Trump congratulates Democrats on blowout midterms win, looks ahead to 2028

President Donald Trump congratulated Democrats in the wee hours on Wednesday after the party stirred up a blue wave and won control of both chambers of Congress.

Trump made a phone call to Fox News just after midnight on Wednesday and discussed the results of Tuesday's shellacking as well as some early speculation about the 2028 presidential race. 

“Congratulations to the Democrats. They did a good job. 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," Trump said. "We’ve had the greatest two years in the history of the presidency.”

Democrat candidates across the country won key races in the Senate. Among the biggest seats flipped were Texas, where James Talarico defeated Republican Ken Paxton, and South Carolina, where Darline Graham, the sister of the late Lindsey Graham, failed to hold onto the seat, which she assumed after her brother's unexpected death over the summer. Democrat Annie Andrews won the race by nearly five points. 

And Adbul El-Sayed defeated Mike Rogers for a U.S. senate seat from Michigan, another closely-watched and heated race. As of Wednesday morning, with about 97% of the vote counted, El-Sayed had a seven-point lead. All told, Democrats laid claim to 54 seats in the Senate, to 44 for Republicans, with two races still to be called early Wednesday.

With more than 65 races still to be called, Democrats had secured 228 seats in the House, while Republicans had 139, with vote-counting around the country extending into Wednesday. 

In his remarks on Fox News, Trump admitted to being "a little bit surprised" by Democrats' resounding victory. "I thought we would do better," Trump said. "We had tremendous rallies, thousands of people outside let alone inside that couldn't get in." He also admitted the effects of the Iran war probably played a factor in Republicans' tough night. “But at the same time, people understood the importance of what I've done with Iran,” he said. I did the right thing. I would have done it again,” he said. “I think the Democrats did a good job. I really do."

Trump also expressed an interest in working with Democrats over the remainder of his term. “I think we’ll work with the Democrats, and we’ll get along very well with them. If we don’t, we’ll be very tough on them, they’ll be very tough on us,” he told The Wall Street Journal.

Elsewhere in the interview with Fox News, Trump looked ahead to 2028, saying "We have a great bench" and that he wouldn't be surprised if there's an open primary for the GOP nomination. "They say whoever Trump picks is gonna win." Watch a highlight from the interview below.