EXCLUSIVE: Former President Donald Trump says he is celebrating the wins of the more than 200 “great” Republican candidates he endorsed who were able to claim victory in their midterm election races, telling Fox News Digital on Wednesday that he is “proud” of them and maintaining that his plans to make a “major” announcement next week have not changed due to the “tremendous success” he had.
At this point, 216 GOP candidates that Trump endorsed won their races Tuesday night, with 19 losing to the Democrat candidate.
“There is a fake news narrative that I was furious — it is just the opposite,” Trump told Fox News Digital, responding to reports that suggested he was less than pleased with the election results for his endorsed candidates. “The people I endorsed did very well. I was batting 98.6% in the primaries, and 216 to 19 in the general election — that is amazing.”
He added: “All these guys that are winning are my people.”
Trump touted the wins of Sen. Chuck Grassley in Iowa, Sen. Marco Rubio in Florida, Eric Schmidt in Missouri, JD Vance in Ohio, Ted Budd in North Carolina, Ron Johnson in Wisconsin and others.
“I really think we had great candidates that performed very well,” Trump said. “Marco performed very well — I held a rally for him on Sunday.”
“JD Vance performed very well,” Trump said. “Johnson won.”
Trump told Fox News Digital that he is “very proud” of all the candidates, noting, though, that “they always perform better when I’m on the ticket.”
Trump pointed to Pennsylvania’s hard-fought Senate race between Democratic Senator-elect John Fetterman and Republican candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz, whom he had backed.
“Oz worked very hard, but there were forces against him,” Trump said. “Oz is a great guy. He had a lot of immovable forces against him.”
Trump-backed Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano was also defeated by his Democratic opponent, and in Michigan, Trump-endorsed Republican Tudor Dixon was turned back in her effort to unseat Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
At this moment, three Senate seats are still up for grabs: in Nevada, where Trump endorsed Adam Laxalt, who is trailing Democrat incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto by a very narrow margin; in Arizona, where Trump-endorsed Blake Masters is trailing behind Democrat incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly, but, due to “ballot glitches,” additional results are expected; and in Georgia, where Trump-endorsed Herschel Walker is headed to a run-off against Democrat incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock.
“Herschel is a great guy,” Trump said, touting Walker’s campaign and candidacy. “He is in a runoff with a U.S. senator.”
When asked if he would get involved or ensure his MAGA Inc. spends money in the Georgia run-off in support of Walker, Trump said: “We have a lot of money.”
“Herschel is a great guy,” he repeated. “I will always help Herschel.”
On Monday night, the eve of Election Day, Trump teased that he would be making a “major” announcement from Mar-a-Lago on Nov. 15 — signaling that he may formally announce his plans to run for president in 2024.
Pundits have questioned whether Tuesday’s election results for Republicans would change Trump’s plans to launch a third White House bid.
“We had tremendous success,” Trump told Fox News Digital. “Why would anything change?