Democrats have won control of Congress after the November 3 midterm elections, taking both the Senate and the House of Representatives from Republicans and limiting the power President Donald Trump has held for the last two years of his term.
The Associated Press projected the Senate flip just after 11:30 p.m. Eastern time, once Democrats had captured six Republican seats, and Democrats also won the House. Republicans entered election night defending a 53 to 47 Senate majority, and Democrats needed a net gain of four seats.
Former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper defeated Michael Whatley, the former Republican National Committee chairman, and state Representative James Talarico beat Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to become the first Democrat to win a Texas Senate race since 1988. Sherrod Brown defeated Senator Jon Husted in Ohio, and Democrats also flipped seats in South Carolina, Kansas and Iowa while holding Georgia, New Hampshire and Minnesota.
In the House, Democrats needed a net gain of three seats, and early exit polls put Trump’s approval rating at 38%, the lowest of any president in a midterm election.
Trump called into Fox News early on Wednesday, congratulated Democrats and said he was ‘a little bit surprised’. “I thought we would do better,” he said.
He blamed weak candidates and high gas prices tied to the war in Iran, wrote on Truth Social that “I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!” and said Texas Governor Greg Abbott lost because he became a “RINO.” Trump said he would work with Democrats “to make sure things go well for our country,” while promising to be “Mr. Veto” on bills he opposes.
The change reshapes how Trump governs. Senate Democrats can now block many of his nominees, from Cabinet posts to federal judges, and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said “very few of them are going to get through.”
Democrats will gain subpoena power to investigate the administration, with topics that could include the Iran conflict, Trump’s family business ties and Jeffrey Epstein, and a third impeachment becomes possible in the House, although conviction would need 67 Senate votes. Control of both chambers also gives Democrats a voice over federal spending, including foreign assistance. Candidates of African heritage won some of the night’s biggest victories.
Keisha Lance Bottoms won Georgia’s governorship and became the first Black woman elected governor of a US state, while Aaron Ford became Nevada’s first Black governor, David Crowley became Wisconsin’s first and Republican Byron Donalds became Florida’s first, bringing the number of Black governors elected to five. Adrienne Adams won election as New York’s first Black woman lieutenant governor.
In Congress, Illinois Senate winner Juliana Stratton will join Senators Angela Alsobrooks and Lisa Blunt Rochester, giving the Senate three Black women at once for the first time. Dr Jasmine Clark won Georgia’s 13th District as the first Black woman with a doctorate in a science field elected to Congress, and Melat Kiros, an Ethiopian-born democratic socialist who unseated a 15-term incumbent in the primary, won in Colorado and will become the first Gen Z woman in Congress and the state’s first Black woman in the House.
Abdul El-Sayed, the son of Egyptian immigrants, won in Michigan as the first Muslim and first Egyptian-American US senator, and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries now stands to become the first Black Speaker if his caucus backs him in January.
