Kristi Noem blames GOP election results on Trump’s first year successes

Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Tuesday the second Trump administration was “too successful” in its first year, a comment which came as unfavorable GOP election outcomes rolled in.

The post from Noem, who was removed from her role after overseeing Trump’s aggressive immigration agenda, directly responded to Fox Business host Larry Kudlow’s comment similarly attributing Republican midterm losses to the administration’s success.

“Larry Kudlow is correct. We were too successful the first year of the Trump administration,” Noem wrote in a post to social platform X.

Nonpartisan election forecaster Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ), a partner of The Hill, projected just after 9 p.m. that Democrats would take control of the House. The party is also encroaching on the Senate, as DDHQ called tight races in South Carolina, Texas and North Carolina for Democratic candidates.

As DHS secretary, Noem oversaw U.S. Customs and Border Protection, as well as Immigration and Customs Enforcement. She held the post during the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis at the start of this year, which led to the deaths of two American citizens.

Backlash surrounding Trump’s deportation push may have contributed to GOP losses in states with large Latino populations — a group which has historically ranked immigration as a key issue at the polls. For example, Texas — which is around 41 percent Hispanic-Latino — elected a Democrat to the Senate for the first time since 1988.