WASHINGTON
Democrats have secured control of both the US Senate and House of Representatives in a sweeping electoral victory, marking a dramatic political setback for President Donald Trump and signalling a major shift in the balance of power in Washington.
Millions of American voters turned against Republicans in Tuesday’s elections, delivering a resounding rebuke to Trump’s leadership and reversing the political trends that had helped him secure a second presidential term two years ago.
The Democratic surge was particularly striking in traditionally Republican strongholds, where frustration over the unpopular war with Iran, rising living costs and growing concerns about the administration’s performance emerged as key factors behind the electoral shift.
In Texas, the country’s largest Republican stronghold, Democrats ended decades of electoral setbacks by capturing a Senate seat and defeating three-term Governor Greg Abbott. Kansas elected its first Democratic senator since the Great Depression, while in South Carolina, a state Trump won by nearly 18 percentage points in 2024, Democrats defeated his hand-picked Senate candidate.
The results will usher in a new era of divided government in Washington, ending two years of Republican control of Congress during which lawmakers rarely challenged the president’s agenda.
Once the newly elected lawmakers take office in January, Democrats are expected to intensify congressional scrutiny of Trump’s administration, family and political allies. Their control of the Senate will also give them the power to block presidential nominees, including potential appointments to the US Supreme Court should a vacancy arise.
“There is now a generational remake of the Senate map that is going to change America,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said, adding that voters had demanded change and that Democrats must now deliver.
Trump, who is constitutionally barred from seeking a third presidential term, has maintained a dominant influence over the Republican Party for nearly a decade. However, the election results could accelerate his lame-duck status as political attention increasingly shifts towards the 2028 presidential race and potential successors begin positioning themselves for the post-Trump era.
Despite concerns that Trump might challenge the election outcome, as he did following the 2020 presidential election, the president accepted the results and congratulated Democrats in an interview with Fox News. He indicated a willingness to work with the opposition on issues such as immigration but warned that he would veto what he described as any “insane” legislation.
Democrats built their campaign around allegations of corruption and the growing affordability crisis, blaming Trump’s tariff policies and the war with Iran for increasing economic pressures on American households. They also highlighted the substantial financial gains made by members of the Trump family since his return to the White House.
Republicans, led by Trump, sought to mobilise their supporters by focusing on cultural issues, including transgender rights, while portraying Democrats as radical and politically extreme. However, opinion polls consistently indicated that economic concerns and the rising cost of living remained voters’ overriding priorities.
The Democratic wave extended across much of the country. According to vote tallies compiled by Reuters and USA Today, Republicans lost ground in all but a small number of approximately 2,100 counties where most ballots had been counted.
Democrats made significant advances in both affluent and economically disadvantaged communities, as well as in areas with varying levels of educational attainment. Their gains were particularly pronounced in heavily Hispanic counties, including Texas border communities that had shifted towards Trump in 2024 and agricultural towns across the Kansas prairie.
In Seward County, Kansas, home to one of the country’s largest beef-processing plants and a substantial Hispanic population, Democratic candidate Adam Hamilton led incumbent Republican Senator Roger Marshall by 13 percentage points. The result represented a dramatic reversal from 2024, when Trump carried the county by 39 points.
In the House of Representatives, Democrats flipped more than two dozen Republican-held seats, securing a majority. They also won all closely contested House races decided so far, including approximately a dozen constituencies that Trump had carried by double-digit margins in the previous presidential election.
An unprecedented Republican effort to redraw congressional district boundaries to improve the party’s electoral prospects largely failed, with Democrats retaining most of the seats targeted by the redistricting strategy.
Midterm elections traditionally serve as a referendum on the sitting president’s performance, and Trump made little effort to distance himself from the Republican campaign. During the final weeks of the election campaign, he held dozens of rallies and repeatedly urged supporters to “pretend I’m on the ballot”.
He had also intervened in several Republican primary contests earlier in the year to secure nominations for his preferred candidates, despite concerns among some party members that their political vulnerabilities could jeopardise Republican prospects.
The Democratic victory now places significant constraints on Trump’s remaining presidency, setting the stage for intensified congressional oversight, legislative confrontations and a potentially reshaped political landscape ahead of the 2028 presidential election.
