Vance blames Republican midterm losses on the war and energy prices

Johnson exits race for House minority leader as Jordan, Scalise compete

Vance said Republican voters who had supported President Trump in 2024 were mad about the war, the resulting higher energy prices and the administration’s abandonment of its “America First” agenda. The Wall Street Journal’s What’s News newsletter, curated by Amira McKee and Liz Webber, characterized the remarks as a rare moment of distance between Vance and the president. His comments followed weeks of internal hand-wringing at the White House about the war’s impact on the midterms and discussions about whether to acknowledge publicly ongoing strikes, according to people familiar with the discussions.

In the House, Republican leader Johnson announced his decision on an all-staff call after speaking with Trump, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Johnson, a Louisiana conservative, had previously given mixed signals about whether he wanted to stay as minority leader if the GOP lost control. With Johnson out of the running, the top candidates for minority leader are Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Steve Scalise of Louisiana.

Markets moved as the results arrived. Stocks recovered from an off-hours slide when election results started rolling in: one major U.S. stock index gained 1,569 points, or 3%, while the Nasdaq traded 1.4% higher. The Federal Reserve Economic Data series for the Nasdaq Composite (https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/NASDAQCOM), in raw daily index terms, put the index at 25,372.01 as of Nov. 4, 2026. Oil prices fell after Vance blamed Republican losses on the U.S.-Iran war, heightening hopes for a peace deal. The sharp market moves followed comments by Trump that he would accept the election results and that he looked forward to working with Democrats.

The results behind that reckoning: Democrats won control of the House and Senate in the 2026 midterms and, the Journal reported, will enter 2027 with a comfortable Senate majority and a House majority expected to rival the size former President Obama had in his first term in office. The newsletter said the party unified around a message of affordability to pull off what it called a stunning victory, despite divides “between centrists and far-left candidates.”

Democrats will also hold the governorships in all seven battleground states that decided the 2024 presidential election. That success could expand the 2028 presidential map, the Journal reported, opening the possibility of competing for electoral votes in traditional GOP states like Texas.

The coalition behind those results shifted with the electorate. Big groups in the voter pool shifted away from Republicans, helping Democrats win many districts that two years ago backed the president. Democrats made inroads with independent voters, young voters and Latino voters, particularly Latino women. They also won more white voters, as previously thin margins among college-educated whites extended to an almost 20-point margin.

In Texas, Senate candidate James Talarico defeated Republican Ken Paxton, becoming the first Democrat to win a statewide election in the state in 32 years — what the Journal called the most bruising defeat of the night for Elon Musk. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO had poured more than $440 million into races to support Republican candidates. Musk, a Texas resident, spent more than $150 million on that race alone, fueling a barrage of television ads highly critical of Talarico in an attempt to rescue what the Journal described as Paxton’s troubled campaign.

Musk marked the results with a post on X: “Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now.” The post came after Democratic wins in gubernatorial races in five states key to data-center development, wins that threaten to slow the pace of new construction, the Journal reported. Elsewhere in the markets, investors hope that legislative gridlock, an AI slowdown and checks on presidential power will mark the start of a new era for the economy.

Outside politics, high interest rates, punishing gas prices and broad economic anxiety have dented sales of everything from RVs to boats, but that downturn has not reached Harley-Davidson. In its primary market of North America, the bike maker has recorded year-over-year retail-sales growth in each of the last four quarters and is on track for the first full-year increase since 2021. Globally, sales are up 4% so far this year.

The newsletter also relayed readers’ answers when it asked what their priorities are for their elected officials after the midterms, noting that responses have been condensed and edited. Evelyn Irwin of South Carolina wrote that officials “can add some decorum and compromise to all political offices, from the mayor of a small town in South Carolina to the presidency,” adding, “but I also believe that the Bills can win the Super Bowl.” Eric W. Thompson of Florida called to “End presidential pardons. End qualified immunity—hold law enforcement to the same standards as ordinary citizens. Full transparency in government.” Steve Turco of Texas urged a return to “a modicum of honest governance and respectful engagement with other nations globally,” writing that respect “means engagement, discussions, negotiations and pragmatic compromises” and that at home it means “transparency, not shadowy nepotism.”

Democrats enter 2027 controlling the House, the Senate and the governorships of the seven states that decided the 2024 presidential election, with the possibility of competing for Texas electoral votes in 2028, according to the Journal. Republicans begin the new Congress in the House minority without their current leader in the running, with Jordan and Scalise competing to succeed him, and with Vance’s distance from the White House over the war and energy prices — what the Journal called a rare moment of distance — on the record.