the Florida governor was “already having a moment, but the spotlight just quadrupled in intensity,” a Trump adviser said.
“We have to figure out how to get it back before next Tuesday,” the Trump adviser added, referring to Trump’s “big announcement” for Nov. 15, when he is expected to formally announce his third White campaign. Home. DeSantis’ strength was reflected in CNN exit polls on Tuesday, which showed the Republican governor overtaking President Joe Biden’s 2020 margin of victory among Latino voters in Florida and maintaining a small lead among independents, which Biden had in the state by 11 points from two years ago. .
Both data points could prove compelling in a GOP primary between DeSantis and Trump, who made inroads with black and Hispanic voters in some 2020 states, but not to the extent of the Florida Republican.
Two people close to the former president said he backed himself into a corner by publicly setting a date for his expected campaign announcement before the outcome of the midterm elections was known, which he did at a campaign rally in Ohio on the eve of the election to reconcile with allies. who did not want to use the event as a launching pad for his campaign.
“He must [announce]” said a source close to Trump, adding that it is too late for him to back down. “It would be embarrassing.”
Another Trump ally noted that it would be “less embarrassing for him to delay than to go out there in a heap of silence.”
Some in Trump’s circle hoped a runoff in Georgia could help the former president delay the announcement and save face.
Trump adviser Jason Miller said Herschel Walker — who will face Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock in a Dec. 6 runoff, CNN reported Wednesday — should be the priority.
“I’m going to advise him to hold it off until the Georgia runoff, assuming the race is still trending there,” Miller said.
Others expect the advice to fall on deaf ears. A source noted that Trump has so far resisted arguments that he should delay his announcement, and as of Wednesday morning, it was still unclear to some of the former president’s closest aides how he would handle his 2024 ambitions. defiantly – embarking on a campaign oblivious to the potential obstacles ahead – or would he make a rare recalculation?
“I could see him claiming that Republicans didn’t turn out as a team because they weren’t on the ballot, and he was blaming everyone but himself,” one of his advisers said.
For Trump, Tuesday’s positive results followed months of intense engagement in a midterm cycle that marked a marked departure from the post-presidential activities of his modern predecessors. As early as last summer, he began working to recruit candidates for key Senate contests that would advance his false claims for the 2020 election.
“He wanted to be seen as a legendary kingmaker,” said one former Trump campaign official.
Until this spring, Trump was directly meddling in contentious primaries — endorsing candidates he thought were the most MAGA, criticizing their opponents in statements and posts on Truth Social, and apparently ignoring the advice of some of his advisers to stay on the sidelines until the general elections began. Trump has often argued that his meddling would pay off in the end, not only by ushering in majorities in both houses of Congress but by ensuring that elected officials loyal to him — not the party — settle in Washington and in the mansions of key governors.
In many cases, even candidates Trump did not endorse emblazoned their campaign websites with his image or familiar phrases like “America First” or “MAGA fighter.” Throughout the cycle, GOP candidates regularly trekked to Mar-a-Lago to solicit his support. Others have spent thousands of dollars to host fundraising events at the beachfront property, hoping the former president will take note of their devotion and reward them with an endorsement.
Trump came full circle by spending more than $16 million through his MAGA Inc. super PAC. in recent weeks to boost many of his handpicked candidates and tie his top Democratic targets to Biden, who has faced declining favorability in his first two years. at the office. Hours before results began to fall in on Tuesday, Trump’s team released a memo touting his “unprecedented success in 2022” that quantified his appearances and help for Republican candidates.
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