President Donald Trump said Wednesday the government shutdown and a lack of his name on the ballot contributed to Republicans’ wipeout in the most high-profile election races on Tuesday, urging Republicans to abolish the filibuster to prevent Democrats from ever taking federal power again.
Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani won New York City’s mayoral race on Tuesday, part of a sweep of Democratic candidates and Democratic-backed ballot initiative wins throughout the country. Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger won the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races, respectively, while the Democratic-backed Proposition 50 in California, which redraws the state’s congressional districts, passed overwhelmingly.
Trump, in a meeting with GOP senators on Wednesday, said he would discuss the impact of Tuesday’s elections with the group but took specific issue with how the shutdown — the longest in federal history – may have contributed to the party’s losses.
“I thought we’d have a discussion after the press leaves about what last night represented and what we should do about it and also about the shutdown and how that relates to last night,” Trump remarked on Wednesday morning. “If you read the pollsters, the shutdown was a big factor, negative for Republicans. They say that I wasn’t on the ballot was the biggest factor. I don’t know about that, but I was honored that they said that.”
He also urged the senators to abolish the Senate filibuster, a mechanism that requires 60 votes to pass most legislation, in order to clamp down on measures that Trump says prevent Republicans from holding power.
“We should pass voter ID. We should pass no-mail-in voting. We should pass all the things that we want to pass make our election secure and safe,” Trump said. “All we want is voter ID. You go to a grocery store, you have to give ID. You go to a gas station, you give ID. But for voting, they want no voter ID. It’s only for one reason, because they cheat.”
He claimed that, if Democrats took power, they would expand the Supreme Court and make Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., states to expand their hypothetical Senate majority.
“You think you have problems? They’re going to do all of the things,” Trump added. “Now, if we do what I’m saying, they’ll most likely never obtain power.”
