Voters Check Trump as Democrats Take Congress

Democrats took the Senate and gained at least 30 House seats as voters punished Donald Trump’s policies, including a war with Iran that helped push up the cost of living. The result sets up possible deadlock in Washington, while Republicans retain control of the government until the new Congress takes office.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani urged Democrats to address voters’ concerns about rising prices and their need for schools and roads. “It is not enough to simply win power. We must use it,” he said in a social media video. “Now, it's time for us in the Democratic Party to deliver.” The response described in the election results runs through ballots and party machinery; the article reports no grassroots mutual-aid effort or direct action.

A ballot-box rebuke, an institutional answer

Democrats won a majority of at least 54-44 in the Senate and could add two more seats, with races in Alaska and Mississippi still uncalled Wednesday morning. In the House, they gained at least 30 seats. For the first time, Trump will face a Democratic-controlled Congress in both chambers.

Once seated in January, Democrats are expected to investigate Trump's administration, family and allies, demand concessions on major legislation and use the Senate to block Trump's nominees. That could include any U.S. Supreme Court justices if a vacancy arises. The election also raised questions about the longevity of the court’s two eldest justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, and the durability of its conservative majority.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said the incoming majority would focus on affordability and accountability. “We don't work for Donald Trump,” Jeffries told reporters Wednesday. “We work for the American people. And the days of the House of Representatives functioning like a wholly owned subsidiary of the Trump administration are over.” His promised response is still an institutional one: investigations, legislation and control of the chamber.

The cost of decisions made above

Voters in conservative strongholds that had helped propel Trump to a second term swung toward Democrats amid frustration over the war with Iran, anxiety over living costs and anger at Trump's stewardship of the country. Democrats blamed his expensive import tariffs, some of which courts ruled were an illegal tax, and the war for driving up costs. They also highlighted billions of dollars the Trump family has made since he returned to the White House.

The election broke through in states where Democrats had struggled. In Texas, they won their first Senate seat there since 1988 and ousted three-term Governor Greg Abbott. Kansas elected its first Democratic senator since the Great Depression nearly a century ago. In South Carolina, which Trump carried by nearly 18 points in 2024, Democrats defeated his hand-picked Senate candidate.

Abdul El-Sayed, a Democrat from the party's rising left wing, won Michigan's open Senate seat, becoming the first Muslim elected to the chamber and defeating Mike Rogers, who entered the race with Trump's backing. Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms became the first Black woman elected governor in U.S. history with her win in Georgia, while New Mexico's Deb Haaland became the country's first Native American woman elected governor.

The old machinery keeps running

Republicans still control the government until the new Congress takes office. They face at least one must-pass measure: legislation to fund the federal government past December, and could use the lame-duck period to enact conservative priorities. The electoral shift does not immediately transfer control of that process.

Trump told reporters he could block Democrats with his veto. “I'll get along probably with the Democrats, unless they want to be destructive, but I have the power of the veto,” he said. He had urged Republicans to “pretend I'm on the ballot,” and Democrats amplified that message. The power to veto remains in the same office after the ballots are counted.

Trump spent his first post-election appearance showing reporters an under-construction White House ballroom. He said the White House is “the ultimate symbol of America” and that he was building it because it “has got to be pristine, it's got to be perfect.” During the nearly hour-long appearance, he spoke only briefly about the elections. Vice President JD Vance blamed the Iran war for the losses, writing: “The reason we lost is the war.”