The candidates chosen by Trump suffered a heavy defeat

Donald Trump was quick to post on Truth, the social media platform he owns, stating that he bore no responsibility for the landslide victory by the Democrats that was unfolding overnight, and indeed that had he been the candidate, he would still have won by a landslide. Yet these mid-term elections have also been marked by mistakes made by the White House in the process of selecting the Republican candidates who contested the various seats. In fact, the candidates chosen directly by Trump lost decisively in key races: the president rewarded loyalty to himself at the expense of electoral results.

In South Carolina, following the sudden death of Senator Lindsey Graham – who had already won his party’s primary and was tipped for an easy re-election – Trump personally chose his sister, Darline Graham, to replace him, despite her having no previous political experience. Initially, it seemed this would be an interim appointment, just for the few months remaining until the end of the term, but after a few days he made it clear that he would also back her to secure a full term. Graham struggled in the Republican primaries: despite the president’s unwavering support – he even held a rally with her – she was unable to avoid a run-off against MP Ralph Norman. Her inexperience was a factor in the campaign: in the primary debate against Norman, when asked about US policy towards Taiwan, Graham said she was “not that well-informed on national security”.

Despite this, Trump did not abandon her and, during the campaign against the Democrat Annie Andrews – who went on to win a seat the Democrats had not held since 1998 – he held three rallies in her support; Graham reciprocated by refraining from attacking the president’s policies that were most damaging to the Republicans during the election campaign, going so far as to declare that she firmly believed in tariffs and the war with Iran. Andrews described Graham as “unserious and unqualified”, stated that a Senate race “is not a walk in the park” and campaigned specifically on the cost of living and the war in Iran, which she called “illegal”. The result was an unexpected victory for the Democrats.

Another candidate who did not abandon Trump, refraining from criticising him right up to the end, is Michael Whatley, who stood in North Carolina against the popular former Democratic governor Roy Cooper. Trump personally selected him after he led the Republican National Committee between 2024 and 2025, and campaigned alongside him, but never managed to turn him into a contender with a realistic chance of victory. This was evident from the donations: the Republicans, who at national level had a much higher spending capacity than the Democrats, abandoned North Carolina very early on – where Cooper was credited with a lead of as much as 15 points in the final month (it was nearly 20 at the final count) – in order to divert funds to Kansas. Whatley was never really in the running, but despite this he never attempted to distance himself from the President’s positions: whilst Cooper based his entire campaign on the cost of living, under the slogan ‘Make stuff cost less’, Whatley preferred to avoid the issue altogether, basing his campaign on crime, which he himself described as ‘voters’ number one problem’.

Finally, the president’s biggest mistake was probably his choice of candidate in Texas. After a long delay, Trump eventually threw his weight behind former Attorney General Ken Paxton, who went on to defeat the incumbent Senator John Cornyn – who had been in office since 2002 – in the primaries. Paxton immediately encountered serious fundraising difficulties, to the extent that Elon Musk had to step in to help him, spending $168 million on the campaign to give him a substantial financial advantage over his opponent, the state representative and former seminarian James Talarico. Furthermore, Paxton’s record was marred by scandals, including an impeachment attempt on grounds of corruption and abuse of office brought against him by members of his own party: two-thirds of voters stated that Paxton lacked the character to be a senator, and despite spending the campaign portraying Talarico as an extremist candidate, only half of voters agreed. A misguided choice, which handed the Democrats a seat they had not won since 1988. Although Trump spent the night defending himself, the traces of his poor decisions are evident on the map of the United States.