(Washington) The midterm elections were to open a avenue for him to launch his 2024 presidential bid. Instead, election night was disappointing for Donald Trump, who sees his main Republican rival galvanized by the results of the ballot.
Posted at 1:29 p.m.
The former host of the White House, who had been personally involved throughout the campaign, dreamed of a landslide victory for his foals, before his “very big announcement” promised next week, presuming in all likelihood of a presidential candidacy.
But the announced “red wave” has not swept over the country, although the Republicans are well placed to snatch the majority in the House of Representatives – a priori by a short head. The control of the Senate remains very uncertain.
The most striking victory of the night on the conservative side remains that of Ron DeSantis, 44, triumphantly re-elected governor of Florida. He is Donald Trump’s main and strongest opponent in the race for the Republican presidential nomination of 2024.
His landslide victory over Democrat Charlie Crist cements his status as a rising star and already an editorial published by Fox New on Wednesday morning crowned Mr. DeSantis as the new “leader of the Republican Party”.
Despite the absence of complete final results, the political landscape drawn on Wednesday morning clearly did not resemble that expected.
While the midterm elections are generally favorable to the opposition, “it should not have been so difficult for the Republicans”, commented for AFP Jon Rogowski, professor of political science at the University of Chicago. . All the more so in a context of high inflation, combined with the anemic popularity rating of Democratic President Joe Biden.
“Many of the candidates” supported by Donald Trump “have underperformed and cost their party the chance to take a seat which could have been easily won”, underlined Ron Rogowski. “At the same time, other Republican candidates with whom he has publicly quarreled easily won their seats. »
An example: Brian Kemp, openly opposed to Donald Trump, retained his post as governor in Georgia. The former president has consistently castigated Mr Kemp’s role in certifying the 2020 ballot, and had tried to unseat him by backing another candidate in the primaries.
“Quality” of candidates
The results show that “you can be conservative, be principled, oppose Trump and win,” George Washington University professor Peter Loge told AFP.
“It’s really a tipping point for the Republican Party,” said Wednesday morning on CNN Geoff Duncan, Republican vice-governor of Georgia, for a long time openly critical of the ex-president. ” It is time to move on. »
Before the election, the leader of the Republican minority in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, had worried about the “quality” of the candidates pushed to the front of the stage by Donald Trump.
The ex-president could thus have lost his aura of “kingmaker”. Star surgeon Mehmet Oz, dubbed by Donald Trump, notably failed to win the key and hotly contested seat of senator in Pennsylvania.
In the same state, ultraconservative and anti-abortion candidate Doug Mastriano, who was present during the Capitol storming, was defeated for governor.
Notable exception: in Ohio, the colt trumpiste JD Vance won the post of senator. And more than a hundred Republican candidates challenging the 2020 presidential outcome were elected to various local and national positions on Tuesday, according to media projections.
Presidential path
Wednesday morning, the ex-president was “livid” and “screaming at everyone”, according to one of his advisers quoted anonymously by the star journalist of CNN Jim Acosta. On his Truth social network, he remained silent all morning.
Donald Trump, who had seemed reluctant to declare himself a presidential candidate on the eve of the election, should still maintain his “big announcement” from his residence in Florida on November 15.
To candidates who failed, he will say: “If you had done what I said, you would have done better, it’s your fault,” argued Peter Loge.
And if the Republicans do indeed win the majority in the House, the ex-president will not hesitate to “take credit for it”, predicted Jon Rogowski.
According to the expert, with a presidential candidacy announced two years before the deadline, Donald Trump would seek to pull the rug out from under his rivals’ feet: “If he felt he was in a better position, he wouldn’t need to declare himself so soon. »