Trump Praises Democrats After Republicans Lose Congress and Texas

What changed

Democrats won control of both the Senate and House of Representatives in the 2026 US midterm elections, while Republican Greg Abbott lost the Texas governor’s race to Democrat Gina Hinojosa. President Donald Trump accepted the result, praised Democratic campaigning and said he would work with Democrats, even as he warned that he could veto legislation he opposed.

Why it matters

Washington now has a Democratic Congress and a Republican president. That makes the veto pen central to the next phase of American politics: Democrats can set the congressional agenda, but Trump can block bills he considers unacceptable.

Trump’s response was unusually mixed. He said Democrats “did a good job” and fought hard, then predicted they would send “insane” legislation to his desk. His proposed solution was blunt: vetoes first, negotiations later.

That means cooperation is possible, but only after confrontation. Trump said he expected Democrats eventually to call him and ask how to get legislation passed. Whether that produces sustained bipartisan agreements remains unclear.

He also tied the Republican defeat to the Iran conflict, saying voters may have supported his policy while rejecting the short-term cost of higher gasoline prices. That puts fuel prices at the center of his explanation for the result, alongside his criticism of Republican candidates.

His reaction to Abbott’s loss showed the other side of the political reckoning. Trump blamed Abbott’s move toward what he called a “RINO” position, while distancing himself from candidates he said voters disliked or who were not his friends. The Texas result was especially damaging for Republicans: Hinojosa’s victory ended more than 30 years of Democratic absence from the governor’s office.

The election also reshaped Texas politics in the Senate, where James Talarico became the first Democrat to win a seat since 1988. The scale of the losses has left Trump arguing both that Republicans failed without him on the ballot and that he remains powerful enough to control what reaches the lawbooks.