Reported by BBC World
The result amounted to a rejection of Trump, one top Republican lobbyist said
Inside the Republican Party, initial shock at the stunning election results on Tuesday night quickly gave way to anger with US President Donald Trump.
After Democrats won upset after upset in deep-red states like Texas, Kansas and South Carolina, some Republicans focused their ire on Trump, arguing that his focus on his legacy and indifference to voter concerns cost the party control of Congress.
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"It's on him. It's not on anybody else. It's a total, complete rejection of President Trump," Bill Miller, a top Republican lobbyist in Texas, told the BBC. "This is a disaster of the first magnitude. Nobody saw it coming like this."
Most Republicans expected to lose control of the House and were clear-eyed about the challenge of holding onto the Senate in a tough election cycle that favoured the party out of power.
But some said in interviews that Trump dragged them down with unpopular policies, a low job approval rating and obsession over construction projects in Washington.
"It was just one mistake after another," said Gregg Peppin, a Republican strategist in Minnesota. "Clearly, in state after state, people did not like the president's policies."
A White House ally said public disapproval with Trump over the Iran war, tariffs and the administration's immigration crackdown created a "perfect storm" in November.
"There's palpable frustration [within] the party about how this has all played out," the person said, and much of it is directed at Trump. Anger with Trump "is extremely high".
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