'If I Was On Ballot...': Trump As Republicans Lose US Midterms

With Democrats projected to win the House and within reach of taking over the Senate in a sweeping midterm victory, US President Donald Trump said his Republican Party would have won in a "landslide" if he had been running.

"I wasn't on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE! Thank you for your attention to this matter," Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.

Big Losses For Republicans

Democrats have made significant gains in the US midterm elections, flipping the gubernatorial race in Georgia and positioning themselves to wrest key Senate seats from Republicans, delivering a stinging to President Donald Trump. The elections were a nationwide verdict on the Republican president's turbulent second term, with discontent over living costs, tariffs and the US war against Iran -- which has driven fuel prices sharply higher -- weighing on Republicans as his approval ratings languish near record lows. 

In one of the night's biggest shocks, Democratic paediatrician Annie Andrews defeated Darline Graham in South Carolina, according to media projections. Graham was supported by Trump and had been appointed to replace her brother, long-time Republican senator Lindsey Graham, after his death in July. Democrats had not won a Senate election in the deeply conservative southern state since 1998.

The victory followed another Republican Senate loss in North Carolina, where popular former governor Roy Cooper defeated a candidate handpicked by Trump.

Trump favourite Indian-American Vivek Ramaswamy was also defeated in Ohio's gubernatorial race, the home state of Vice President JD Vance, by Democrat Amy Acton after a bitter campaign that left the Republican Party divided.

Democrats also held crucial Senate seats in Georgia, where rising party star Jon Ossoff won reelection, and New Hampshire, where Chris Pappas became the first openly gay man elected to the chamber.

Republicans entered election day with a 53-47 Senate majority, leaving Democrats needing four net gains to take control. With two Republican seats already flipped, the battle for the upper chamber remained unresolved.