Did voters really hand Democrats control of Congress?

ARCHIVED SOURCE url: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/nov/04/democrats-house-midterm-elections-results canonical: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/nov/04/democrats-house-midterm-elections-results captured_utc: 2026-11-05T03:35:45.140Z http_status: 200 method: direct extractor: scrut-extract-2 truncated: false --- Supporters celebrate at a watch party for James Talarico in Austin, Texas. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty View image in fullscreen Supporters celebrate at a watch party for James Talarico in Austin, Texas. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty US voters rebuke Trump as Democrats win control of Congress in ‘blue wave’ President’s party stripped of control after he spent weeks pleading with Americans to pretend he was on ballot Tell us: what do you want to know about the midterm election results? The United States woke up to a radically altered political landscape on Wednesday after Donald Trump was dealt a devastating blow in the midterm elections, in which his Republican party was stripped of control of the Senate and the House as his handpicked “Maga” candidates were swept away by a blue tsunami. With counting still going on in a couple of Senate races, and with 68 House seats as yet undeclared, Democrats were assured of a congressional majority far more comfortable than most pundits had predicted. They had flipped at least seven Senate seats, in such deep-red states as Texas and Kansas, which hadn’t sent a Democrat to the upper chamber for 94 years, along with more than two dozen House districts. Having made his final pre-election appeal to voters with a bizarre speech focusing on algae and grass from Washington’s Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, Trump resurfaced on Wednesday afternoon to deliver his first remarks since the election from the construction site of his controversial White House ballroom. 3:00 Midterms: how the blue wave took Congress in three minutes – video What can Democrats actually do now they have won Congress? Read more Sidestepping the catastrophic blow to his political standing, and what it means to his party and the country’s future, the president focused instead on his self-aggrandizing building projects in the US capital. “I grew up on construction sites,” he told the crowd. Within hours of polls closing, the political fallout began to descend on Trump and the Republican leadership. The White House put out an Instagram post saying, “PSA: TRUMP IS STILL YOUR PRESIDENT”, without adding that his power was now vastly diminished. Vice-President JD Vance, whose old Ohio Senate seat was one of those that fell to the Democrats, began his long and no doubt fraught journey to distance himself from Trump before the 2028 presidential election. He instantly blamed the Republican rout on Trump’s war with Iran. “The reason we lost is the war,” he said on X . “If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest.” Pressed by reporters on whether he agreed with Vance’s assessment, Trump replied: “I think it’s largely true because it drove the gasoline up a little bit, but at the same time, if I had to do it again, I’d have to do it again.” Joining the raft of Republican senators and representatives swept away by the blue tide, one of the early casualties of the election was the House speaker, Mike Johnson, who indicated he will not seek re-election as leader of the Republican group when Democrats take over in January. As Vance made clear in his statement, the election channelled the anger of a seething electorate, Republican voters and Democrats alike. In addition to Trump’s war, they were furious about the soaring cost of living and inflation, aggravated by the president’s tariffs and foreign exploits. The president spent weeks before the election pleading with the American people to pretend he was on the ballot. He may now rue that tactic: the American people took him at his word, and delivered him a bloody nose of historic proportions, flinging his presidency into lame duck status. He appeared last night to have changed his mind, declaring on social media: “I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!” As the night progressed, one shock followed another as the rout extended into parts of the US once considered safe Republican strongholds. Top of the list was Texas , the state that has come to epitomise the iron fist of modern Republican rule. In a seismic shift, James Talarico became the first Democrat to be sent by Texas to the US Senate since 1988. A Democratic dream of flipping the state that has been frustrated in countless previous cycles finally came to pass. In a double whammy, out too went Greg Abbott, a titan of Texas Republican politics. He was ousted by Gina Hinojosa , who becomes the first Democratic governor of Texas in 36 years. View image in fullscreen Gina Hinojosa speaks to supporters in Austin, Texas, on 3 November. Photograph: Ashley Landis/AP Her elevation to the state’s highest office as its first Latina governor stands in itself as a repudiation of the Trump administration . The brutal mass deportation campaign unleashed by ICE against Hispanics in Texas was one of Trump’s most resounding own goals, as it pushed away droves of voters who had backed him only two years ago. In Michigan, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, a doctor and progressive insurgent, made history in winning the closely watched Senate race , defeating the Republican Mike Rogers and becoming the US’s first Muslim senator. His opponent and detractors, including Trump, led a largely Islamophobic campaign against him, often pointing to his name and faith, including the president alleging he was a “jihadist” and that he would need to walk through a metal detector to get into the Senate. “They want an America that is too small for some of us,” El-Sayed said. “We know that America is big enough for all of us.” The pattern of stunning Republican defeats was repeated across the country, from the east coast through the plains, and even deep into the American south. It amounted to a withering rebuke of Trump’s broken promises, economic follies and war with Iran at a time when many American families are struggling to put food on the table and gas in their tanks. 30:36 A blue tsunami wipes out Republicans | Politics Weekly America The list of astounding results extended to Kansas, a state that until recent days lay well beyond even the most optimistic Democrats’ wildest fantasies. Adam Hamilton, a mega-church pastor, becomes the first Democrat to win a US Senate seat in almost a century. He throws out Roger Marshall, the incumbent, who became a poster boy for Republican callousness when it was revealed he had sued 700 of his own patients for failing to pay him their medical bills when practising as a doctor. Even in deeply conservative Mississippi, the Democratic candidate for Senate, Scott Colom, was slightly ahead of the Republican incumbent, Cindy Hyde-Smith. The race remained too close to call. Among the most jaw-dropping results of the night was the victory of Annie Andrews , a Democratic pediatrician, in the deeply conservative southern state of South Carolina. She defeated Darline Graham, the sister of the late Trump loyalist Lindsey Graham, marking the first time South Carolina has sent any Democrat to the Senate since 1998. Trump had personally persuaded Graham to stand for election in her brother’s seat. She had her misgivings. In Maine there was another shock when just before 1am Susan Collins conceded to Democrat Troy Jackson , letting go of a Senate seat she had held for almost 30 years. View image in fullscreen Troy Jackson in Portland, Maine. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters Trump spent the night watching his party’s disaster unfold on a White House TV set. He was reportedly fuming. The emphatic outcome of the election could have enormous implications for Trump’s final two years in office, and with it the immediate future of the US and the world. Hakeem Jeffries is now poised to become the first Black speaker of the House in US history. “America is back,” he said on Tuesday night. “Today begins the great American comeback. The American people have spoken all across the land, from sea to shining sea, and made clear they have had enough of the extremism and corruption.” View image in fullscreen Hakeem Jeffries is poised to become the first Black speaker of the House in US history. Photograph: Bonnie Cash/UPI/Shutterstock The incoming Democratic majority is promising to move swiftly from January on a 100-day plan prioritising affordability. They are also focusing on reversing cuts to healthcare costs and Medicaid as they seek to show voters that they have their personal livelihoods at the center of their agenda. With such a large cushion in both chambers, the Democrats will also be emboldened to use their newly acquired oversight and subpoena powers aggressively to investigate the most egregious of Trump’s excesses. That includes the president’s financial enrichment of himself and his family, which Democratic leaders have said amounts to corruption. The top Democrat on the House oversight committee, Robert Garcia of California, had a stern warning for the administration: “Lawyer up.” The incoming Democratic majority is also likely to hit the White House with a blizzard of war powers resolutions designed to pressure Trump to end his war with Iran. Democratic leaders are preparing to challenge his tariffs regime, work to rein in ICE and its mass deportation efforts, and move to reinstate cuts to Medicaid, healthcare subsidies and other welfare benefits. Pete Hegseth, the combative defense secretary, is also in Democratic crosshairs. With the Senate also under their control, Democrats will have the power to block many of Trump’s judicial and cabinet appointments. The Democratic Senate leader, Chuck Schumer, said Americans wanted Washington to bring down the cost of living, and clean up corruption. Alarm bells for the Republicans began ringing early in the night, with Jon Ossoff winning re-election to his Georgia Senate seat shortly before 8pm on the east coast. That the Democrat swatted away his Trump-endorsed challenger Mike Collins so comfortably, in a state the president won two years ago, set the compass needle for what was to come. Less than half an hour later, still chillingly early in the evening for Trump and his party, Democrats picked up the first of four Senate seats they needed to retake the upper chamber. In North Carolina, the former governor Roy Cooper defeated another Trump chosen one, the former national Republican party chair, Michael Whatley. View image in fullscreen Jon Ossoff after winning in Atlanta, Georgia. Photograph: Carlos Barría/Reuters Such a convincing win is likely further to elevate Ossoff in the hearts of Democrats as a potential 2028 presidential candidate. He proved himself during the campaign to be a fearsome debater, fundraising juggernaut and savvy social media operator – three skills that Democrats will be desperately seeking in two years’ time as they look to prevent a Trump successor in the White House.

ARCHIVED SOURCE url: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/11/03/election-night-livewire-blue-wave-or-bust-for-democrats-america-votes-as-both-chambers-congress-flux/ canonical: https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/11/03/election-night-livewire-blue-wave-or-bust-for-democrats-america-votes-as-both-chambers-congress-flux captured_utc: 2026-11-05T03:35:39.870Z http_status: 200 method: direct extractor: scrut-extract-2 truncated: false --- It’s the moment of truth in America’s midterm elections in President Donald Trump’s second term in the White House as voters coast to coast cast ballots to determine which party controls each chamber of the United States Congress and key governors’ mansions around the country. Expectations are sky high for Democrats in large part thanks to polls and prediction markets forecasting a clean sweep of control of the legislative branch of government at the federal level and governors’ races nationwide. Democrats, to have a good night, need to far exceed just taking a reasonably sized House majority–they have to sweep across the battlegrounds for U.S. Senate and take that chamber’s majority as well, tearing deep into GOP strongholds like Texas, Kansas, Alaska, Ohio, or Iowa to do it. For Republicans, meanwhile, they seek to defy history and hold on to their Senate and House majorities–the former is far easier to do than the latter–while also holding on to or even flipping some governors’ mansions. While Congress is increasingly irrelevant in the United States–the real power lies at the White House–either party could get energy coming out of this midterm election to set the stage with momentum for the upcoming all-important 2028 presidential election. Democrats could use any newly gained power to target Trump and those around him with investigations, whereas Republicans would almost certainly see holding on to any power as an affirmation of Trump’s 2024 electoral mandate. Polls begin closing in parts of Indiana and Kentucky at 6 p.m. ET, and then close every hour or half hour afterwards throughout the night. Follow along here on Breitbart News for live results, news, and analysis from across the country as the nation weighs in with the 2026 midterm elections. Democrat Scott Colom has a 28-vote lead over incumbent Sen. Cyndi Hyde-Smith with approximately 97 percent of the vote in. It is remarkable that someone who serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee and essentially can collect any campaign donation she demands failed so horribly to prepare for and executive a campaign. Win or lose, Hyde-Smith deserves a spot on the Mount Rushmore of failed Republican senators. There is no excuse for this in Mississippi. Decision Desk projects that Abdul El Sayed will defeat Mike Rogers for Michigan’s open Senate seat. He will become the first Muslim to serve in the United States Senate. The New York Times needle moves the Michigan Senate race to a “very likely” win for El-Sayed with over 95 percent likelihood. Susan Collins just conceded her Senate race in Maine, ending her decades long career in the Senate. Troy Jackson is now projected as the winner in another major upset that flips another Senate seat for the Democrats. NBC News just projected that Turek has won the U.S. Senate race in Iowa, and that Democrats have retaken the U.S. Senate majority. Democrat Adam Hamilton has won the U.S. Senate race in Kansas, defeating Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS)–the first time in 94 years a Democrat has won a U.S. Senate race in that state–per projections from CNN, NBC News, and Decision Desk HQ among others. The Democrats, barring any crazy developments in blue states yet to be called, will have retaken the U.S. Senate majority tonight as well. Iowa’s governor’s mansion has flipped to Democrat Rob Sand, as Republican Zach Lahn lost his bid to hold the seat for Republicans. Meanwhile, in the U.S. Senate race, Democrat Josh Turek is leading Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) and is favored to win but the race has not yet been called. NBC News just projected that Husted has lost to former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), meaning Democrats are almost certainly retaking the U.S. Senate–they have already flipped four seats, and are favored in several of the remaining races like Maine, Kansas, Michigan, and probably Alaska where the polls are still open. Democrat Gina Hinojosa won the governor’s mansion in Texas and longtime Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, has conceded the race. This is an astounding political shift, seeing Texas go blue for the first time in decades. Polls are now closed in west coast states of California, Washington state, and Oregon. The last two states, Alaska and Hawaii, will close at midnight ET. Speaker Johnson has conceded Republicans have lost the House: And now that Democrats have taken North Carolina, Texas, and South Carolina in U.S. Senate races, Republicans are almost certainly going to lose their U.S. Senate majority too. This is the worst election for either party since Watergate, so says Sean Trende of RealClearPolitics: It looks like James Talarico is going to win in Texas, as Decision Desk HQ has called it for him already but others have not yet done so. Outgoing Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who lost the GOP primary to Attorney General Ken Paxton, meanwhile has congratulated Talarico and offered to help with the transition: The top House Democrat on the Oversight Committee is already threatening, minutes after the Democrats were projected to retake the U.S. House, Republicans with lawfare: NBC News is projecting that Democrats have retaken a U.S. House majority, and again barring miracles in some still open U.S. Senate races they will probably take the Senate too. Polls are now closed in Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Nevada. In addition to flipping two U.S. Senate seats, Democrats have already flipped a number of U.S. House seats. Democrats are almost certainly retaking the U.S. House and probably retaking the U.S. Senate tonight. NBC News is projecting that Democrat Annie Andrews flipped South Carolina’s U.S. Senate seat, defeating appointed incumbent Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC)–who was put into her late brother’s seat after his untimely passing this summer. This is a stunning and unexpected victory for Democrats, and a major setback for Republicans. It will be very, very, very hard for Republicans to hold the U.S. Senate tonight now. Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) is in very bad shape in South Carolina too: It’s just brutal for the Republicans out here, with nothing breaking their way including in Texas: Republicans need magic to catch a break or things are going to collapse for the GOP in this midterm election. With 53 percent reporting in Ohio, Husted is steadily chipping away at Brown’s lead, and has cut it down to about 5 percent and about 130,000 votes. If Husted keeps closing the gap here, this could be the beginning of a turnaround for Republicans who need a break somewhere right now. Technically, nothing unexpected has fallen yet for Republicans but the trends and energy are shifting badly against the GOP in a number of places. The Republicans need a break to hang on. The vibes are not great for Republicans right now in a number of states, including Texas, South Carolina, Ohio, and Kansas, where GOP U.S. Senate candidates are trailing their Democrat opponents. None of the red wall states have fallen yet, but New York Times estimates are predicting that Democrats are favored in many of these. Republicans need some things to break their way to hold the U.S. Senate. Polls have now closed in more states–Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, Colorado, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Wisconsin, and Wyoming–and they also closed in Arkansas at 8:30 p.m. ET. The first results are coming in in Michigan’s U.S. Senate race, and surprise surprise, Democrat Abdul El Sayed has a huge early lead of about 70 something thousand votes about 17 percent over Republican Mike Rogers. It’s only about 8 percent in so far, so we’ll see if this tracks with other states where we have seen the Republican close as time goes on. GOP Sen. Ashley Moody has won reelection in Florida, with race calls by NBC News and Decision Desk HQ now. This race was way closer than Republicans expected, but Moody has won a must-win seat for Republicans to be able to hold their U.S. Senate majority. Big step for the GOP here. Also, in the governor’s race, Republican Byron Donalds is leading and likely to win but it’s not final yet. Democrats have flipped their first U.S. Senate race, in North Carolina, where both NBC News and Decision Desk HQ have projected Democrat Roy Cooper will defeat Republican Michael Whatley. Democrats have also won in New Hampshire, a hold for their party: Keep an eye on South Carolina, where Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) who was appointed into her late brother’s seat, narrowly trails Democrat Annie Andrews. The New York Times is saying Andrews is slightly favored right now: With 31 percent reporting, Andrews leads by a little less than six percent–52 percent to 46.4 percent–over Graham. It’s early and it would be a total shocker for a Democrat to win in South Carolina, so we will watch this one closely all night. The first results are coming in in Kansas now, about 9 percent, and Democrat Adam Hamilton leads by about 15 percent–and about 15 thousand votes–but again much of this is early vote. Same story is happening everywhere in the country, Democrats are crushing early vote but Republicans are crushing election day vote. The first results are coming in in Texas, with 6 percent reporting now, in the U.S. Senate race. Democrat James Talarico leads by a few hundred thousand votes but it’s early vote reporting now and we are still awaiting election day results. A ton of states and parts of states–including Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Washington DC, Illinois, most of Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, most of Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, most of North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, most of South Dakota, Tennessee, and most of Texas–have seen their polls just close. Much more results are coming soon. Back down in south Florida, Salazar has taken a lead of less than 100 votes–with north of 95 percent reporting. NBC’s Steve Kornacki says that what’s to come likely “would favor” Salazar. This would be huge for Republicans’ efforts to stem a blue wave off if she is able to hang on and win. With 64 percent reporting in Florida’s governor race, Donalds has overtaken Jolly. Donalds now leads by less than a tenth of a percent, and less than 5 thousand votes, but things seem to be trending towards Florida being as ruby red as ever at least as of late. The first votes are now in in Ohio’s U.S. Senate race and former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) leads by a little over a hundred thousand votes. It’s very early, and early vote, which leans heavy Democrat. The question is whether Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) can make up for it with election day voters. In Florida’s governor race, Donalds is now within 2 points of Jolly–trailing by just about a hundred thousand votes. But fear not Florida patriots, the panhandle is coming. In the U.S. Senate race, Sen. Ashley Moody (R-FL) is within about 50 thousand votes or about 1 percent of Democrat Angie Nixon. Both Donalds and Moody are going to shoot up big time in the coming hour or so. Polls have now closed in Ohio, North Carolina, and West Virginia. In Georgia, Ossoff has a significant lead and NBC News is projecting that Ossoff will win. Decision Desk HQ has also called the race for Ossoff. In Florida’s 27th congressional district, one of the key battleground House seats where Democrats would need to take to take the House, Rep. Maria Salazar (R-FL) trails her Democrat challenger Elliott Rodriguez by about 3 percent with 75 percent reporting. Salazar has 48.2 percent to Rodriguez’s 51.8 percent, a margin of about six thousand votes. What’s remaining to be counted remains to be seen, but Republicans would need to hold seats like this to hold their House majority. Florida counts quickly, and currently has 48 percent reporting in the governor’s race according to the New York Times. Donalds has significantly cut into Jolly’s lead, and now trails by just about 6 points 52.6 percent to 46.3 percent. Expect Donalds to surge as election day and panhandle votes come in. An NBC News election day exit poll shows Republicans winning election day voters by double digits, so these results could get interesting in that Democrats are doing better with mail and early voters while Republicans do better on same-day voters: The first votes are in in Georgia’s U.S. Senate race and Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) has a slight read there right now. It’s less than 1 percent of the vote so far and he only leads by a few hundred votes, but Ossoff is heavily favored to win this race so if he comes up short it would be a very bad night for Democrats. The first votes are in–4 percent reporting–in Florida’s governor’s race. Former Rep. David Jolly, the Democrat, leads slightly 54.7 percent to 44.1 percent for Republican Byron Donalds. This will tighten and probably flip very soon. UPDATE 7 p.m. ET: The polls have closed now in most of Florida, most of New Hampshire, Georgia, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, and the rest of both Indiana and Kentucky. Much more results are expected imminently. UPDATE 6:38 p.m. ET: Democrats’ lead in Duval County, Florida, has collapsed to under 3 percent now and may signal a much closer race nationally for the U.S. House majority than conventional wisdom has suggested: Turnout in Florida is expected to significantly favor Republicans, though slightly less than in 2024–but nonetheless Florida, in which the polls are open for another 40 or so minutes statewide and another hour beyond that in the panhandle, appears to be going red again: Also, of particular interest is Duval County–Jacksonville–since it often mirrors the national environment: If that’s again the case, this could be a lot closer of an election than Democrats would like. Remains to be seen as it’s far too early to tell nationally if this trend can be extrapolated, but at least in Florida the Republicans came out. Exit polls are brutal for Republicans on economic numbers and inflation and cost of living: But Scott Jennings says these are more of a mixed bag: The first votes have posted in both Kentucky and Indiana, but the results are so minimal it’s impossible to read anything into them so far. Nonetheless, Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) leads the Kentucky U.S. Senate race and there are some House race votes in both places that have begun reporting. Polls have closed in parts of Indiana and Kentucky. We are awaiting first results from those places.