WASHINGTON — Republican leaders brushed off concerns that Tuesday night’s elections were an indictment of their shutdown strategy despite President Donald Trump telling senators he believes the government’s closure directly caused the party’s losses.
During a breakfast meeting with Senate Republicans on Wednesday, Trump expressed concerns that the government shutdown “was a big factor” for elections in Virginia, New Jersey and New York City, where Democrats notched big wins over their GOP opponents. Trump railed against the government’s closure, senators present at the meeting told the Deseret News, despite acknowledging Republicans were unlikely to win the races anyway.
“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 told Republicans in public remarks before the breakfast was closed to the press. “The shutdown was a big factor — negative for the Republicans.”
Top Republicans on Capitol Hill pushed back against that characterization, emphasizing most major races on Tuesday took place in predominantly Democratic cities and states — making a Republican win nearly impossible.
“What happened last night was blue states and blue cities voted blue,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said on Wednesday. “We all saw that coming, and no one should read too much into last night’s election results. Off-year elections are not indicative of what’s to come.”
Johnson’s comments come after the speaker sought to temper expectations earlier this week about Republicans’ chances in Democratic areas — a warning that apparently did not sway Trump’s opinion come Wednesday.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., acknowledged the shutdown may have had an impact on election results, particularly in “Northern Virginia that has a lot of federal workers” affected by the closure. But he noted the results were not necessarily surprising.
“I think it’s hard to draw conclusions,” Thune said. “I mean, obviously, we had states where we lost statewide elections yesterday, but I don’t think anybody expected in most cases that we were going to win those. You can say, ‘Did we lose by more than we should have?’ or whatever. But I think in the end, these results were pretty much expected.”
But a few Republican senators said the shutdown likely influenced results due to the optics of a GOP trifecta in Washington.
“I think it had an impact. I think people pay attention to that,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said on Wednesday. “I think people saw the shutdown, recognized that it’s Congress that makes that decision, and we’re the party in power.”
The shutdown is officially the longest federal government closure in U.S. history as it stretched into its 36th day on Wednesday. Bipartisan talks have continued to find an off-ramp, but no deal has been finalized.