Below is the full transcript of the post-midterm election press conference with President Donald Trump held at the White House on Wednesday, November 7, 2018.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you very much. Please, thank you.
It was a big day yesterday. An incredible day. And last night, the Republican Party defied history to expand our Senate Majority while significantly beating expectations in the House for the midtown and midterm year. We did this in spite of a very dramatic fundraising disadvantage driven by Democrats’ wealthy donors and special interests, and very hostile media coverage, to put it mildly. The media coverage set a new record and a new standard.
We also had a staggering number of House retirements. So it's a little tough. These are seats that could've been held pretty easily, and we had newcomers going in, and a lot of them worked very hard. But it's very difficult when you have that many retirements.
We held a large number of campaign rallies with large, large numbers of people going to every one -- and to the best of my knowledge, we didn’t have a vacant or an empty seat; I'm sure you would have reported it if you spotted one -- including 30 rallies in the last 60 days. And we saw the candidates that I supported achieve great success last night.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. Thank you very much. Please, thank you.
It was a big day yesterday. An incredible day. And last night, the Republican Party defied history to expand our Senate Majority while significantly beating expectations in the House for the midtown and midterm year. We did this in spite of a very dramatic fundraising disadvantage driven by Democrats’ wealthy donors and special interests, and very hostile media coverage, to put it mildly. The media coverage set a new record and a new standard.
We also had a staggering number of House retirements. So it's a little tough. These are seats that could've been held pretty easily, and we had newcomers going in, and a lot of them worked very hard. But it's very difficult when you have that many retirements.
We held a large number of campaign rallies with large, large numbers of people going to every one -- and to the best of my knowledge, we didn’t have a vacant or an empty seat; I'm sure you would have reported it if you spotted one -- including 30 rallies in the last 60 days. And we saw the candidates that I supported achieve great success last night.