Voters Shift Congress, but Trump Keeps Veto Power

Democrats took control of Congress in the November 3 U.S. midterm elections, but President Donald Trump still holds the veto power that can block legislation. Voters delivered what Reuters described as a sharp rebuke to Trump and his agenda. Still, the limits of the shift were clear: control of Congress doesn’t mean control of the presidency or the machinery that can stop a bill.

The gains reached deep into Republican territory and exceeded most analysts’ forecasts. Democrats won Senate races in Texas, South Carolina, Ohio and Kansas, states where recent results or expectations had favored Republicans. The election changed who holds seats in Congress. It didn’t remove the presidential veto.

A rebuke inside the system

In Texas, James Talarico routed Republican Ken Paxton, becoming the state’s first Democratic senator-elect in 38 years. Democrats also flipped a Senate seat in South Carolina, where Annie Andrews defeated Republican Senator Darline Graham. In Ohio, a state Trump won three times, Democrat Sherrod Brown prevailed. Adam Hamilton easily defeated Republican incumbent Roger Marshall in Kansas, where Democrats last won a Senate seat in 1932.

Democrats fielded a candidate in every race, even contests that looked like long shots just months earlier. Strategists in both parties said strong turnout among Democratic voters and independents helped fuel the victories, including in swing states and Republican strongholds. The strategy paid off as Republican candidates struggled against Trump’s unpopularity and voter anger over high prices.

That anger wasn’t abstract. Early results and exit polls showed voters in a sour mood, with many saying they felt worse off than two years earlier. Nearly 9 in 10 identified the cost of living as a crucial or major factor in their vote. Nearly two-thirds blamed Trump for high prices, three-quarters said they were angry or dissatisfied with the country’s direction, and voters also voiced widespread concern about government corruption.

SSRS conducted the exit polls for a consortium of U.S. media outlets that included major television networks and the Associated Press. The figures record what voters said; they don’t mean the winners can simply deliver the economic relief people want.

The veto stays in the room

Democrats are likely to face demands to address economic concerns as well as oppose Trump. Their ability to pass legislation will be limited by the president’s veto power. Trump, meanwhile, could argue Democrats share responsibility for the state of the economy. He told media outlets he’d accept the results and was prepared to work with Democrats.

The election offered voters a way to punish candidates and change the balance in Congress. The report’s facts also show the boundaries of that choice: Trump remains president, and his veto can obstruct legislation. The ballot count changed congressional control, not the distribution of every power over policy.

Trump had asked voters to pretend he was on the ballot. Several candidates he elevated over the objections of local Republicans lost races the party had expected to win. His handpicked Senate candidates in South Carolina and North Carolina, Graham and Michael Whatley, lost, while Paxton was soundly beaten in Texas. Those choices put Republicans on the defensive in states where they’d been favored, reviving questions about Trump’s political instincts and his preference for personal loyalty over candidates with broader electoral appeal.

Prices beat the campaign’s scare lines

Exit polls showed Republican support falling among Black men, Latinos and young voters, fracturing the coalition that powered Trump’s 2024 victory. Trump had been elected on a promise to arrest high inflation, but Reuters reported that his tariffs on foreign goods and war against Iran had worsened the economic situation for many Americans. On the campaign trail, he urged Americans to absorb higher costs as his popularity sank to record lows.

In the campaign’s closing weeks, Trump and fellow Republicans portrayed Democrats as dangerous radicals and communists. Trump said that if Democrats won, “it’s going to be a communist country,” and described Democratic establishments in various states as replaced by “crazed lunatics and radicals.” Voters focused instead on grocery and gas prices and wanted Trump to say more about lowering costs. He didn’t persuade them that Democrats posed an existential threat to the United States.

Latino voters also moved away from Republicans. Exit polls showed Republican support among Hispanic voters fell to one in three on November 3, from 46% in 2024, amid economic anger. In Texas, where 4 in 10 people are Latino, media outlets forecast that Democrats flipped both the governor and Senate seats. Gina Hinojosa will become Texas’ first Latina governor, and Xavier Becerra will be California’s first elected Latino governor.

The result is a new congressional majority born from voter anger and turnout. The costs people named are still on the table, and so is the president’s veto.