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Dems Win Control of US House, Senate 11/04 06:41
Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress, delivering a decisive
rebuke of Republican governance in Washington and ushering in a new era of
congressional resistance to President Donald Trump.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress,
delivering a decisive rebuke of Republican governance in Washington and
ushering in a new era of congressional resistance to President Donald Trump.
Tuesday's midterm elections laid bare voters' deep frustrations over high
prices, the Iran war and concerns over government corruption. Democrats routed
their rivals across the map, flipping states that have voted Republican for
decades and that Trump won by double digits just two years ago.
That includes James Talarico's stunning Senate victory in Texas, where no
Democrat had won statewide office in more than 30 years, and Annie Andrews'
upset victory over Sen. Darline Graham in South Carolina. Trump had thrown his
full weight behind both losing candidates.
In Michigan, progressive Abdul El-Sayed -- one of a crop of left-wing
candidates who prevailed in Democratic primaries -- topped Republican Mike
Rogers. Even Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, a battle-tested survivor
of difficult elections, lost to Democrat Troy Jackson.
The results marked a fundamental unraveling of the coalition that returned
Trump to the White House two years ago, with young people and Latinos moving
away from Republicans, according to The AP Voter Poll. Only about one-third of
Hispanic voters said they backed the Republican in their local U.S. House races.
It was all a major blow to Trump, who spent nearly every day of the last
month holding rallies to energize his supporters but was unable to stop a
wipeout.
The results will reshape the rest of Trump's term
While Trump has proven adept at steamrolling efforts to rein him in,
Democratic control will profoundly reshape Trump's final two years in office
and hamstring his legislative agenda.
Party leaders have signaled they'll use their new power to ensure Trump's
final two years in office are dominated by a series of investigations of top
members of his administration and deeper scrutiny of how he's enriched his
family. Impeachment of Trump and his Cabinet officials is not off the table.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and tech titan Elon Musk, a former top Trump
adviser, are among possible targets for investigations.
In celebratory events Tuesday night, Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer
called the results a "generational remake of the Senate map." Democratic House
Leader Hakeem Jeffries said "the American people are crying out for
transformational change."
Trump immediately sought to shift blame for his party's losses, posting on
his social media site before polls even closed on the West Coast that he wasn't
on the ballot -- even though he spent weeks asking voters to act like he was.
He vowed to veto Democrat-controlled legislation, sharing a picture of a red
baseball cap with "VETO" stenciled in the style of his trademark "Make America
Great Again" campaign swag.
In a late-night phone interview with Fox News, Trump said he didn't consider
the elections to be a personal defeat. Voters, he said, "didn't like the
candidates."
Democrats had braced for Trump to again try to undermine the results if they
won after he warned that noncitizens would cast ballots en masse and filed
lawsuits in Alaska and California. Instead, he said on Fox that he would accept
them.
Despite the results, Senate Majority Leader John Thune wrote on X that
"Senate Republicans will not stand idly by as the far-left, socialist wing of
the Democrat Party attempts to unwind everything we've done." He said they will
work with Trump "to stop the worst impulses of Democrat extremism."
Democrats charted an extraordinary path to Senate victory
Midterm elections are typically difficult for the president's party, but
Republicans had originally expected that their Senate majority was safe.
Instead, Democrats marched through some of the most conservative states in the
nation.
Josh Turek defeated Rep. Ashley Hinson in Iowa, while Adam Hamilton ousted
Sen. Roger Marshall in Kansas to become the state's first Democratic senator
since 1932. A cascade of surprising Democratic victories included Talarico
defeating Ken Paxton in Texas, Andrews upsetting Graham in South Carolina,
Sherrod Brown topping Sen. Jon Husted in Ohio and Roy Cooper taking an open
North Carolina seat.
Trump played an outsized role in many of the races. He endorsed the
scandal-plagued Paxton and helped him defeat incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the
Texas primary, even as Republican officials warned his efforts could be costly.
He sharply criticized North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who opted not
to seek reelection. He also supported Graham, despite doubts within the party
that she was the right candidate to replace her brother, who died unexpectedly
earlier this year.
Less of a surprise was Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff winning reelection in
Georgia, defeating Rep. Mike Collins. Rep. Chris Pappas also won a Senate race
in New Hampshire, defeating former Sen. John Sununu to replace retiring
Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen.
One outstanding Senate battleground was Alaska, where the Trump
administration filed a lawsuit to block certification of Senate results if
Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan loses the race, citing the presence of a
second candidate named Dan Sullivan on the ballot. Mississippi's Senate race
remained too early to call.
In the House, Democrats reached deeply into Trump-won territory to defeat
his preferred candidates and win in even some of the most Republican states.
There were multiple Democratic pickups in Iowa, Texas, Florida and Pennsylvania
and new Democratic seats in Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and Utah. In
Iowa, there was an all-Republican congressional delegation going into the
election. Democrats will now represent three of them.
Bracing for a tough night, Republicans had spent the campaign's final
stretch pumping tens of millions of dollars into states and districts that
Trump won handily two years ago, as Trump campaigned in heavily red areas. But
even Republicans' money advantage didn't stem the Democratic tide.
"I wasn't on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!"
Trump wrote on his social media site.
The electorate is frustrated and unhappy
Voters were sour heading into Tuesday, deeply unhappy with the country's
direction and pessimistic about the future, according to The AP Voter Poll.
Most said they felt frustrated, with about three-quarters saying they felt
"angry" or "dissatisfied" with the country's current trajectory.
Dissatisfaction was particularly high in blue states, but even in red states, a
majority of voters were at least "dissatisfied."
The economy was key to Trump's White House comeback two years ago. But the
poll found that three-quarters of voters said the economy is "not so good" or
"poor." About 8 in 10 said inflation has caused a "severe" or "moderate"
financial hardship for their households.
Government corruption was also a big issue with voters. Roughly half cited
it and the cost of living as "crucial" to their vote for Congress -- higher
than immigration enforcement policies, the war in Iran and artificial
intelligence data centers. About 6 in 10 voters said Trump prioritizes his own
personal interests more than the country's interests.
Despite their relative advantage on issues, the Democratic Party was not
much more popular with voters than the Republicans. Just under half of voters
said they have a "somewhat" or "strongly" favorable view of the Democratic
Party, while about 4 in 10 viewed Republicans positively.
Republicans tried to buck historical midterm precedent with an aggressive
redistricting effort aimed at creating a more favorable congressional map. But
in Florida and Texas, where Republicans hoped to pick up as many as nine seats,
the plan fell short, with Democrats picking up targeted districts.
Democrats dominate governor's races
Beyond Washington, 36 states elected governors. Democrats Josh Shapiro in
Pennsylvania, JB Pritzker in Illinois, Wes Moore in Maryland, Maura Healey in
Massachusetts and Kathy Hochul in New York all won reelection. In a stunning
upset in Texas, Gina Hinojosa defeated Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who was
seeking a fourth term.
In Ohio, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy lost to Democrat Amy Acton after his
campaign faced backlash for an ad featuring Acton's estranged mother, who lost
custody of Acton decades ago after her husband, Acton's stepfather, was
indicted for raping Acton as a child.
Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms of Georgia will be the first Black female
governor of any state. In neighboring Florida, Byron Donalds became the
nation's first Black Republican to be elected governor.
Jeffries, in line to make history as the nation's first Black speaker of the
House, has outlined a 100-day agenda focused on lowering the cost of living and
aggressively overseeing the Trump administration.
The especially strong showing for Democrats could boost the party's large
crop of potential presidential candidates. It may also complicate the paths of
Vice President JD Vance and other Republicans who may have been looking to turn
their loyalty to Trump into momentum.
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