Democrats score sweeping midterm breakthroughs as Republicans absorb a blunt public rebuke
Select a version of the text written from a presumed ideological perspective. This is not the original text, but a hypothetical version — how someone with that viewpoint might have phrased it. Tapping the current version again will return to the original or select cleaned version.
Democrats won control of the U.S. House and gained ground in the Senate, while Republican leaders blamed their own misfired policies and waning media momentum for the losses.
Democrats expanded their congressional majority on Tuesday, taking control of the U.S. House of Representatives and gaining additional Senate seats in tightly fought contests. In Mississippi, Democrat Scott Colom leads incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith by a narrow margin after 96% of votes were counted, pointing to a possible first Democratic Senate victory in the state since 1982. In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola holds a slim lead over Republican Dan Sullivan while ranked-choice voting remains underway.
Republican senator Thom Tillis blamed the party’s defeats on “well-intentioned, poorly executed policies” and singled out members of the Trump administration, including Kristi Noem and Pete Hegseth, for what he called ineffective leadership.
“We’ve got to regroup and be ready for 2028, and we won’t be ready for 2028 if we try and re-execute what I think were well-intentioned, poorly executed policies over the last 18 months,” Tillis told CNN.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis warned that Democratic victories could amount to an “extinction-level event for Republicans,” underscoring the centrality of Texas to the party’s electoral hopes.
“If the Republican party doesn’t have Texas as an anchor, then we’re not going to be viable nationally going forward,” DeSantis said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he hoped the stronger Democratic showing would lead to more robust U.S. support for Ukraine.
“The Democrats speak very clearly about supporting Ukraine and providing assistance to Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in a German-language interview.
In Texas, Democrats captured the state House for the first time since 2002, while Democrat James Talarico won a Senate seat, ending a 38-year Republican hold on the position. The state also elected its first Latina governor, Gina Hinojosa, who defeated incumbent Greg Abbott.
House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries announced his candidacy for speaker, setting himself up to become the first Black speaker of the House if elected.
Election night also brought a sharp drop in Fox News viewership, with the network falling behind other outlets in prime-time coverage, a trend its CEO linked to “viewer fatigue.”
Overall, the midterm results point to a major political realignment, with Democrats positioned to influence legislative priorities heading into the 2028 election cycle.