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Archive photo · 17 June 2016Trump Acknowledges Iran War Role as Democrats Win House and Senate in 2026 Midterms
11 Western Mainstream7 West Asian1 OtherPhoto: Kevin Payravi, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Cropped for layout
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Democrats win House and Senate, ending Republican majority in Congress. Trump said Iran war helped GOP losses and he would make the same decision.
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Midterms flip Congress
Democrats won majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate in the 2026 midterm elections, delivering a shift in Washington that left President Donald Trump facing a Congress controlled by the opposition for the remaining two years of his term.
“This is a disaster of the first magnitude. Nobody saw it coming like this.”
Trump acknowledged on Wednesday that the war on Iran played a role in the midterms, saying, "We had to do the Iran thing and we'll continue to do it."
Ted Cruz later blamed Republicans' missteps for the defeat, writing on platform X that it was a "punishment of historic magnitude as in Watergate times."
The BBC described the political shock as a "disaster" for Republicans, quoting Bill Miller saying, "This is a disaster of the first magnitude. Nobody saw it coming like this."
Iran war, gas prices
JD Vance blamed the war in Iran for the GOP losses, writing on X, "The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night."
Trump responded that the war's impact on gasoline prices mattered, saying, "it's largely true because it drove the gasoline up a little bit short term," while insisting, "You can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon."
Hakeem Jeffries said Democrats would ensure accountability in the House, stressing that the House of Representatives would no longer be subservient to the Republican administration.
The Guardian framed the Senate outcome as giving Democrats the ability to put a serious check on Trump's agenda, including blocking any new appointments to the supreme court or his cabinet.
Texas and the next fight
In Texas, Democrats won statewide races that ended decades of Republican dominance, with James Talarico telling supporters in Austin, "The people in Texas were my slingshot. And tonight we defeated Goliath."
“In the Lone Star State, we lost every single statewide election.”
Ted Cruz argued that Republicans lost touch with voters in the Lone Star State, writing, "In the Lone Star State, we lost every single statewide election."
The Guardian reported that James Talarico won the Senate seat by more than 10 points and that no Democrat had won a Senate seat in Texas since 1988.
The BBC said the midterms would force Republicans to start grappling with their post-Trump future, while noting that Trump would face a motivated Democratic majority in Congress eager to investigate the administration and stymie his agenda.