WASHINGTON — Democrats seized control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives on Tuesday, scoring sweeping victories in Republican strongholds for the first time in generations as tens of millions of voters delivered a scathing rebuke to President Donald Trump, according to Reuters and race calls by the Associated Press.
The Associated Press called the House for Democrats in the early hours of Wednesday, flipping a chamber Republicans have held since 2023. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries is in line to become Speaker, which would make him the first Black speaker in U.S. history. Democrats had already secured the Senate, reaching the 51 seats needed for a majority with the independents who caucus with them, while holding every Democratic seat that was contested.
Seven Senate seats flipped
Democrats flipped seven Republican-held Senate seats, winning in Iowa, Kansas, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas, according to CNN and NPR tallies of AP calls. Several of the losing Republican candidates had been hand-picked or endorsed by Trump. In Kansas, Democrat Adam Hamilton defeated incumbent Senator Roger Marshall, making him the state’s first Democratic senator since 1932. In South Carolina, Annie Andrews defeated Darline Graham, the sister of the late Senator Lindsey Graham, claiming a seat Republicans had held since the 1960s. In Maine, Troy Jackson ousted five-term Republican Senator Susan Collins.
Democrats also held difficult seats. Abdul El-Sayed defeated former Representative Mike Rogers in Michigan, and Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan won in Minnesota. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called the result a “generational remake of the Senate map.” Vote counting continued in a number of House districts and a few Senate races on Wednesday, so the final margins in both chambers were not yet settled.
What voters said
Exit polling helps explain the scale of the defeat. According to the AP Voter Poll, conducted by SSRS for the Associated Press and major networks, about nine in ten voters said the cost of living was a crucial or major factor in their vote, about six in ten were very concerned about food prices, and a similar share worried about gasoline and diesel prices. More than six in ten said the United States made the wrong decision in taking military action against Iran, and close to two-thirds said Trump’s tariff policies had hurt the economy. Half of voters nationwide said they saw the election as an opportunity to rebuke the president, according to Reuters.
Trump responds
Trump acknowledged in a telephone interview with The Wall Street Journal that the war in Iran was partly to blame. “Iran was a piece of it,” he said, adding that higher oil and gasoline prices were the biggest political liability, but that he did not regret launching the war. He rejected the idea that the results were a rebuke of his presidency. “It was a point in time, and I wasn’t on the ballot,” he said. “The biggest issue is that I wasn’t on the ballot.” He said he looked forward to working with Democrats but would use his “power of veto” if needed, and he said he had no plans to change personnel in his administration.
What happens next
The new Congress takes office in January, and the result ushers in a new era of divided government after two years in which the Republican-controlled Congress rarely moved to rein in the president, according to Reuters. Democrats are expected to use their majority to investigate the administration and to demand concessions on major legislation. A Democratic Senate can also block Trump’s nominees, including any Supreme Court justice if a vacancy arises in his final two years.
Read the Reuters report: Democrats seize Congress in sweeping midterm repudiation of Trump.
The winners, briefly
Short biographies of the candidates who shaped the night, from Zark News reporting and the public record.
Roy Cooper, 69 — Senator-elect, North Carolina (Democrat). Governor of North Carolina from 2017 to 2025 and the state’s attorney general for 16 years before that. He has now won seven statewide races and never lost one. His win gives Democrats a seat Republicans held for more than a decade.
Michael Whatley, 58 — Republican nominee, North Carolina. Chairman of the Republican National Committee from March 2024 until he stepped down in 2025 to run for the Senate, with President Trump’s backing. He had never held elected office.
James Talarico, 37 — Senator-elect, Texas (Democrat). A Texas state representative from the Austin area and a former middle school teacher. He is the first Democrat Texas has elected to the U.S. Senate since Lloyd Bentsen in 1988, and his win helped deliver the Senate to the Democrats.
Ken Paxton — Republican nominee, Texas. Texas attorney general since 2015. He beat Senator John Cornyn in the Republican primary runoff in May, then lost the general election in what became the most expensive Senate race in U.S. history.
Gina Hinojosa — Governor-elect, Texas (Democrat). A lawyer who has represented part of Austin in the Texas House since 2017. She defeated three-term Governor Greg Abbott and will be the first Democratic governor of Texas since Ann Richards and the first Latina governor in the state’s history.
Jon Ossoff, 39 — Senator, Georgia (Democrat, re-elected). First won in the January 2021 runoff that decided control of the Senate. Before politics he ran a company that made investigative documentaries. His re-election keeps one of the most contested seats in the country in Democratic hands.
Chris Pappas, 46 — Senator-elect, New Hampshire (Democrat). U.S. representative since 2019 and the first openly gay member of Congress from New Hampshire. He takes the seat of Jeanne Shaheen, who retired after three terms.
Annie Andrews — Senator-elect, South Carolina (Democrat). A Charleston pediatrician and children’s health advocate. She defeated appointed Senator Darline Graham, who had been named to the seat last year, in one of the night’s biggest upsets.
Sherrod Brown — Senator-elect, Ohio (Democrat). Ohio’s U.S. senator from 2007 until 2025. He returns to the chamber by winning the special election for the rest of the term Vice President JD Vance gave up.
Amy Acton — Governor-elect, Ohio (Democrat). Ohio’s former state health director, who led the state’s response to the COVID pandemic. She defeated Vivek Ramaswamy and is the first woman elected governor of Ohio.
Keisha Lance Bottoms, 56 — Governor-elect, Georgia (Democrat). Mayor of Atlanta from 2018 to 2022 and later a senior adviser in the Biden White House. She flipped an open seat and is the first Black woman elected governor in American history.
Byron Donalds, 48 — Governor-elect, Florida (Republican). U.S. representative from Florida since 2021 and a close ally of President Trump. He held an open seat for the Republicans and is Florida’s first Black governor.
Abdul El-Sayed — Senator-elect, Michigan (Democrat). A physician and former Detroit health official. He holds an open seat for the Democrats and is the first Muslim American elected to the U.S. Senate.
Troy Jackson — Senator-elect, Maine (Democrat). President of the Maine State Senate. He defeated Senator Susan Collins, a Republican in the chamber since 1997, who conceded before the race was called.
Josh Turek — Senator-elect, Iowa (Democrat). An Iowa state representative and former Paralympic gold medalist in wheelchair basketball. His win in an open seat was the call that clinched control of the Senate for the Democrats.
Mark Warner, 71 — Senator, Virginia (Democrat, re-elected). Governor of Virginia from 2002 to 2006 and a senator since 2009, where he is the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee. Voters have now given him a fourth term.
Juliana Stratton, 61 — Senator-elect, Illinois (Democrat). Lieutenant governor of Illinois since 2019. She takes the seat of Dick Durbin, the Senate’s second-ranking Democrat, who retired after nearly three decades.
Two more flips completed the Democratic Senate majority: Adam Hamilton won Kansas, the first Democrat elected to the Senate from that state since 1932, and Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan held her state’s open seat.
