- AFP
- November 4, 2026
Pakistani leaders react to Trump’s crushing midterm defeat
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- WEB DESK
- November 4, 2026
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani political leaders and analysts described the Democrats’ sweeping victory in the US midterm elections as a major rebuke to President Donald Trump, linking the outcome to voter anger over the cost of living and the war in Iran while predicting greater congressional scrutiny of his domestic and foreign policies.
Democrats seized control of both the Senate and House of Representatives in Tuesday’s elections, dealing Trump a crushing setback midway through his presidency and giving the opposition the power to block legislation, investigate his administration and constrain appointments.
The scale of the Democratic gains was underscored by victories in Republican strongholds, including Kansas and Iowa, while Democrats also made major Senate breakthroughs in states including Texas, Ohio, North Carolina and South Carolina.
In Kansas, Democrat and Methodist minister Adam Hamilton defeated Republican Senator Roger Marshall, becoming the first Democrat elected to the US Senate from the state since 1932.
‘Trump’s worst nightmare’
Talking to HUM News, former Pakistani ambassador Ali Sarwar Naqvi said that the results amounted to what he described as Trump’s “worst nightmare”, arguing that American voters had rejected both the president and his policies.
“This means that the American electorate has rejected the Republican Party and President Trump and rejected their policies,” Naqvi said, adding that the Iran war had also run counter to Trump’s earlier promises to avoid new conflicts.
He said Democratic control of Congress would make it difficult for Trump to secure the same level of legislative support during the remaining two years of his term.
However, Naqvi said Democrats still appeared to lack an “outstanding” national leader capable of clearly emerging as the party’s standard-bearer for the next presidential election.
Talking to HUM News, Col (retd) Abid Latif attributed the setback partly to what he called Trump’s reliance on presidential orders without sufficient political backing and criticised the president’s political style.
He said the results represented more than a conventional Democratic surge, pointing to shifts among Latino and Hispanic voters and arguing that immigration policies had alienated even long-established and naturalised communities.
The Democratic victories were also widely seen as reflecting concerns over inflation, high living costs and the unpopular Iran war, which became unusually important foreign-policy issues because of their perceived impact on American households and fuel prices.
Check on unilateral policies
Talking to HUM News, Brig (retd) Waqar Hassan said the election had delivered a major check to what he described as Trump’s increasingly unilateral approach to governance and foreign policy.
He said Democratic control of Congress could subject Trump’s immigration policies, tariffs and broader foreign-policy decisions to greater legislative scrutiny.
Former foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri called the result a “referendum” on Trump’s policies and said the Iran war had become a major electoral issue because of its impact on the US economy and the cost of living.
“Foreign policy is normally not an issue in American elections,” Kasuri told HUM News, but argued that the conflict had directly affected fuel prices and household living standards.
He said the change in Washington could also have implications beyond the United States, including for international diplomacy and conflicts in the Middle East.
Pakistani leaders react
Former president Dr Arif Alvi congratulated Abdul El-Sayed on X, saying his victory resonated “far beyond one election” and referring to the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.
“Being Muslim should never make anyone a target of hatred, prejudice or intimidation,” Alvi wrote, adding that the result was a reminder that “democracy matters” and that “the people’s mandate is sacred”.
El-Sayed’s victory in Michigan would make him the first Muslim US senator, according to projections reported by the Associated Press.
Politician and commentator Mushahid Hussain said on X that history had repeated itself, arguing that Iran had again played a decisive role in an American election.
He compared Trump’s electoral setback with the 1980 defeat of Jimmy Carter, whose failed attempt to rescue US hostages in Iran became a defining issue in his loss to Ronald Reagan.
Former Pakistani ambassador to the United States Maleeha Lodhi also pointed to the Iran war as a central factor in the Democratic sweep, describing it as playing a key role in Trump’s loss of both houses of Congress.
The election outcome leaves Trump facing a sharply changed political landscape for the remainder of his term. Democratic control of both chambers gives the party greater power to block his legislative agenda and nominees and launch investigations into his administration, while the president retains the veto power to prevent Congress from overriding his priorities without sufficient bipartisan support.
Trump struck a more conciliatory tone immediately after the results, saying he was willing to accept them and work with Democrats, although he later signalled his intention to use his veto powers against Democratic legislation.
The results, however, remain a profound political setback for a president whose party had entered the election controlling both chambers of Congress, with voters delivering a nationwide verdict shaped by economic anxiety, concerns over the Iran war and growing opposition to Trump’s style of governance.
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