Democrats win US Senate and House in midterm rout

Americans voted on Tuesday for all 435 House seats, 35 of the 100 Senate seats and 36 governorships. By late Tuesday night in the US, the Associated Press had called the Senate for the Democrats, and in the early hours of Wednesday it called the House as well, completing a sweep of Congress by the opposition party.

Seven Senate seats flipped

Democrats flipped seven Republican-held Senate seats: Iowa, Kansas, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas, while holding every Senate seat they already had. Some of the wins broke decades-old patterns. In Kansas, a Democrat won a Senate race for the first time since the 1930s. In Texas, James Talarico defeated Ken Paxton to become the first Democrat elected to the Senate from the state since 1988, and Democrats also took the Texas governor's race. In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed became the first Muslim elected to the US Senate.

The House crosses 218

The House majority turned on the 218-seat mark, which Democrats passed as results came in from the west coast. Democrats had won more than 220 seats in called races, with counting still under way in dozens of others. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries is in line to become Speaker when the new Congress sits.

Holds in Georgia and Virginia

Not every result was a flip. Senator Jon Ossoff was re-elected in Georgia, defeating the Trump-backed Mike Collins, and Mark Warner was re-elected in Virginia. Both states had been early targets for Republicans, and holding them kept the Democratic path to a Senate majority open through the night.

What it means for Trump

Result-night coverage pointed to voter discontent over inflation, tariffs, AI data centres and the Iran war as the forces behind the wave. With both chambers in opposition hands, President Trump's legislative agenda can be blocked and his administration faces the prospect of congressional investigations in his final two years. Trump responded on social media with a single word: "Veto".

What happens next

Counting continues in the races still uncalled, so exact seat totals will move slightly in the coming days. Georgia and Mississippi require an outright majority to win a Senate race, so any race there without a candidate above 50 percent goes to a runoff on 1 December. The new Congress is sworn in on 3 January 2027.

📷 Photo credit: Aaron Lucas, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)