Democrats Win Big. The Fight Over Power Starts Now

Five days after the midterms, the winners were already squabbling over who gets to run the building. Attorney General Todd Blanche went on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday and said Justice Department lawyers represent members of the executive and that he "would be very worried if I was a member on that committee," meaning the House Oversight Committee. That's the top law enforcement officer in the country warning a congressional panel before it has even been seated.

Who Has the Power

Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., who is set to lead the Oversight Committee, called it a threat. "It is ridiculous that we have the attorney general saying to the American public that somehow he's going to defend administration officials when his job is to defend the Constitution," Garcia said. "He is threatening our committee. He's trying to stop us from doing real oversight." He added: "The days of us not fighting back are over."

On Saturday, Trump wrote on social media that the calls for impeachment amounted to "extortion at the highest level" and ordered the Justice Department to investigate those making the push. A president ordered his own police apparatus to look into the lawmakers who want to remove him.

Democrats, meanwhile, swept the November 2026 midterms, taking the House and the Senate in the next Congress. NBC News reported 54 Senate seats won, with Alaska and Mississippi still uncalled. The New York Times reported Democrats had clinched 254 House seats. CNN noted the last time any party won more than 250 House seats was the Democrats in 2008, 18 years ago. The Times estimated Democrats are on track to win the national popular congressional vote by about 13 percentage points.

Who Gets Crushed

The people supposedly being served here are the ones Sen.-elect Adam Hamilton described: "people living paycheck to paycheck," whose message to Washington is "please help us with the cost of living." In CNN's Voter Poll, 64% said Trump had the wrong priorities and 66% said his policies had hurt the economy. Sixty-two percent said he put his personal interests over the country's.

Hamilton, the first Democrat elected to the Senate from Kansas since 1932, a gap of 94 years, said the new Congress should immediately focus on ending the war in Iran and "claw[ing] back tariffs policies." Then he gave his own party a warning: "if we don't figure that out and get to work on helping people, this is going to be a one and done, kind of, you know, kind of blue wave."

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., agreed: "We cannot spend all of our time investigating Trump. We have to stand up for working-class families, make a real difference in their lives."

The Reform Trap

Schumer promised Wednesday to "launch investigations, take him to court and entangle him in legislative razor wire" whenever Trump defies the will of the American people or the law. Several Democrats, including Rep. Jamie Raskin, have floated a third impeachment. Rep.-elect Brad Lander offered this: "if we get through all of that, come back and ask me again whether we should impeach the president."

Notice what the new majority is arguing about. Not whether to dismantle the machinery of power, but who sits in the leader's chair. Hamilton says he won't back Schumer for majority leader. Maine's Troy Jackson told Schumer he'd support somebody else. South Carolina's Annie Andrews wants "generational change." Minnesota's Peggy Flanagan said "it is time for new leadership." Michigan's Abdul El-Sayed said of Schumer: "he wanted to see me elected." Schumer's aides insist he has locked down the votes.

Schumer's super PAC put $67 million into the Michigan race alone. Rep.-elect Lander says he's gotten "hundreds" of emails urging him to oppose Jeffries over policy differences including Israel, and still called for "disciplined, strategic unity across the party." Rahm Emanuel, weighing a presidential run, said: "I don't happen to think socialism is the way to win their hearts and minds." Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress, said the winners practiced "the politics of addition, not the politics of subtraction."

The debate over lessons for 2028 has already started. Before a single new member is sworn in, the next campaign is on.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, on the other side, said Republicans "don't have the courage, they don't have the focus, they don't have the right level of anger" and that "we got beaten badly." Florida Gov.-elect Byron Donalds, asked about Vice President JD Vance's claim that the Iran war is the main reason Republicans suffered, said: "At the end of it all, it's about gas and groceries."

Gas and groceries. The war goes on, and the people paying for it are still the ones who were counting pennies last week.