DALLAS — Republicans woke up Wednesday to the brutal reality of a complete wipeout in the midterm elections that has forced a reckoning within the party about the future — or the end — of President Trump’s MAGA movement.
“It’s time for the GOP to rebuild in a post-Trump reality. This was a reckoning,” Austin-based Republican strategist Matt Mackowiak told The Washington Times.
The Election Day rebuke of the Trump agenda arguably hit the hardest in Texas.
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Pro-MAGA, Trump-endorsed Attorney General Ken Paxton lost by double digits to far-left state Rep. James Talarico in the Senate race, making him the first Republican to lose a Senate seat in Texas in nearly four decades.
Gov. Greg Abbott sustained a shocking loss to Democrat Gina Hinojosa, and Democrats captured the Texas House, leaving little left of the Lone Star State’s famed red wall.
Mr. Mackowiak was a senior adviser to Sen. John Cornyn, who lost to Mr. Paxton in the Republican primary in part because Mr. Trump backed his MAGA opponent.
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Mr. Cornyn had warned Mr. Paxton would fare worse with voters and predicted, correctly, that Mr. Paxton would lose the seat.
“MAGA’s power in the party and within the country will decrease significantly after this all-time disaster election result,” Mr. Mackowiak said.
What is left of the MAGA coalition? Nobody really knows yet.
“In 18 months, Donald Trump created a coalition that was able to ascend him to the White House with the popular vote. And both chambers of Congress. And over the next 18 months, he disassembled that coalition piece by piece,” Republican political analyst Ryan Girdusky said.
The Republicans’ leading political stars were scrambling amid the rubble to position themselves ahead of 2028 as possible successors who might inherit the fractured MAGA voter base that twice put Mr. Trump in the Oval Office.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who unsuccessfully challenged Mr. Trump for the presidential nomination in 2024, is now again considered to be a serious White House contender for the Republican Party.
SEE ALSO: Trump says he has no regrets about Iran war, despite midterm rout
Mr. DeSantis emerged as one of the few Republican winners Tuesday night.
The term-limited governor was not on the ballot but was credited with keeping Florida red through his popular initiatives, including a recent move to ban Flock cameras and limit data centers.
Florida voters elected Republican Sen. Ashley Moody and a slate of Republican state officials. They also endorsed Mr. DeSantis’ referendum to provide a property tax cut for homeowners.
He quickly showcased himself as a place of refuge for the battered party faithful.
The governor, sidelined by his party for challenging Mr. Trump two years ago, ripped the Republican Party in a told-you-so press conference Wednesday morning.
“This is close to an extinction-level event for Republicans,” Mr. DeSantis said. “To call it a wave I don’t think would be fully accurate. It’s the political equivalent of a meteor strike.”
The midterm election battering could cost Vice President J.D. Vance his position as the Republican most likely to inherit the MAGA coalition and lead the party heading into a post-Trump era.
Mr. Vance wrote a lengthy reflection on his party’s drubbing and posted it on social media, largely blaming the war in Iran for alienating Trump voters who, internal polling revealed, showed up on Election Day — and voted for Democrats.
He acknowledged that the war split MAGA badly and hinted at a future Republican Party that builds a new coalition.
“Everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there,” Mr. Vance said. “To the people who are pissed off and want to say, ‘I told you so’: you’re right, you did tell us so. Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview.”
Postelection buzz also centered on Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, the only statewide Republican left standing in Texas after Tuesday’s wipeout. Mr. Cruz on Wednesday was credited with predicting the bloodbath that lay ahead for Texas Republicans. He has run for president before and, in a recent podcast, said he still aspires to win the White House.
Analysts on social media pointed to Mr. Cruz, who was not on the ballot, as a rare statewide survivor in Texas with minimal ties to the administration’s foreign policy.
Democrats were slated to pick up 32 seats in the House and seven in the Senate, far more than even the most favorable polling predicted.
In 2006, Democrats picked up 31 seats in the House, and two years later flipped another 21, giving the party a hefty majority that allowed it to advance Obamacare and green energy policies.
It did not last long. In 2010, Republicans won back the House in a landslide, and voters have wavered between the two parties ever since.
Republican voters will sort out what is left of the MAGA coalition, pollster Jim McLaughlin said.
“Just like the grassroots and the voters chose Donald Trump, they will choose the future of the America First movement. The voters choose the issues, candidates and agendas that best match their values and needs.”
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