Republican Senator Jim Justice says GOP can 'forget 2028' for retaking the Senate

After the Democrats' big victory in the midterm elections, Republican Senator Jim Justice has said the Senate majority will not be won back even in 2028. The senator from West Virginia said Republicans can 'forget' the next federal election.

After last week's midterms, the Democrats' wave secured their majority in both chambers of Congress. Eight Senate seats held by Republicans were flipped.

After Democrat Scott Colom was projected on Wednesday to win Mississippi's Senate race, the Democratic caucus stands at 55 seats.

The caucus could gain another seat if Democrat Mary Peltola holds on to her narrow lead in Alaska.

Jim Justice told the Washington Examiner: 'You can forget 2028. Absolutely. I hope and pray we don't lose the presidency. But this is such a colossal blow that it is beyond belief how colossal this is to America.'

Justice joined President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Senate Majority Leader John Thune and other Republicans in partly blaming the party's midterm losses on the war in Iran, which led to surging fuel prices.

According to AAA, petrol prices are nearly 90 cents a gallon higher than a year ago. The national average on Wednesday was about $3.94 a gallon, compared with $3.07 a year earlier.

John Thune told reporters earlier this week: 'Obviously, the election result was not what we hoped for. But I think it's important that we take the lessons from that and internalize the message the American people were sending to us.'

Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno, who was chosen to chair the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Republicans' Senate campaign arm for the 2028 cycle, said the GOP must learn from its disastrous showing in the midterms.

Moreno said: 'I was in the retail automobile business, so when you don't listen to your customers, your customers punish you. I think we have to own it, and I think we have to learn from it.'

The midterms are being compared with the 2006 elections, when Republicans suffered significant losses and huge upsets in elections shaped largely by voter anger over a Middle East war and scrutiny of a Republican president's leadership.

In 2006, under then-President George W. Bush, Democrats gained 31 House seats and six Senate seats to retake both chambers of Congress. Two years later, Democrats further added to their majorities and elected former President Barack Obama.