Trump says he'll take the midterm results and work with Democrats

Donald Trump isn't planning to fight the midterm results. The president told the New York Times he'll accept them and get to work with the other side. 'I am absolutely willing to accept those results,' he said, adding that his administration will 'work with the Democrats' and 'probably work something out.'

That's a notable shift from the man who spent the campaign telling voters to treat the midterms as a report card on his presidency. Earlier, Trump had fired off a Truth Social post insisting Republicans would have won 'IN A LANDSLIDE' had his name been on the ballot. 'I wasn't on the Ballot,' he wrote.

The backdrop is brutal for the GOP. Democrats were projected to seize control of the House, and the White House went into damage-control mode. A senior official told Politico the mood inside is 'defiant,' blaming candidate quality and arguing Trump's supporters simply don't turn out when he isn't the one running.

Down the ballot, the night delivered more gut punches. CNN projected Democrat Sherrod Brown knocked off incumbent Republican Jon Husted in Ohio's special Senate election, flipping a seat two years after Brown lost his own reelection bid. He'll return to the Senate in December to finish the remainder of Vice President JD Vance's term.

Texas swung too. CNN projected Democrat Gina Hinojosa beat Governor Greg Abbott, who was chasing a fourth term, making her the first Latina governor of Texas and the state's first Democratic governor since 1990. In the same night, James Talarico defeated Republican Ken Paxton to become Texas' first Democratic senator since 1988.

So Trump's olive branch lands as his party absorbs a shellacking it didn't see coming. Whether 'working something out' with a Democratic House looks like dealmaking or gridlock is the next question — and the president says he's willing to find out.