Democrats take control of both chambers of the US Congress: midterm election results

Democrats' largest majority in decades

The US midterm elections ended in a sweeping victory for the Democratic Party: according to preliminary counts, Democrats are winning 254 seats in the House of Representatives against 165 for Republicans, with 16 districts still uncounted, and NBC News projects a final result of 259 seats. That would be the largest majority for a party in more than three decades. Democrats also took the Senate.

Hakeem Jeffries: a speaker with a safety margin

Two years ago, Hakeem Jeffries was the House minority leader; now he is the likely speaker, expected to receive the gavel in January. A narrow majority would have given a dozen left-wing lawmakers veto power over his candidacy and agenda, but with such a margin he can afford at least three dozen 'defectors' — and the same applies to legislation: he can lose members of his party's flank and still pass laws. Jeffries will become the first Black speaker in American history and will gain two levers the White House fears most: control over spending and the power to subpoena witnesses.

Trump and 'MAGA' candidates: the biggest losers

Donald Trump spent two months urging voters to 'imagine I'm on the ballot,' and took that message on the road to Texas, Iowa and Kansas. In Texas, which he won by 13.6 points in 2024, Democrat James Talarico prevailed by a 12-point margin; Kansas shifted toward Democrats by 21 points, South Carolina by 22, and in Mississippi, which Trump carried by 23 points, the result is still unclear. A day after the president's final rally, he wrote that he 'wasn't on the ballot,' but exit polls show his approval among voters at 37%, and the share of his voters in the electorate at 44% versus 49.8% of the vote in 2024. Blaming weak candidates is hard for him: most of those he endorsed lost. Ken Paxton, whom Trump backed against sitting Senator John Cornyn, lost in Texas by 12 points; Darlene Graham, sister of Lindsey Graham, who died unexpectedly in July, and the president's pick, lost to pediatrician Annie Andrews — the first Democrat elected to the Senate from South Carolina since Fritz Hollings in 1998. According to the outlet, in Texas about one in ten Republicans voted for Democrats, while in Iowa, Ohio and North Carolina a majority of voters considered the Republican candidates 'too loyal' to Trump.

Moderates and progressives: two winning strategies

The party won on two fronts at once. Moderate candidates — a pastor from Kansas, a pediatrician from South Carolina, a former governor of North Carolina, a Paralympian from Iowa — gave independent voters a 'safe haven': if Kamala Harris won independents by three points in 2024, Democrats now took them 58% to 38%. Progressives, in turn, won primaries and some general elections: Bernie Sanders ally Abdul El-Sayed won in Michigan and became the first Muslim elected to the Senate, Peggy Flanagan held Minnesota, and Troy Jackson unseated Susan Collins in Maine. The outlet notes a risk reminiscent of 2010: the new progressive wing could repeat the fate of the 'freedom caucus' and make life difficult for Speaker Jeffries — 'majorities are easier to win than to govern.'

What's next: investigations instead of laws

The practical consequences are already visible in committee plans. Robert Garcia, the incoming chair of the House Oversight Committee, promised to 'hire lawyers' and named the 'Trump crime family' as his first target: the list includes the crypto company World Liberty Financial, an Emirati sheikh who bought a stake in it for $500 million, and Donald Trump Jr.'s venture firm 1789 Capital, while Jamie Raskin, who leads the Judiciary Committee, said that with Jared Kushner 'we will definitely have to talk.' Garcia suggested a subpoena for Attorney General Todd Blanche 'on day one.' At the same time, legislative gridlock is almost guaranteed: Trump has already told Fox News he will veto 'crazy' bills, Democrats lack the two-thirds majority needed to override a veto, and Republicans in the Senate retain the filibuster. Meanwhile, about eight in ten voters in an AP-NORC poll named lowering the cost of living a priority for Congress, about seven in ten cited ending the war with Iran, and 71% in exit polls wanted more checks on the president. The result, according to the outlet's assessment, will be plenty of hearings and very few laws, while prices, the war, the deficit, and immigration are pushed off to the 2028 elections.