Democrats Seize Full US Congress in Midterm Rout of Trump

By Samuel Akpan

Democrats swept both chambers of the US Congress in a midterm landslide on Tuesday, handing them power to stall President Donald Trump’s agenda and probe alleged corruption through the final two years of his term.

The result marked a sharp rebuke of the Republican Party.

Trump told The New York Times he was “absolutely willing to accept those results” and would “work with the Democrats.”

Minutes later, however, he posted a picture of a red baseball cap emblazoned with the word “VETO,” signalling resistance to Democratic legislation.

Voters’ anger over high living costs, Trump’s tariffs, and the war against Iran—which has driven fuel prices sharply higher—fuelled the outcome against an already unpopular president.

The “blue wave” flipped six Republican Senate seats, enough to overcome the previous 53-47 majority.

In Kansas, Methodist minister Adam Hamilton ousted Roger Marshall, becoming the state’s first Democratic senator since 1932.

Iowa elected a Democrat for the first time since 2008.

Earlier upsets in Texas, South Carolina, North Carolina and Ohio underscored the scale of the shift, despite Trump’s heavy campaigning.

In Texas, James Talarico defeated a Trump-backed Senate candidate, while Gina Hinojosa unseated Governor Greg Abbott, ending long Republican control of the state’s top office.

Democrats also flipped House seats across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Kentucky, Arizona and North Carolina, including districts Trump carried comfortably in 2024.

A key bellwether came in Indiana, where J.D. Ford beat Victoria Spartz in a seat Trump won by 17 points.

Keisha Lance Bottoms became the first Black woman elected governor in US history in Georgia.

Democrats also held Jon Ossoff’s Georgia seat and an open New Hampshire seat, while securing gains in statehouses nationwide.

Republicans retained bright spots in Florida, where Trump-backed Byron Donalds won the governorship as the state’s first Black governor and Ashley Moody kept her Senate seat.

George Washington University professor Todd Belt described the result as “a big wipeout and a strong repudiation of Donald Trump and his policies,” driven by concerns over the economy, corruption and the Iran conflict.