United States President Donald Trump has commended rival Democrats after their stunning US midterm elections victory in the polls.
Trump, 80, however, admitted the Iran war may have played a part in the defeat of his Republican Party.
The president refused to take any personal responsibility for the result that upends the final two years of his presidency, instead trying to shift the blame to his fellow Republicans.
“Well, I say this: congratulations to the Democrats. They did a good job,” Trump said in a telephone interview with FOX News on Wednesday, November 4, 2026.
“They’ve been looking for this one for 11 years, and they finally got it. But I don’t view it as a hit on me,” he added.
The complimentary comments were highly unusual for the president, who spent much of the midterms campaign branding Democrats as everything from communists to Islamists.
Trump also reiterated that, unlike his 2020 presidential election loss, he accepted the vote results and was ready to work with Democrats now that they will control Congress.
“I can work with them on many things,” the president said.
At the same time, Trump warned he was ready to use his executive power to veto any Democratic legislation he felt like.
“They can send over, you know, 50 different great bills that they’re all excited about, and I send them back with a nice stamp – ‘veto.'”
Oil prices rise after Trump’s Republicans defeat in US midterm elections
With polls showing the Iran war and resulting rise in oil prices was vastly unpopular with voters, Trump also acknowledged that the stalled conflict had contributed to the result.
“I think a part of it was Iran, but at the same time, people understood the importance of what I’ve done with Iran,” he said.
Meanwhile, Trump’s conciliatory tone did not extend to his own party.
Time and again on the campaign trail the 80-year-old president told Republicans to “pretend I’m on the ballot”. But on Tuesday he insisted that the opposite was the problem.
“I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE! Thank you for your attention to this matter,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
Democrats has exceeded the needed 51 seats in the Senate with 54 wins while the Republicans are lagging with 44 wins.
In the House, the Democrats secured 231 seats exceeding the needed 218 seats as at 7AM ET. The Republicans won 139 seats.
The night included several historic firsts for both parties. In Georgia, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms became the first Black woman elected governor of any US state, while Byron Donalds won Florida’s gubernatorial race to become the first Black Republican governor in the US. Democrat Gina Hinojosa will become the first Latina governor in Texas, while Democrat Xavier Becerra will be California’s first Latino governor.
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