President Donald Trump has backed a losing horse once more.
Democrat Ralph Northam defeated Republican Ed Gillespie in Virginia’s gubernatorial election on Tuesday, the first major loss for the GOP since Trump’s election last year. The president had thrown his support behind Gillespie on Twitter and attacked his opponent in the lead-up to the election.
On Tuesday night, however, Trump blamed the Republican for his loss.
“Ed Gillespie worked hard but did not embrace me or what I stand for,” the president tweeted the midst of his 12-day trip to Asia.
Earlier Tuesday, Trump had urged Virginians to vote for Gillespie and said he would “totally turn around” what he called “high crime and poor economic performance” in the state. The president also recorded a robocall expressing his support, saying the Republican would “help make America great again.”
Gillespie, for his part, appeared hesitant to link himself with the White House, and Politico notes that campaign officials were worried Trump’s historically low approval numbers would mobilize Democrats if the president was more involved.
This is the second time in the past few months Trump has backed a losing candidate.
The president notably deleted several tweets supporting Luther Strange, an Alabama senator who lost his bid to be the Republican nominee to retain his seat despite a massive outpouring of support from the White House.