News organizations including Reuters and the Associated Press projected on Wednesday that Democrats seized control of both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate in the midterm elections held Tuesday.
Democrats flipped Senate seats in Kansas, where Adam Hamilton became the state’s first Democratic senator since the Great Depression, in South Carolina, a state President Donald Trump carried by nearly 18 points in 2024, and in Texas, where James Talarico won a seat, according to Reuters. In Texas, Democrats also ousted three-term Governor Greg Abbott, with Gina Hinojosa winning the governorship, Reuters reported. Democrats ran the table in competitive House races decided so far and flipped seats in states including Kentucky, New Jersey and North Carolina, according to the same reporting. Additional Senate flips projected by news organizations included races in Ohio, Iowa, Maine and North Carolina.
Republicans entered Election Day with a 218-214 edge in the House, accounting for vacancies and one independent, and a 53-47 majority in the Senate, according to Reuters. Democrats needed a net gain of three House seats and four Senate seats for control under those counts. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said after projections that “America is back” and that the results marked a change election focused on affordability, according to NPR.
President Donald Trump told the New York Times in a phone interview that he was “absolutely willing to accept those results” and looked forward to working with Democrats, the paper reported. He also called into Fox News, where he congratulated Democrats, said they “did a good job” and “fought hard,” and said he would accept the outcome, according to the network and other outlets. Trump separately posted on Truth Social that he “wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!”
Public statements from news organizations do not confirm final certified vote totals or the exact size of the Democratic majorities, as some races remained uncalled early Wednesday. They also do not confirm specific legislative outcomes or investigations that may follow once the new Congress is seated in January.
Not since 2006 has the minority party flipped control of both chambers in a single midterm election, NBC News noted in its projections. That historical parallel is not a tally of the seats decided in this election. Markets had been awaiting the results on Tuesday amid a rebound in tech stocks, Reuters reported, but no wire tied a specific market move to measured losses from the named seats.
SOURCES: Reuters, Associated Press, NBC News, NPR, New York Times, Fox News.
