President Says He Will Accept Election Results, Blames GOP Defeats on His Absence From Ballot and Signals Willingness to Work With Democrats

President Donald Trump said Tuesday night that he is prepared to accept the results of the 2026 midterm elections, even as Republicans suffered major losses across the country, and indicated that he would be willing to negotiate with Democrats as they move toward taking control of Congress.

In an interview with The New York Times as election results continued to come in, Trump acknowledged the Republican setbacks but attributed much of the party’s disappointing performance to the fact that his own name was not on the ballot.

“I am absolutely willing to accept those results,” Trump told the newspaper.

The president also signaled that he was prepared to deal with Democratic congressional leaders despite the increasingly unfavorable political landscape for his administration.

“We’ll work with the Democrats, and we’ll, you know, look forward to working with them. We’ll probably work something out,” Trump said.

The remarks came as Democrats were projected to regain control of the House of Representatives and were making substantial gains in Senate contests, threatening to dramatically change the political balance in Washington for the remaining two years of Trump’s presidency.

Republicans entered Election Day hoping to preserve their congressional majorities, with Trump campaigning extensively in battleground states and urging voters to support Republican candidates as a way of strengthening his administration.

Instead, Democrats scored victories in a series of competitive races, including several contests in states that Trump had carried during the 2024 presidential election.

Trump, however, argued that the outcome would have been considerably different had he personally been seeking reelection.

“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,” the president wrote on Truth Social.

The statement reflected an argument that Trump and his advisers have made throughout the election cycle: that the president’s personal appeal to voters does not necessarily translate into comparable support for Republican candidates when he is not running.

A White House official, speaking to The Washington Post as results came in, similarly suggested that Trump’s supporters are more likely to participate when he is personally on the ballot and that some Republican candidates had failed to generate sufficient enthusiasm among voters.

The official also indicated that the president was in a defiant mood as he monitored the election returns at a White House gathering.

Trump’s comments to the Times were particularly notable because he had previously declined to make an unconditional commitment to accepting the election results.

Asked by reporters on October 27 whether he would recognize the outcome if Republicans lost, Trump responded, “I will — if they’re honest elections.”

His latest remarks appeared to represent a more conciliatory approach, although the president did not elaborate on whether he was withdrawing his earlier qualification concerning the integrity of the vote.

The question of Trump’s willingness to accept unfavorable election results has remained politically sensitive since the disputed aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, when he challenged his defeat to Joe Biden and alleged widespread voting irregularities.

In the weeks leading up to this year’s midterms, Trump repeatedly raised concerns about election procedures and criticized aspects of the voting system.

Nevertheless, his comments Tuesday night suggested that he was preparing for the possibility of governing alongside a Democratic-controlled Congress rather than immediately challenging the outcome.

At the same time, Trump made clear in a separate interview with CBS News that he has no intention of surrendering his ability to pursue his agenda if Democrats take control of one or both chambers.

Speaking with CBS chief Washington analyst Robert Costa before polls closed Tuesday, the president emphasized that he would retain substantial constitutional and executive authority regardless of the election results.