Democrats have taken control of the US Senate and are projected to regain the House of Representatives after inflicting a series of historic defeats on Republicans in the midterm elections, prompting a 16-word response from President Donald Trump.
In a remarkable sweep, the Democrats won a Senate majority and picked up seats in the former Republican strongholds of Texas, Kansas, South Carolina and Ohio. Several major US media outlets have reported that Democrats are also projected to regain control of the House, which they last held in 2023.
Democrats Secure Senate Majority
The midterms determine which party controls Congress and were seen as a referendum on the controversial Republican leader, who earlier urged people to pretend he was on the ballot paper. Democrats needed a net gain of four seats in the 100-member Senate to win a majority, while in the 435-member House, they needed three.
In a statement issued after his defeats, Mr Trump posted on his Truth Social platform: “I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!”
Speaking to Fox News after Republicans lost control of the Senate, Mr Trump admitted the result surprised him. “Well, I’m a little bit surprised. I thought they’d do better, we had tremendous rallies,” he said. “I thought that I could transfer those people into candidates.”
Key Democratic Victories
Potential 2028 presidential challenger Democrat senator Jon Ossoff won re-election in Georgia, which had been a top Republican target. Mr Ossoff told supporters: “In sweeping and decisive victories, the American people have rebuked the depravity, corruption, and incompetence of the failed lame duck president Donald J Trump.”
The 39-year-old has been a leading critic of the US president and his administration, raising his national profile. Senate candidate James Talarico became the first Democrat to win a statewide office in Texas since 1994.
The party also flipped a string of seats in the House of Representatives in states like Kentucky, New Jersey and North Carolina. Elsewhere, Democrat former senator Sherrod Brown won the upper house seat of Ohio, defeating Republican incumbent Jon Husted.
Voter Discontent and Other Races
The Democrats had expected to benefit from voter discontent over the cost of living, tariffs and high energy prices fuelled by the Iran war, which Mr Trump launched with Israel earlier this year.
The Democrats also retained New Hampshire, with Chris Pappas seeing off Republican John Sununu. Mr Pappas will replace retiring senator Jeanne Shaheen, a three-term Democrat who ousted Mr Sununu in 2008. He told supporters: “This has been a long campaign against the backdrop of chaos, corruption and costs coming out of Washington.”
In California, long-shot Republican candidate Steve Hilton, a former top aide to David Cameron, lost to former state attorney general Xavier Becerra.
