Blue wave breaks through Republican strongholds, handing Democrats the Senate and House

Supporters of Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico react to early election results at a midterm election night watch party at the Long Center for the Performing Arts in Austin, Texas, on Nov. 3, 2026. (AFP/Yonhap)

Democrats are projected to seize control of both chambers of the US Congress in Tuesday’s midterm elections, riding a “blue wave” that carried them to victory in some of the Republican Party’s most reliable strongholds.

By winning Senate seats in Texas, South Carolina, Iowa and Kansas, Democrats delivered a clear message of rebuke from voters regarding President Donald Trump’s second term in office. Trump will now face a Democratic-controlled Congress for the remaining two years of his presidency, which could significantly constrain his ability to advance his agenda.

Democrats clinched the Senate at 11:16 pm Eastern time Tuesday, when Decision Desk HQ, a US election analysis firm, projected that Democrat Josh Turek would defeat Republican Ashley Hinson in Iowa’s Senate race. That gave the party the 51 seats it needed for a majority.

Democrats’ Senate gains reached well beyond the expected battlegrounds and into Republican territory. 

In Texas, James Talarico defeated Republican Ken Paxton, giving Democrats their first Senate win in the state in 38 years. In South Carolina, which was not even counted among the seven Senate battleground states before the election, Annie Andrews defeated Republican Sen. Darline Graham, the sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, for the party’s first Senate win there in 28 years. Trump had personally backed both Republican candidates.

In Kansas, Democrat Adam Hamilton unseated Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, giving Democrats their first Senate win in the state in 94 years. Former Gov. Roy Cooper won in North Carolina, and former Sen. Sherrod Brown defeated Republican Sen. Jon Husted in Ohio. Democrats also held on to their seats in Georgia and New Hampshire.

Democrats also overturned the Republicans’ narrow majority in the House of Representatives. Decision Desk HQ projected at 9:09 pm that Democrats would retake the chamber, and CNN made the same call around 10 pm. 

Democrats surpassed the net gain of three seats they needed, flipping Republican-held seats in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, North Carolina, Kentucky and elsewhere. They even won some districts that Republicans had redrawn to their own advantage.

The results put House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in line to become the first Black speaker of the House in US history.

The outcome is being read as a reflection of voter anger over economic hardship, the war with Iran and hard-line immigration policies.

Trump took to social media on election night to claim that Republicans would have swept the elections had he been a candidate. “I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!” he wrote on Truth Social.

In an interview with The New York Times, however, Trump said he was “absolutely willing to accept” the results and was open to working with Democrats.