President Donald Trump shared social media posts Saturday questioning the scale of Democrats’ midterm election gains, days after saying he was “absolutely willing” to accept the results of an election that cost Republicans control of Congress. Trump reposted material on Truth Social questioning Democratic vote totals nationally and in Texas, including a post describing Gina Hinojosa’s performance in the Texas governor’s race as “Looney Tunes numbers.” The activity marks a shift in tone from election night, when Trump acknowledged Republicans’ losses and said he would accept the results. Trump has not, in the posts seen by Newsweek, said that the midterm results were fraudulent or that he no longer accepts them.
Newsweek has contacted the White House and the Texas Secretary of State’s office for comment. One of the posts shared by Trump Saturday was from Donald Ward, who argued that unusually high Democratic turnout in Texas could not be explained by weak Republican participation. Ward noted that Republican Governor Greg Abbott received roughly 100,000 more votes than in his 2022 reelection but lost to Hinojosa, who received substantially more votes than Democratic gubernatorial nominee Beto O'Rourke had four years earlier.
The post called the numbers “not normal midterms numbers.” Trump shared an image of the post on Truth Social on Saturday morning. Minutes later, Trump shared another post, this one from Kevin Bass, featuring a chart comparing the nationwide House popular vote in 2022 with projected totals for 2026. Democrats materialized 20 million new votes,” the post said.
The accompanying chart listed 54.2 million Republican and 51.3 million Democratic House votes in 2022, compared with projected 2026 totals of 55.6 million Republican and 70.4 million Democratic votes. The graphic itself noted that the 2026 numbers were projections based on 85 percent of the expected vote being counted and estimated remaining ballots at the then-current rates. Trump shared the material on Truth Social Saturday morning.
Neither post provided evidence that the reported results were inaccurate or the product of fraud. Trump also shared a separate graphic highlighting the longstanding historical tendency for the president’s party to lose House seats during midterm elections. That material did not question the validity of this year’s results.
The posts come four days after Trump took a markedly different tone as the scale of Republican losses became apparent. We’ll probably work something out.” Trump had been less definitive before Election Day, saying he would accept the outcome if the elections were “honest.” In other election-night remarks, Trump sought to distance himself from the Republican defeat, writing on Truth Social: “I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!” He nevertheless gave Democrats credit for their showing, telling Fox News: “I think the Democrats did a good job. They fought hard.” Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress in Tuesday’s elections, dealing Trump and the Republican Party a major setback halfway through his second term.
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