Voters turned against Republican candidates in key battlegrounds, setting up clashes over oversight and judicial nominations.
Democrats won control of the U.S. Senate on Tuesday night, flipping seats across several conservative states in a sharp rebuke of President Donald Trump and Republican governance.
Outlets reported differing calls on the overall balance of power. NBC News projected that Democrats captured full control of Congress by winning both chambers. According to PBS NewsHour, Democrats secured the Senate while the House remained too early to call on Tuesday night, even as Democrats flipped seven House seats.
Voters voiced strong dissatisfaction with rising prices, corruption, immigration policy and the war in Iran. In the NBC News exit poll, 43% of voters said they cast ballots to register opposition to Trump, whose approval rating was lower than that of any president on Election Day in almost 20 years. That survey also found that 71% of voters, including 41% of Republicans, believed Congress has not provided enough oversight of the president.
How Democrats broke through in red states
The Democratic path to the Senate majority ran through states Trump carried across all three of his presidential runs. In Texas, Democrat James Talarico defeated Republican Ken Paxton to flip a seat Democrats have targeted for years. In Iowa, Josh Turek defeated Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson, and in Kansas, Adam Hamilton unseated Republican Sen. Roger Marshall.
Democrats picked up additional Senate seats across the map. Former governor Roy Cooper won an open seat in North Carolina, Annie Andrews defeated Darline Graham in South Carolina, and Sherrod Brown beat Sen. Jon Husted in Ohio. Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff won reelection in Georgia against Republican Rep. Mike Collins, while Rep. Chris Pappas took New Hampshire’s open seat by beating former Sen. John Sununu to succeed retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen.
Republicans held some ground. Rep. Harriet Hageman won Wyoming’s Senate contest to succeed retiring Sen. Cynthia Lummis. In Florida, Sen. Ashley Moody won a special election to complete the term of Marco Rubio, who joined Trump’s Cabinet as secretary of state in 2025.
In the House, Democrats picked up seats by unseating Republican incumbents in key districts. Former Navy helicopter pilot Rebecca Bennett defeated Rep. Tom Kean in New Jersey, while three Pennsylvania Republicans, Ryan Mackenzie, Scott Perry and Rob Bresnahan, lost their reelection bids. Democrat Jamie Ager delivered another flip by beating Republican Jennifer Capps Balkcom in North Carolina, and Democrats won an additional open contest in Kentucky.
Why the midterm shift matters
A Democratic majority in the Senate fundamentally alters Trump’s final two years in office. Senate Democrats will have authority to block judicial appointments, complicating Trump’s ability to maintain a conservative majority on the Supreme Court. Multiple Senate Democrats questioned whether they would approve any Supreme Court pick from Trump before the end of his term.
Trump has pledged to use his veto pen to stop Democratic legislation, pointing toward gridlock. On Tuesday evening, Trump dismissed the idea that voters had judged his leadership, posting online: “I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!”
With committee gavels in hand, Democrats will also gain subpoena and investigation powers that the minority party lacked. Leaders on the House Oversight and Judiciary committees plan inquiries into the immigration crackdown by ICE and Homeland Security, administration pardons, Trump’s business dealings and growth in personal wealth, and foreign payments.
What happens next in Washington
House Democrats plan to conduct internal leadership elections during the week of Nov. 16. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is in line to become his party’s nominee for speaker of the House, placing him in position to become the first Black speaker in American history. Sen. Chuck Schumer is set to resume his previous role as Senate majority leader.
The new Congress convenes on Jan. 3. On that day, Jeffries must secure 218 votes on the House floor to win the gavel and assume the post second in line to the presidency.
