From Daily Maverick · Reuters · · 2m
Trump's Senate picks lost. Democrats took the chamber.
Trump-backed Republican candidates lost key Senate races on November 3, handing Democrats control and exposing limits to his political power.
In brief
Trump-backed Republican candidates lost key Senate races on November 3, handing Democrats control and exposing limits to his political power. Trump-backed Senate candidates lost in South Carolina, North Carolina, Texas and Michigan on November 3, giving Democrats control of the chamber and revealing the limits of…
Trump's hand-picked candidates lost
/file/attachments/orphans/Brooks-TrumpUN7_192717.jpg)
Trump-backed Republican candidates lost Senate races in South Carolina, North Carolina, Texas and Michigan on Tuesday, November 3. Democrats now control the chamber.
Trump reshaped the party around his choices
For more than a decade, Trump has reshaped the Republican Party around his Maga movement, dictating primary matchups and pushing aside conservative figures he felt insufficiently loyal or misaligned with his vision.
South Carolina: Trump's stunning loss
South Carolina had not elected a Democratic senator since 1998 and Trump won it by 18 percentage points in 2024.Trump backed Darline Graham, sister of late Senator Lindsey Graham.
North Carolina: Trump's primary interference
Trump endorsed former national Republican campaign official Michael Whatley in North Carolina.Whatley lost in a rout to former Democratic Governor Roy Cooper.
Texas: Trump backed the scandal-plagued choice
Trump intervened in the Republican primary to promote scandal-plagued Attorney-General Ken Paxton over Senator John Cornyn, a Trump ally considered a safer general election pick.Democrat James Talarico won, delivering Democrats a seat unelected since 1988.
Michigan: First Muslim elected to Senate
/file/attachments/orphans/14194914_947668.jpg)
Former US Representative Mike Rogers, Trump's choice in Michigan, was defeated by Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, who will be the first Muslim to serve in the Senate.
Trump's popularity at historic low
Trump's popularity heading into Tuesday's vote was lower than in the aftermath of the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol, according to Reuters/Ipsos polls.
Analysts: Trump gave away winnable seats
Thomas Kahn, a professor at American University, said Trump's intervention in the Texas primary cost Republicans a safe seat.In North Carolina, Kahn said Trump essentially gave the seat away by forcing out incumbent Thom Tillis.
“He essentially gave that seat away to Democrats.”
The one thing
Trump-backed Senate candidates lost in South Carolina, North Carolina, Texas and Michigan on November 3, giving Democrats control of the chamber and revealing the limits of Trump's electoral influence.
