DeSantis Calls Midterm Losses 'Extinction-Level' for GOP and Projects 56 Democratic Senate Seats

Outgoing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday, Nov. 4, that Tuesday's midterm losses are "close to an extinction-level event" for Republicans "in many parts of the country, as we have seen probably in the last 100 years."

He called the night "the political equivalent of a meteor strike that went all around the United States. Blue states, red states, everything in between."

DeSantis's numbers

DeSantis forecast that Democrats "will likely go into January with 56 U.S. Senate seats and as much as 258 U.S. House seats." Those are his projections, not certified results. Mississippi, Nebraska and Alaska had not been called in election-night tallies, and the Associated Press had not called four Republican-led and one Democrat-led House race in Florida as of 1:20 p.m. ET Wednesday.

He said the new majorities will "throw a lot of sand in the gears" of the administration by blocking appointments and confirmations. He also expects a slew of investigative committees aimed at administration officials.

Looking ahead, DeSantis said he does not expect Republicans to retake the Senate in 2028 and does not think the House is likely either. Unified GOP control in Washington, he said, could be "two years, four years, six years, maybe even longer" away.

DeSantis has not ruled out a 2028 presidential bid.

Texas: a statewide sweep

DeSantis singled out Texas, which he called "the crown jewel of Republican politics."

Democrat James Talarico beat Republican Ken Paxton for the Senate. Gina Hinojosa ousted Gov. Greg Abbott. Vikki Goodwin defeated Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and Nathan Johnson beat Mayes Middleton for attorney general.

No Democrat had won a statewide race in Texas since 1994. Texas hasn't sent a Democrat to the Senate since Lloyd Bentsen in 1986.

DeSantis added that Republicans lost four seats on the Texas Supreme Court and "may even lose the Texas Legislature or one house or even both." He warned the damage could "reverberate for the next decade or more" if Texas stops anchoring the party.

Patrick himself conceded in a statement: "This was a wave election in Texas and across the country."

The rest of the map

The Associated Press reported that Kansas, South Carolina, Texas, Ohio and Iowa, all states Trump won easily two years ago, backed Democrats for Senate and in some cases governor.

In Kansas, Adam Hamilton, a Methodist megachurch pastor, defeated Sen. Roger Marshall. It is the state's first Democratic senator since 1932. In South Carolina, pediatrician Annie Andrews won the first Democratic Senate seat there since 1998.

Iowa elected Rob Sand governor and Josh Turek senator. Ohio chose Amy Acton for governor and Sherrod Brown for Senate. Brown lost his seat to Bernie Moreno two years ago and this time beat Sen. Jon Husted.

Democrats also flipped governorships in Georgia, Ohio and Texas, according to SF Reporter's election-night tally, which also counted at least seven Senate flips, including Maine, where Susan Collins lost.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called the result a "generational remake of the Senate map."

DeSantis noted that once term-limited and defeated officeholders leave in January, Florida will be the only one of the 10 largest states under full Republican control. Rep. Byron Donalds won the governor's race there, and Sen. Ashley Moody kept her seat.

Rejection or realignment

DeSantis argued the vote was not an endorsement of Democrats. "This was not a positive view of the Democrats. This was a rejection of Republicans in Washington," he said. "Democrats just happened to be the beneficiary." He said they "did not earn a mandate to indulge all their left-wing fantasies."

The SF Reporter's account reads it differently. It cites exit polls showing women backing Democrats by nearly 20 points and Black, Asian, Latino, young and college-educated voters breaking for them. It says many voters cast ballots against what it calls corruption, nepotism and authoritarianism in Trump's project, not just on the economy.

The AP framed the open question as whether the results are a "durable tectonic shift" that could reshape the path to the presidency, or a fluke stemming from Trump's deep unpopularity and voter unhappiness with the rising cost of living.

The blame inside the GOP

Right-leaning commentators are pointing at the White House. A Daily Wire opinion column argues Trump "abandoned the America First principles that got him elected" and that the war with Iran, which it says raised fuel prices "enormously," drove voters away. It also says Trump told voters in every state he went to to pretend he was on the ballot, and that they did. The column calls for "brand new leadership" in the party.

DeSantis, while predicting a lasting setback, put the cause on Republicans in Washington generally rather than on Trump by name.

What is still open

The final size of the House majority is unresolved, and DeSantis's 56-seat Senate figure depends on contests that remain uncalled. His prediction of a Democratic Congress that blocks nominees and opens investigations will be tested when the new members are sworn in in January.