The outgoing governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, made a devastating forecast for his own party on Wednesday by posting on X that the Democrats would secure 55 seats in the Senate and over 250 in the House of Representatives, just hours after the polls closed in the midterm elections.
In his statement, DeSantis warned that, given the electoral map of the Senate and the magnitude of the Republican defeat in the House, it was "very unlikely" that the Republicans would regain Congress in 2028.
"They might not have a chance to control the Senate until 2032," he emphasized.
The projections from the New York Times that DeSantis attached to his post showed, at that time, 54 Democratic seats compared to 44 Republican seats in the Senate —with two contests still unresolved— and 254 Democratic seats compared to 172 Republican seats in the House.
In a press conference held in Tallahassee, DeSantis described the results as "almost an extinction-level event" for the Republican Party and warned that the consequences could extend well beyond the immediate electoral cycle.
"Let’s be clear, this is going to hurt, and not just for the next two years. It’s something that could have repercussions for the next decade or even longer," he stated.
The governor also acknowledged that the magnitude of the defeat exceeded the party's worst internal expectations: "We knew it could be worse. I don't think most of us thought it would be this bad."
Among the most symbolic outcomes of the night are the Democratic victory in Texas—where James Talarico defeated Republican Ken Paxton, becoming the first Democrat elected as senator from that state since 1988—and in Kansas, where Adam Hamilton triumphed over Senator Roger Marshall in the first Democratic Senate victory in that state since 1932, a span of 94 years.
DeSantis paid special attention to the decline of Texas, which he described as "the crown jewel of Republican politics" throughout his life, and warned: "If the Republican Party does not have Texas as an anchor, we will not be viable on a national level in the future."
Florida was the exception to the Democratic advance: Byron Donalds won the governorship against David Jolly, and Ashley Moody retained her Senate seat against Angie Nixon with 50.87% of the votes. DeSantis noted that he did not believe there was "any other state that can say that, considering all the devastation that took place" during the election day.
The governor attributed part of the defeats to the Republican congressmen who voted against the release of the Epstein files, to the trading of individual stocks by legislators, to the war with Iran, to inflation, and to rising fuel costs.
The Democrats took control of the Senate with a net gain of at least seven seats, while they also secured the majority in the House of Representatives. This makes Trump the fourth president since 1950 to simultaneously lose both chambers in a midterm election, alongside Eisenhower (1954), Clinton (1994), and George W. Bush (2006).
Trump responded to the defeat by posting on Truth Social an image of a red cap with the word "VETO," signaling a plan for a systematic blockade of all Democratic legislative initiatives.
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