Republican senator Ted Cruz described the Democratic sweep as an 'a**-kicking' for the GOP in an episode of his podcast on Wednesday, dramatically declaring that 'it was not simply a bad 2006 midterm election, it was a Watergate-level repudiation.'

Referring to the blitz as 'blue tsunami,' he said that 'understandably, people were pissed off,' citing tariffs rising costs and the Iran war for the party's midterm failures.

'Republicans didn’t do enough to address their very real pain,' he continued.

'We need to listen and respond. We need to champion economic policies that make a real difference in working people’s lives, and we need to deal with the consequences,' he said.

Democratic hopeful Scott Colom has taken a slight lead of 1,724 votes over Trump-backed Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi's Senate race.

The AP updated its vote count as at 12.17pm on Thursday with 96 percent of votes processed.

A Democratic victory in the Magnolia State would mean another historic upset as Mississippians have not had a Democratic senator in over four decades.

After JD Vance criticized Trump's war against Iran as a major reason for the massive midterm loss the GOP suffered on November 3 on X, a White House official said the president had 'no issue' with the post.

The official told the BBC that Trump 'backed it up' during his remarks at the White House Wednesday, as a sign that he was not offended by the vice president's statement.

Harmeet Dhillon is expected to resign as the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's civil rights division as early as today - the first in a string of likely departures as the Trump administration braces for Democrats to retake control of the House and Senate.

The Justice Department did not immediately respond to the Daily Mail's request for comment on the news, first reported by Bloomberg.

A group of former DOJ officials said in a statement Thursday that Dhillon had 'decimated' the division's more than 70-year mandate - shifting the division's focus away from protecting vulnerable communities and towards conservative causes.

More than three-quarters of lawyers in the division left during her tenure, the group noted in a statement.

'Harmeet Dhillon has been the most destructive, lawless, and hateful head of the Civil Rights Division in DOJ history,' Stacey Young, the executive director of the Justice Connection, said Thursday.

Former speaker of the House Newt Gingrich spoke out on the massive midterm loss for the GOP:

'The American people were angrier over their own pocketbooks than they were worried about socialism or Islam,' Gingrich wrote on X.

'This was a failed performance election and that reality overwhelmed virtually everything else.'

In another post yesterday, Gingrich also gave his verdict for the 2028 White House battle inside the Republican Party: 'The scale of the Republican defeat is so great that it makes the race for the GOP presidential nomination wide open.'

Marco Rubio's assistant, Dylan Johnson, slammed a report from The Independent earlier today that said the Secretary of State was stepping down from his current role to launch a 2028 White House bid.

'This is completely baseless fake news from made-up anonymous "sources,"' Johnson wrote on X.

'We look forward to revisiting this "report" in the coming weeks to celebrate yet another humiliating own goal by The Independent.'

Jimmy Kimmel fired shots at Donald Trump after the midterm 'bluenami' that handed Democrats control of Congress.

The ABC host said on his show: 'The only time you ever brought us together was yesterday, when we all teamed up to get rid of you!'

He doubled down: 'Quit already, just quit. Nobody wants you. Even you don’t want to be president anymore. Take that billion dollars worth of crypto, buy an island. Maybe Epstein’s island? Wouldn’t that be a perfect end to this story!'

A journalist got exposed for using an AI photo to frame a visitor at Abdul El-Sayed’s election night event as a champagne socialist with luxury accessoires and clothing.

Vanity Fair now confirmed that Free Press journalist Olivia Reingold used an AI-generated image to make her point, without disclosure.

President Donald Trump's face was featured on the cover of TIME Magazine Wednesday for the 57th time - though likely not for the reason he'd hoped.

The magazine's newest cover story, titled, 'Inside the Democrats’ Plans to Take On Trump,' features a black-and-white photo of the president - with his mouth covered by a brightly colored 'I voted' sticker.

The feature story includes 'interviews with more than two dozen Democratic leaders, strategists, and members of Congress- offering a glimpse into how the party plans to wield its newfound power in the 120th Congress.

Trump has appeared on TIME Magazine's cover more than any other person in its storied history. He claimed the record last month, when he beat out Nixon with his 56th cover.

Sources in Washington and the UK government expect Secretary of State Marco Rubio to step down and launch his 2028 presidential campaign, The Independent reported.

This follows the disastrous midterm results that have caused rumors about a grand cabinet reshuffle in Republican Washington.