Republicans search for answers after their election losses propel Democrats to power

Democrat Sam Forstag won Montana's open 1st Congressional District, flipping a Republican-held seat following Rep. Ryan Zinke's decision not to seek re-election.

Forstag defeated Republican Aaron Flint, a conservative radio host and Army veteran, and Libertarian Nick Sheedy.

The victory hands Democrats a seat Republicans had held since Montana regained a second congressional district following the 2020 census.

A former wildland firefighter and smokejumper, Forstag has also worked as a union leader and state lobbyist.

Forstag's background became an issue during the campaign, as Fox News Digital reported in July that records showed Forstag had worked as a registered lobbyist for groups including the ACLU of Montana and Planned Parenthood and opposed legislation involving restrictions on drag performances in schools and libraries, gender-transition procedures for minors and local cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

Seismic political change is coming to Washington, D.C., and as Republicans sift through the wreckage that was Election Night, fingers are pointing in several directions over who’s to blame.

The blue tsunami Tuesday tore the GOP’s coalition asunder, flipping the balance of power in both chambers heading into the final two years of the Trump administration. And as Republicans search for where things went awry, GOP operatives and insiders told Fox News Digital that it starts at the top with President Donald Trump.

"Look, first and foremost, this is a Trump loss," Dan Eberhart, an oil drilling chief executive officer and prominent Republican donor, told Fox News Digital. "He wanted to be — he wanted people to consider him on the ballot. And unfortunately, as a Republican, that's what we got."

This is an excerpt from a story by Fox News Digital's Alex Miller and Elizabeth Elkind.

Democratic Rep. Donald Davis has won re-election in North Carolina's 1st Congressional District, defeating Republican Laurie Buckhout and extending a Republican election drought dating to 1882.

Davis' victory preserves Democratic control of a district Republicans redrew ahead of the 2026 midterms -- largely adding in the Crystal Coast -- and transforming it into one of the GOP's major House pickup opportunities.

The last Republican elected to the district was Walter F. Pool in 1882, nearly a century and a half ago.

Davis, an Air Force veteran and former state senator from Snow Hill, first won election to Congress in 2022 and narrowly defeated Buckhout in their 2024 matchup.

Buckhout, a retired Army colonel and businesswoman, returned for a rematch as Republicans sought to capitalize on the new congressional boundaries.

Jim Messina, a longtime mainstay of Obamaworld, said Thursday that he has spoken with 29 Democrats interested in mounting White House bids in 2028.

Messina, who managed former President Barack Obama's successful 2012 re-election campaign, also said he does not expect former Vice President Kamala Harris to run.

"I would expect in the end, no. But I don't know anything you don't," Messina told host Dana Perino on Fox News' "America's Newsroom."

On the Democrats' retaking the House and Senate, Messina said the achievement was possible because, unlike years past, candidates had strong messaging discipline.

"The American people, they've been very clear about what we need to do, which is costs, costs, and costs," Messina said. "Dana, you and I have talked for a decade about how my party's never on message. Well, this election, they were on message, and they all were united on the economics and why President Trump failed on those things."

Messina added that democratic socialist candidates and moderate candidates can still unify around ending the Iran war, restoring Affordable Care Act tax credits and scrapping President Donald Trump's tariffs.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said late Wednesday that Republicans will not be able to win national elections if Democratic gains in states like Texas prove to be more than temporary flukes or a one-time repudiation of the Trump administration.

"If we can't win in places like Texas or Kansas or Iowa, we are not viable nationally," the term-limited Republican governor told Laura Ingraham on "The Ingraham Angle."

Republicans in Florida undoubtedly fared better than their counterparts in Texas, where Democrats swept every statewide office, and Kansas, where voters sent a Democrat to the Senate for the first time since 1932.

Though Republicans in Florida managed to hang on to all statewide offices, as well as their majorities in the state legislature, DeSantis acknowledged that his state was "not immune" to the blue wave.

"I told candidates in the in the beginning of the fall, take what President Trump got here two years ago, a 13 point margin statewide and take 10 points off that. That's the new line of scrimmage," he said. "So if he won your district by 15, you're down to a five-point race."

DeSantis also offered some advice for President Donald Trump, who still has dozens of federal judicial vacancies to fill.

"I'd roll in cots to the U.S. Senate cloakroom. I'd have them work round the clock because you are not going to be able to confirm any conservative judges starting Jan. 3 for the remainder of President Trump's term," DeSantis said.

Outgoing Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said President Donald Trump should replace any cabinet-level appointees he's iffy about before the new Democratic-controlled Congress is sworn in on Jan. 3 of next year.

Massie's advice comes despite his contentious relationship with Trump, who backed the primary challenger who ultimately defeated him.

Massie made the suggestion amid reports that War Secretary Pete Hegseth is potentially on thin ice as he pushes to continue the Iran war, even as other administration officials — most notably Vice President JD Vance — blame the conflict for Republicans' poor showing in the midterms.

Massie also pointed out that his impeachment resolution targeting Hegseth "is a much gentler version" of what Democrats will do, claiming they will hold hearing and trials.

ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl reported Thursday morning that Trump intends to keep Hegseth.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said House Democrats will seek to hold federal immigration authorities accountable when they return to the majority, invoking the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of federal agents in Minneapolis.

Raskin is in line to become chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, a powerful body with oversight authority over federal immigration enforcement, including the actions of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

In a video posted Thursday morning to the House Judiciary Democrats' X account, Raskin said, "If there are American citizens like Alex Pretti and Renee Good who are shot down in broad daylight at point blank range by Donald Trump's masked thugs from ICE, well, we will get on top of it, and we will see that justice is done."

Raskin also said he wants to prevent federal agents from wearing masks to obscure their identities and ensure their body cameras are turned on during operations.

"We want to bring every part of the federal government back under the control of the Constitution. And above all, we're going to challenge this reign of corruption. We are going to insist that the government be an instrument for the common good of all of the people through the rule of law," Raskin concluded.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey said in a social media post late Wednesday that Vice President JD Vance's explanation for Republicans' midterm losses was incomplete without mentioning how tariffs raised costs for Americans.

Toomey, who retired from the Senate when his term ended in 2023, said Vance was "mistaken" to only blame the Iran war for the GOP rout.

"Yes, the resulting higher fuel prices contributed to the inflation that infuriated Americans who were promised lower prices by this administration. But the war is not the only cause," Toomey wrote. "Arbitrary and capricious tariffs directly raised costs for all American consumers. Lower income Americans can least afford them. Many voted for Democrats yesterday."

Long before Toomey was first elected to the Senate in 2010, he was a consistent advocate for free trade.

And for decades before Donald Trump was first elected president in 2016, most Republican politicians generally favored lowering barriers to international trade. Trump broke with that modern GOP consensus and revived the party's older, McKinley-era tradition of protectionism and high tariffs, especially in his second term.

Economic research has found that Trump's tariffs have raised costs for Americans. A Federal Reserve Bank of New York study found about 26% of the tariff increases were passed through to consumer prices, while the nonpartisan Tax Foundation estimated the tariffs amounted to an average $1,000 tax increase per U.S. household in 2025.

Voters in Washington and Arizona approved ballot measures further restricting biological boys who identify as transgender from playing in girls' sports, according to The Associated Press.

Washington will now require all students looking to participate in school sports reserved for females to provided a signed statement from their doctor verifying their biological sex. It can be based on their reproductive anatomy, their genetic makeup or their testosterone levels.

Arizona is a bit more lax, now requiring a student joining a girls' sports team to provide a birth certificate listing their sex. The state will also introduce new restrictions on locker rooms.

The ballot measures in Washington and Arizona passed with 56% and 58% support, respectively.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, was blunt about how his party did in the midterms this year.

In a lengthy post on X, which was a transcription of what he said on his podcast, Cruz described the outcome as a "blue tsunami."

"It was an a-- kicking," Cruz said. "It was not simply a bad 2006 midterm election. It was a Watergate-level repudiation."

Cruz himself was once nearly ousted in 2018, when Democrat Beto O'Rourke lost to him by just two percentage points. Eight years later, Cruz will become the lone GOP senator in Texas after James Talarico handily defeated Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Cruz said he knew the GOP wipeout in Texas, which saw all statewide offices go to Democrats, was very much possible.

"I am very, very sorry that it came to pass. Texas has not had a Democrat governor since 1994. We haven’t had a Democrat senator since 1993. Now we’ll have both," Cruz said.

Cruz, like others in his party, chalked up the devastating losses to Republican politicians not seeming to understand or care about the cost of living crisis Americans have been dealing with.

"Food is too high, gas is too high, diesel is too high, insurance is too high, life is too high," Cruz said. "Tariffs have made everything too expensive, and the Iran war has dragged on too long. It should have been brief, decisive, and over. It needs to end."

Cruz also referenced wealth inequality as a frustration for voters, referencing Elon Musk's brief trillionaire status.

"There’s a very real economic disconnect. Our K-shaped economy is a yawning divide. Last year, we saw the world’s very first trillionaire, a modern-day Thomas Edison, at the very same time that millions were struggling to feed their families," he said.

"Understandably, people were pissed off, and elected Republicans didn’t do enough to address their very real pain," he added.