Florida voters gave Trump a boost amid GOP election beating

• Despite a national rebuke of his party, President Donald Trump saw GOP candidates win Florida's key gubernatorial and U.S. Senate races.
• Nationally, Democrats made significant gains, flipping the House and Senate and breaking the GOP's southern "red wall."
• Trump-backed candidates and allies suffered defeats in his adopted home of Palm Beach County, even in districts redrawn to favor Republicans.
• Trump attributed the poor national results to his not being on the ballot, while voters cited concerns over the economy, inflation, and corruption.

Florida voters handed President Donald Trump consolation prizes in a midterm election widely seen as a resounding repudiation of his second White House term.

Trump-backed candidates won his adopted home state's two marquee races: Byron Donalds became the Sunshine State's governor while Ashley Moody held on to the U.S. Senate seat she currently occupies, although both won their contests single-digit margins.

The GOP also was poised to maintain its 20-8 domination of the state's congressional delegation, albeit that outcome also reflected blowback. An added moral victory for Trump was that his endorsed GOP candidate appeared to take back the Florida House seat in Mar-a-Lago's district.

Speaking with Fox News on election night, the president acknowledged the election results signaled there was a "mood in the air" across the country even as he pointed to the victories in Florida and elsewhere.

"Don't forget: We had a lot of candidates that did win also. Some people did win tonight. We had some wins that were not bad wins at all," a subdued-sounding Trump said, although conceding the Florida races "were a lot closer" than expected.

Nationally, however, Trump and his far-right MAGA Republican party suffered a humiliating rebuke in which Democratic candidates were projected to potentially win 250 seats in the U.S. House and at least 54 in the U.S. Senate. The sweep, which also included 19 of 30 governorships up for grabs, crushed the GOP's southern red wall that dated to the Richard Nixon era.

The results marked the third time American voters expressed buyers' remorse about having elected Trump as their president. In 2018, Republicans lost the U.S. House majority in a blue wave. In 2020, Trump was defeated in his re-election bid while Republicans lost their U.S. Senate majority.

In its post-election analysis, the Cook Political report said Trump’s disregard for his presidential campaign promises and priorities two years ago "doomed his party back into the political wilderness" in this yrear's midterms.

"Trump’s 2024 victory was built on a three-legged stool: closing the border, lowering inflation and keeping the U.S. out of foreign wars," Cook Political researchers wote. "Less than two years into his term, Trump has broken two of those promises — and voters punished him for it even in states and districts he comfortably won."

Redistricting, MAGA-backers have a rough election in Palm Beach County

This year's electoral carnage extended into Trump's adopted home county in the Palm Beaches.

Democrats won three congressional districts either within or that overlapped into Palm Beach County. The defeats were all the more embarrassing since they were in districts whose boundaries were redrawn at Trump's command to boost Republicans' doomed effort to keep their slim House majority.

Two other districts reapportioned to favor Republicans also were won by Democratic incumbents — U.S. Reps. Kathy Castor of Tampa and Darren Soto of Orlando.

A local, high-profile Trump ally, state Rep. Meg Weinberger, R-Palm Beach Gardens, lost her re-election bid. Weinberger, dubbed "MAGA Meg," this year sponsored legislation to rename the county's main airport as President Donald J. Trump International Airport.

Palm Beach County Commissioner Sara Baxter, who Trump endorsed after directing her to seek re-election rather than a congressional spot, also lost in a landslide.

Trump bemoans he was not on the ballot

Trump did not speak to the nation Tuesday evening.

But in a social media post, the president said the devatasting outcome was simply because GOP candidates and incumbents did not have his coattails to ride on.

"I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE! " he wrote in one post.

Later, in the conversation with Fox News, Trump expressed disappointment with the results.

"I'm little bit surprised. I thought they do better," he said of Republican candidates across the country. "We had tremendous rallies. … I thought that I could transfer those people into candidates,"

At his closing Florida rally the day before Halloween, Trump had told attendees to "pretend" that he was on the ballot, counting on a surge of enthusiasm.

“In the truest sense, I really am on the ballot," Trump said in Daytona Beach on Oct. 30. "We're all on the ballot together.”

Trump policies persuaded voters for and against his candidates and agenda.

Fabiana Silvia said she understands the need to police our borders, but believes Trump went way too far by deporting immigrants who did nothing wrong.

"The reason I voted Democratic Party today is because I feel that America needs a change," said Silvia, who voted on Nov. 3 at a suburban Boca Raton precinct. "America used to be different … and we are supposed to protect people regardless of their status when they're doing it the correct way."

Bud Fleisher, casting his ballot at the same polling station, said he voted straight Republican because of a host of issues, including Trump's targeting Iran to ensure the country does not possess a nuclear weapon.

"I voted that way because I believe that Republicans overall are closer to what this country is all about. I do not suffer from disappoint from Trump."

➤STATE RESULTS: Live updates for Florida governor and all state election races

➤CONGRESS RESULTS: Live updates of Senate from Florida, US House races

➤AMENDMENT 3 RESULTS: Live updates of Florida's Amendment 3, and 1 and 2

➤SOUTH FLORIDA RESULTS: South Florida U.S. House Districts 24-28

Trump midterm message rejected elsewhere

The results concluded a midterm election campaign in which the president spent the final 32 days appearing in 30 rallies across 20 states, including Daytona Beach and a previous event in Fort Myers. The president, though, focused his attention in crimson political markets, not swing states or battleground congressional districts.

Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida's GOP supermajority Legislature redrew a quartet of congressional districts, including two that overlapped Trump's Palm Beach County.

But Trump did not make campaign appearances for either Republican candidate in those two districts, Scott Singer and Casey Askar, instead relying on social-media posts to endorse them.

Both lost.

Trump's historically low approval ratings dogged him along the campaign trail.

He stood in the low 30% range nationally. Even in Florida, which he carried by a whopping 13 points just two years ago, an NBC6/Telemundo poll issued in early October placed his favorability at break-even — 48% approving, 48% disapproving and 4% uncertain.

The poor showing — driven down by his administration's embrace of the Project 2025 agenda, failures of DOGE government slashing, excessive immigration enforcement, a seemingly callous disregard for the rising cost of living and a quagmire war in Iran — was a factor in campaign strategizing.

Across the deep-red Sunshine State, where the GOP enjoyed a 1.5-million registered voter advantage over Democrats, Republican candidates dropped Trump's image from their flyers and commercials, preferring to sidle up to DeSantis.

The president's closing message in the past month sounded just as conflicted.

Trump spoke about men's physiques, waxed philosophically about an Ohio senator's "ass," called political opponents names, dropped profanities and deployed bombastic warnings of "communist" takeovers and economic depressions.

His repeated references to "a golden age" clashed with the kitchen-table realities of Americans struggling with grocery prices, energy costs and unaffordable health care — an issue aggravated for millions of Floridians by the "One Big Beautiful Bill" that allowed Obamacare tax credits to expire at the start of this year.

His claim that he would have "won the Vietnam War in one week" came across as mocking voters upset with the prolonged conflict in Iran, now in its ninth month despite Trump's dozens of asserations that the war has been successfully concluded.

Then, on Nov. 2, the last day of campaigning, Trump delivered his closing message for the campaign from the edge of the Reflecting Pool in Washington, again highlighting his preoccupation with $1 billion dollars worth of Washington, D.C, renovations, from White House ballroom to the arch.

All this as polls continued to show Americans' unhappiness with Trump's priorities and telling pollsters they felt he was not emphasizing their needs.

Voters worried about cost of living, but Trump displayed his wealth

In fact, the president seemed to flaunt his wealth, and that of his club members, political allies and business associates. Exit polls cited voters' frustration with Trump's handling of the economy, with 89% citing inflation and the spike in cost of living as major issues to them.

Another issue that surged to the forefront of midterm campaigning was corruption and voter anger at perceived profiteering by the president, his family and administration officials. Trump himself reported this summer that he had pocketed $2 billion in income and wealth since returning to the White House.

Trumo unabashedly displayed the wealth, and talked it up.

On Halloween night, Trump invited reporters traveling with him to glimpse the jungle-theme gala he was hosting at his gold-trimmed Mar-a-Lago ballroom to launch the Palm Beach club's winter social season.

Videos and images on social media showed the ballroom decorated with emerald floodlights and leafy table centerpieces. Attendees sported cheetah-, leopard- and tiger-print dinner jackets, with others in a variety of safari and other costumes.

Trump, wearing his branded dark blue suit, white shirt and red tie, jovially told reporters he chose to dress as "Donald Trump" for the Halloween bash at the Winter White House.

“Look at all my rich members,” Trump said to reporters. "They spent all day getting ready. Look at these guys."

He added: "These are the biggest guys on Wall Street.”

On the campaign trail, Trump remarked about the Palm Beach club's exclusivity. Again promising to dole out $5,000 checks to Americans if his Republican Party maintains majorities on Capitol Hill, the president quipped that the sum wouldn't buy much at Mar-a-Lago.

"You can be my guest at Mar-a-Lago," Trump said as attendees laughed. "The problem is, that $5,000, the most you'll be able to buy is a hamburger, maybe a small dessert."

He then advised the crowd "don't go there" because “it’s not a good place if you're price-conscious” in reference to the club, where the membership fee reportedly is in the $1 million range.

"I'm not even sure you could buy that," he said of the burger.

U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat who spoke at a Democratic Party event in Palm Beach County on Oct. 3, said he is not surprised by polls showing government corruption rising as a top voter concern.

"The corruption just means that the government is working for a tiny, tiny group of the people who are benefiting from all the bribery and insider trading and kickbacks," Raskin told The Palm Beach Post. "The whole government is operating on a coin-operated system."

Trump made case to voters in speeches about 'asses,' DC renovations

For everyone else concerned about the cost of living, Trump counseled patience.

The president repeated his belief that gasoline prices will be “dropping like a rock very soon.” The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline in Florida stood at $3.85, almost a dollar a gallon more than on Nov. 1, 2025.

The sharp increase in energy prices since the Iran war began in February has been provided a massive profits windfall for major U.S. oil companies. The petroleum giants have collectively earned over $130 billion in profits, according to media and financial reports.

Trump celebrated it as an economic gain.

"We're making hundreds of millions of dollars," the president said at one rally last month. "I could just see the fake headlines. President Trump is talking about all the money they're making while people are suffering at the pump. That'll be the headline. But I said, 'I don't give a damn. I'm gonna say it.' We'll make it a frickin' fortune."

In Florida, however, the president suggested his administration had delivered on its promises from the 2024 comeback campaign.

Trump reminded the Daytona Beach audience that his administration removed taxes on tips, which favored the legions of Sunshine State service-industry workers. And officials in his government had worked to lower prescription drug costs, he added.

Going forward, he said the federal agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2027 "will be investing $40 billion in Florida mortgages to help" as many as 117,000 Floridians purchase homes, while the U.S. Department of Labor "will be providing Florida with $40 million in federal grants to support nearly 10,000 brand new apprenticeships."

Trump also lauded what he counted as 88 "all-time record highs" in the stock market, a boon to Florida retirees and others with 401(k) and other investment accounts.

But Wall Street also seemed to shiv the president the morning after the election. The Dow Jones industrial average rose roughly 1,200 points at the opening bell on Nov. 4, belying Trump's claims that a Democratic midterm victory would lead to an investment crash and an economic depression.

Still, in Florida, the president's closing arguments seemed to be enough to hold serve in the 2026 election, albeit by slim margins.

Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at [email protected]. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.