Outgoing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who challenged Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has sharply criticized the party’s performance after its midterm defeat.
DeSantis described the result as “close to an extinction-level event for Republicans in many parts of the country,” highlighting Democratic victories in the Texas governor’s race and Senate contest—losses he said struck at “the crown jewel of Republican politics.”
“Let’s just be clear, that is going to hurt—not just for the next two years. That’s something that can reverberate for the next decade or more,” DeSantis said during a Wednesday press conference in Tallahassee.
“And if the Republican Party doesn’t have Texas as an anchor, then we are not going to be viable nationally going forward.”
Even before the results were announced, DeSantis had begun distancing himself from the administration. In a podcast interview, he warned that Republicans who refused to acknowledge that the Iran war had pushed up gas prices were “gaslighting” voters.
“Gas is higher. It hurts working-class people, and it’s higher because of this conflict. That’s just a fact. If you can’t admit that to voters, then you’re gaslighting them, and they’re not going to listen to you on other things,” DeSantis told Stephen A. Smith.
He called the conflict a “big drag” on the Republican Party, arguing that it might not have become a major political liability if it had ended as quickly as the Venezuela operation.
“[Trump] obviously ran saying he wasn’t going to do a Middle East war. They did. So we have some of our voters who’ve checked out because they’re like, ‘I didn’t want any more Middle East wars, and now we’re doing it,’” he said.
“Dems will get 55 Senate seats and 250+ House seats,” the Republican governor posted early Wednesday, offering a bleak assessment after the party’s heavy losses at the polls
Trump and Vice President JD Vance have described the electoral blowout as a referendum on the deeply unpopular US-Iran war
Ken Paxton, Trump’s chosen candidate in the Texas Senate race, was defeated by Democrat James Talarico. The last Democrat elected to the Senate in Texas was in 1988
DeSantis also cautioned that if the war continued through the remainder of Trump’s term, it could weaken the president’s ability to govern and make the next election cycle even more difficult for Republicans.
Democrats were on track to hold at least 54 Senate seats in the next Congress, compared with 44 for Republicans. They had also secured at least 228 House seats to the GOP’s 139, with many races still unresolved.
DeSantis believes the Republican losses could ultimately be even more severe.
“Dems will get 55 Senate seats and 250+ House seats,” he wrote on X early Wednesday.
“Looking at the Senate map and considering such a massive House margin, it is very unlikely Republicans will recapture the Congress in 2028. Might not have a shot at Senate control until 2032.”
In a lengthy post, Vance acknowledged that many of the voters who helped deliver victory to Republicans in 2024 had turned against the administration over the widely unpopular US-Iran war.
DeSantis, who cannot seek another term after serving as Florida governor for two terms, pointed to his state as the final Republican stronghold among America’s largest states.
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“With the loss of governors races in Texas, Ohio and Georgia, there will be only one state of the top ten most populous states with a Republican governor: Florida,” he wrote on X Tuesday night.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., greets supporters at an election night event Tuesday
Darline Graham, the sister of late South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and Trump’s preferred candidate for his open seat, lost her South Carolina race Tuesday night
Trump-backed Republican Byron Donalds narrowly defeated Democrat David Jolly in Florida, winning roughly 50 percent of the vote to Jolly’s 48.7 percent. The victory makes Donalds the state’s first Black governor and puts him in line to succeed DeSantis.
The result was far less commanding than DeSantis’s 19-point reelection victory in 2022, a win that cemented his status as one of the leading contenders for the Republican presidential nomination.
DeSantis challenged Trump for the 2024 GOP nomination but ended his campaign after placing a distant second in the Iowa caucuses. He endorsed Trump shortly afterward.
His latest criticism of the president immediately revived speculation that DeSantis may be preparing for another White House bid in 2028.
Vance remains the leading potential GOP nominee on prediction market Kalshi, with odds of 31 percent. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was second at 22 percent, while DeSantis’s chances surged overnight to 19 percent—a jump of more than 14 points.
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, a Florida resident who supported DeSantis during the 2024 Republican primary, said overnight that “Ron is going to run.”
“Governor DeSantis in Florida, who already ran once—if he waits another four years, then he’s not really relevant,” Shapiro added.
The Republican Party now faces a major internal debate over its direction ahead of the next presidential election.
Two Republican strategists told Our News Outlet that the party is entering a period of soul-searching over whether MAGA candidates represent its future. Trump will be term-limited, while Vance is widely viewed as his presumed successor despite lacking an endorsement from the president.
DeSantis’s attacks could position him as a potential alternative to Vance as Republicans argue over the party’s post-Trump identity.
Trump acknowledged in a Truth Social post late on election night that candidate quality had been a problem—one that even his near-constant campaigning could not overcome.
Many Republicans, however, have focused their blame on the president’s decision to launch the Iran war.
The political fallout within Trump’s orbit may only be starting as the president searches for an explanation for the Democratic “blue tsunami.”
“I think we’re gonna have some heads on some stakes in the next coming days and weeks,” one strategist said.
The 2028 presidential contest is already taking shape, the strategists said, and candidates who enter the race early will have more time to distinguish themselves from Trump’s political brand.
