Republicans count on ‘buyer’s remorse’ in 2028 after Democrats gain control of the Senate in blue sweep 

Democrats seized control of the Senate Tuesday night, delivering a sharp rebuke of President Donald Trump that will shape the final two years of his term. But Republicans are already looking to 2028 and counting on voters to have “buyer’s remorse.”

“Anyone who voted Democrat today is going to have a serious case of buyer’s remorse when gas prices come down quickly when the Iran conflict is solved but they’re still stuck with a list of liberal extremist Democrats,” a White House official told reporters Tuesday night.

The results are “further proof that Republican candidates can’t take turnout for granted when President Trump isn’t on the ballot,” a Trump world official told Heartlander News.

“President Trump and his operation worked harder than anyone to turn out Republican voters, going above and beyond to make up for some candidates who failed to do the work themselves,” the official said. “Democrats are renting many of these seats, and the independents who voted for them will swing back hard after two years of a socialist majority and a serious case of buyer’s remorse.”

As of Wednesday morning, Democrats flipped seven Senate seats – Kansas, Iowa, Texas, South Carolina, North Carolina, Ohio and Maine. They also held onto a seat in Michigan, electing the first Muslim senator, Abdul El-Sayed. Two other red seats, Alaska and Mississippi, have not been called yet.

The results, which also included a Democratic takeback of the House, sparked backlash on the right, as some critics blamed Trump’s own priorities for the losses. Conservative commentator Matt Walsh mocked the administration’s focus on issues such as renaming artificial intelligence to super intelligence and renovating the White House ballroom while the economy suffered.

“Trump launched an unpopular and pointless war. Gas prices are too high. People can’t afford groceries,” he wrote on X as the election results poured in. “Trump abandoned the America First message. This is why Republicans are getting crushed. It’s very simple.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune touted Republicans’ “strong record,” including reducing crime, securing the border and putting “strong conservative judges on benches across the country.”

“As we head into 2027, Senate Republicans will not stand idly by as the far-left, socialist wing of the Democrat Party attempts to unwind everything we’ve done,” he wrote on X. “Thankfully, we still have President Trump in the White House, and we’ll work with him to stop the worst impulses of Democrat extremism.”

The White House referred Heartlander News to Trump’s comments Tuesday night.

“It’s a power of veto. It’s one of the stronger powers that a president has. And they’ll send over things that are insane, and I’ll veto them,” Trump told Fox News as results were coming in. “And after a couple of months of vetoes, they’ll say, ‘How do we get this stuff done?’ And we’ll work together.”

As of Wednesday afternoon, here are the states that have swung blue so far:

South Carolina

In the Palmetto State, which Trump won in 2024 by nearly 18 points, Democrat Annie Andrews beat Republican Darline Graham, the sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham. Trump told Fox News he felt bad for Graham, who was running a campaign at the same time as she was mourning the loss of her brother.

Graham, who was handpicked by Trump in the primary, faced national backlash after a blunder during a primary debate on foreign policy, when she admitted that she was “not that informed on national security.”

Andrews defeated Graham by nearly 4.5 points, 51.1% to 46.7%, with 99% of votes counted. In 2020, Lindsey Graham defeated his Democratic challenger by a 10-point margin.

Ohio

Former Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, beat Republican Sen. Jon Husted in Ohio, flipping the Senate seat. Husted, a former lieutenant governor, was appointed to the Senate in 2025 to fill the seat vacated by now-Vice President JD Vance.

Trump won the Buckeye State by just over 11 points in the 2024 presidential election.

Texas

Democrat James Talarico beat Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton by double digits, 55% to Paxton’s 43%. Talarico will be the first Democratic senator from the state in more than 30 years.

Trump won Texas by nearly 14 points in the 2024 election.

Kansas

In Kansas, Democrat Adam Hamilton ousted incumbent Republican Sen. Roger Marshall by 4.9 points. Trump won the Sunflower State by 16.2 points in 2024, and Marshall won his last senatorial race in 2020 by more than 11 points.

Kansas, along with much of the agriculture-heavy Midwest, was hit hard by spiking diesel and fertilizer prices as a result of the war in Iran.

Iowa

The Republican candidate in Iowa, Ashley Hinson, fell to the Democrat, Josh Turek. Turek beat Hinson by four points in a state that President Trump won by more than 13 points in 2024.

Turek’s win flips the seat after Republican Sen. Joni Ernst’s decision to retire at the end of her current term.

Maine

With 91% of votes tallied in Maine, Democrat Troy Jackson won the seat by more than 7 points, ousting Sen. Susan Collins from a seat she has held for 30 years.

In 2024, 2020 and 2016, Maine was won by Democrats, but Collins has held on in part due to her perception as a moderate and her personal popularity in the state. Jackson, a former state Senate president, was placed on the ballot after former nominee Graham Platner quit the race after a series of scandals.

North Carolina

North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis announced his retirement in June of last year, after sparring with Trump over his “One Big Beautiful Bill.” Tillis’ announcement set off a campaign between former Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, and former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley.

Despite North Carolina voting for President Trump in 2024 by 3 percentage points, and Tillis winning reelection in 2020 by just under 2 points, Cooper trounced Whatley by more than 19 points.

Michigan

Democrats held Michigan, where they defended the open seat of retiring Sen. Gary Peters in a hotly contested race.

Abdul El-Sayed, a Democrat, made history as the first Muslim senator after beating Trump-backed Mike Rogers 52.5% to 45.5%, with more than 96% of votes in. El-Sayed cruised to victory despite scandals surrounding his criticism of Israel, which led Democrat Rep. Haley Stevens, his primary opponent, to endorse Rogers in the race.

In 2024, Trump won the state by just over 1 percentage point.

‘Everyone knows why we lost’

Vice President JD Vance, addressing the “Democrat blowout,” said “the reason we lost is the war.”

“If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so,” he wrote on X Wednesday. “But everyone knows why we lost.”

“I remain hopeful about our country. To the people who are pissed off and want to say, ‘I told you so’: you’re right, you did tell us so,” he said. “To the people who are just pissed at the results, you should be. Let’s take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country.”