President Donald Trump told the New York Times on Election Night that he is absolutely willing to accept the midterm election results and will work with the Democrats who are taking control of Congress. He spoke by phone with Times reporters Tyler Pager and Erica L. Green shortly before 10:30 p.m. Eastern while watching the returns come in at the White House.
"I am absolutely willing to accept those results," he said. "We'll work with the Democrats, and we look forward to working with them. We'll probably work something out."
He said he had no regrets about the endorsements he made, including Darline Graham in South Carolina and Ken Paxton in Texas, who both lost. As Graham's defeat came in while they were speaking, he reacted to it live: "I see that Darline lost. Wow, that's amazing." He added: "I'm just looking at these results as I'm talking."
The acceptance was unconditional — a change from his answer before the vote, when he told reporters on October 27 that he would recognize the outcome "if they're honest elections." On Tuesday night, with his party's losses in front of him, the condition was gone.
In a separate call with CBS News the same night, Trump went further and congratulated the winners. His message, he said, is "congratulations to the Democrats, and I look forward to working with you for the good of our country." He said he could work with Democrats on many things, and that he felt bad for the Republicans who lost, calling losing a tough thing.
In both calls he returned to the same explanation for the losses. He "wasn't on the ballot, and there was nothing that could be done about that — if I was, we would have won," he told CBS News, the same point he had made on Truth Social during the night.
It was a different tone from earlier on Election Day, when he had told CBS News that he holds the "ultimate power — it's called 'veto'." Before the polls closed he was talking about the veto; after the results he was talking about congratulations and working together.
For American families, what the President said on Tuesday night matters beyond the politics: the Associated Press has declared that Democrats won the Senate with at least a 51-49 majority, and the networks project they will take the House as well. That means taxes, spending, judges and measures on household costs over the next two years must be negotiated between the White House and a Democratic Congress — and with the President accepting the results, the handover of power in Congress goes ahead without a fight over the count itself.
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