GB News paused its regular breakfast programme on Wednesday morning to deliver breaking news that the Democrats had secured an historic midterm victory, taking control of both chambers of Congress in a significant setback for President Donald Trump.
Presenters Ellie Costello and Alex Armstrong interrupted the show to share the result, with Armstrong stating: "President Donald Trump promised to reshape America but this morning America's voters have reshaped his presidency."
Democrats take House and Senate
Costello announced: "Breaking news this morning: the Democrats have secured an historic midterm win." Armstrong added that the House of Representatives was now under Democratic control, while Costello confirmed: "And the Senate is now also under their control in a major blow to President Trump's power and legacy."
Armstrong noted that the Republican majority that had helped drive the president's agenda "really doesn't exist as it used to." Costello highlighted that key states had flipped, with "shock results in states that have voted red for decades," as the programme cut to clips of Democrats celebrating their wins. She described the outcome as "a blue tsunami" sweeping across America.
Trump responds to defeat
The programme also showed a clip of Trump speaking to Fox News following the defeat, in which he dismissed the network's polling. "I read at Fox that I'm not popular," he said. "The Fox polls are terrible. You ought to get yourself a good pollster because your pollster is the worst."
The presenter noted the results had been close to poll predictions, but Trump remained argumentative, adding: "I don't know about that. I can just tell you about speaking for myself, and the results with Fox were wrong for me for 12 years. I mean, they've gotten me wrong for 12 years, but I don't care. It doesn't matter."
Senate map analysis
GB News U.S. political editor Tom Howard explained the scale of the shift, noting that the Senate map had been expected to favour Republicans. "This map was a pretty Republican-heavy map. The states that voted for Trump by double-digit margins last time. Well, it looks like [they are] now tipping towards the Democrats," he said.
Howard added: "Remember, just two years ago, these are states that voted for Donald Trump by double digits. Now, it looks like that perhaps eight or nine states will flip from being Republican seats in the Senate to now being Democrat seats in the Senate." He described the speed of the change as staggering, noting that such a large number of flips was unusual, even for a second-term president's midterm elections.
Howard said the results represented "seismic changes," with Republicans beginning to question whether Trump "has the best judgement when it comes to the big issues that have defined this election, most notably the cost of living, inflation, and the economy more generally."
