by WorldTribune Staff, November 4, 2026 — Real World News
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis characterized Tuesday’s midterms as a “close to an extinction-level event” for the Republican Party.
DeSantis, seen as a Republican rallying point for the future, said the GOP losses in the Senate and House essentially make taking either chamber back in 2028 nearly out of reach.
“This is probably the political worst-case scenario for a midterm election,” the Republican governor said.
As Florida elected a Republican governor and a Republican senator, DeSantis said the Sunshine State is the only one of the top 10 most populous states to still have GOP control.
DeSantis contrasted his state with the results in Texas, which like Florida has been in the vanguard of Republican politics this century. Gov. Greg Abbott lost his bid for a fourth term, the state’s U.S. Senate seat flipped, and the losses even reached the state’s Supreme Court.
“If the Republican Party doesn’t have Texas as an anchor, then we are not going to be viable nationally going forward,” he said.
Policywise, he said the flips in the Senate will mean no conservative Supreme Court justice can get confirmed.
“I think the chance of confirming somebody is zero over the next two years,” he said.
Vice President JD Vance, like DeSantis seen as a party leader going into 2028, put the blame for the Republicans’ heavy loss in the midterms on the Iran conflict.
In a post to X, the vice president wrote: “The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night. Everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.”
Vance a top negotiator in the Iran war, most recently tried to restart talks and forge a channel of communication with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The Wall Street Journal’s Natalie Andrews noted: “Vance’s political future is tied to Trump, and advisers around Vance have said that he doesn’t see any benefit to distancing himself from a president who controls the Republican base, making the post on X, even more surprising. Vance has consistently led in polls on which Republican should win the party’s next presidential nomination and that 2028 contest is expected to begin in earnest now that the midterms are done.”
In his post, Vance said that while data show that Republicans voted in the midterms, they didn’t vote for GOP candidates. He said a trusted adviser told him before the election that Republicans needed to do four things to save their majority. “1) End the war, 2) Focus on cost of living/inflation, 3) Put America First, 4) Change our relationship to Israel.”
Donald Trump Jr, the president’s son, reposted Vance’s missive on X, saying:
Every word of this is 💯💯💯
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) November 4, 2026
Freedom Rocks! Until It Is Gone
‘Extinction level event’; ‘The reason we lost is the war’ added by Editor Two on
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