Former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Democrats took Congress by borrowing President Trump’s message of hope for forgotten voters, while their leaders moved straight to threats and investigations.

Karoline Leavitt told Lara Trump on Fox News that Republicans have to face a hard truth after Democrats won the Senate and the House: President Donald Trump was not on the midterm ballot, and he will not top the ticket again.

She argued Democrats succeeded by doing what Trump did for years, speaking to people about their struggles and making them believe life could get better. That turnout message, she said, belonged to the Trump model first.

In a Daily Mail report on the interview, Leavitt framed the midterm loss as a reminder that the party still needs an America First voice who can reach the same voters Trump brought in from 2016 through 2024.

Leavitt left her post as White House press secretary at the end of August after the birth of her second child and has said she wants more time with family. She also stepped away from the daily podium while remaining tied to Trump’s orbit as an outside advisor.

Democrats borrowed the hope message, Leavitt says

Leavitt did not pretend the results were strong for Republicans. She said the other side inspired people to show up because they sold improvement in daily life.

"You know, I think that's something Democrats did well in this election in the midterms was they obviously inspired people to turn out to vote because they made the people feel like we're going to make your lives better."

She added that Republicans have to do the same work again in the same fashion Trump did it, with a new person at the top of the ticket.

"This is a reality that Republicans have to grapple with, right? President Trump wasn't on the ballot in these midterms, he'll never be at the top of the ticket again."

On the night of the midterms, Leavitt had already blamed the defeat on voters forgetting Trump’s good policy and listening to what she called the lying media. The Saturday Fox News sit-down expanded that point into a longer warning about message and messenger.

Lara Trump asked whether the country would see Leavitt run for office again. Leavitt shut it down fast: "No ma'am, I am good!" She lost a 2022 New Hampshire House race to Chris Pappas and is not signaling another bid.

One Democrat offered cooperation; another said “lawyer up”

Leavitt pointed to Texas’s James Talarico, described in the coverage as a new senator who flipped the state, as an example of the tone she wants more of. She said he declared the morning after Election Day that he wanted to work with President Trump on behalf of Texas.

"You have people like James Talarico who said as soon as the morning after election day, \"I want to work with President Trump on behalf of Texas.\""

Leavitt called that spirit a good thing and said more Republicans and Democrats should work together where they can. She also said she does not expect it to happen.

Her reason was California Rep. Robert Garcia, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. She said his first statement after election night was “Lawyer up,” and she cast that as proof the Democratic base is fixed on retribution, obstruction, and impeachment instead of voters’ priorities.

Media figures moved just as quickly into victory laps and resignation talk after Democrats reclaimed Congress, including late-night shots that told Trump to step aside once the results were clear.

Garcia’s threats skip straight past governing

Garcia’s own comments, as carried in the same reporting, matched the posture Leavitt described. He told journalist Aaron Parnas that anyone in “that family” had been involved in grift.

After the midterms, Garcia went further on Stephen Miller. Coverage noted the claim that Susie Wiles had been ousted as White House chief of staff and that Miller was in line to replace her. Garcia answered by saying Miller should lawyer up.

"Just days after the American people rejected his corrupt and lawless presidency, Donald Trump is doubling down. Stephen Miller is the architect of the unconstitutional ICE raids that have terrorized our communities and kidnapped and killed American citizens and immigrant families."

Garcia added that Oversight Democrats would keep investigating Miller and fight his policies in Congress and the courts. He also ticked through family grievances, Donald Trump Jr., board seats, Pentagon contracts, crypto, and Jared Kushner’s Saudi ties, as targets.

That is the contrast Leavitt drew. One newly elevated Democrat talked about working with Trump for his state. The Oversight ranking member opened with legal threats and a promise of probes.

Talk-show reaction followed the same partisan script. Hosts on The View cheered a claimed Democratic sweep and turned the moment into punch lines rather than a debate over pocketbook results.

The party still needs Trump’s connection to forgotten voters

Leavitt’s core advice was not complicated. She said the next Republican standard-bearer has to be America First and able to reach the forgotten men and women Trump drew into the party.

"And I think we need somebody who is America first, who can really tap into the forgotten men and women who President Trump drew to the Republican Party in a historic way from 2016 all the way through 2024. We need someone who can really get out, speak to people about their struggles, their challenges, relate to them and offer promise and hope."

"We need to do that again, the same way, the same fashion President Trump did. It just has to be a new person at the top of the ticket," she said.

Leavitt knows the press secretary grind and the cost of the spotlight. She has already been pulled back into television fights, including a booking in which ABC’s The View invited her while other media battles simmered around the administration.

The White House messaging job itself has stayed turbulent after her departure, with later short tenures underscoring how fast the podium turns over when the press secretary chair changes hands again.

Leavitt’s midterm read stays fixed on incentives. Democrats, in her account, won by sounding like they would lift people’s lives, a page from Trump’s book, then defaulted to investigations and “lawyer up” politics the moment the returns came in. Republicans, she argued, cannot answer that with nostalgia alone. They need a messenger who still talks to the same forgotten voters and offers the same promise of results.

Voters rewarded the party that sounded serious about making life better; they will punish the one that treats a win as a license for score-settling instead of work.