Democrats won control of both the House and Senate in Tuesday's midterm elections, networks projected overnight, delivering the kind of across-the-board rebuke of President Trump's administration that pollsters had forecast only cautiously. CBS News called the House for Democrats at 10:15 p.m. ET and the Senate just over an hour later, projecting that Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York would become the next speaker.
In the Senate, Democrats flipped seats long held by Republicans in Texas, Kansas, Ohio, Iowa, North Carolina, South Carolina and Maine — enough to erase the four-seat deficit the party needed to close and build what CBS News's live results desk described as a working majority of at least 51 of the chamber's 100 seats. Races in Alaska and Mississippi remained too close to call by morning. In the House, Democrats flipped districts in North Carolina, Texas, Pennsylvania and Ohio and swept three Iowa seats, giving Jeffries the majority he will need to set the chamber's agenda for the final two years of Trump's term.
A night of firsts
South Carolina elected a Democratic senator for the first time in almost three decades: emergency physician Annie Andrews defeated Darline Graham, who had been appointed to the seat by Trump after her brother's death in office. In Texas, state Rep. James Talarico, a 36-year-old former public school teacher, unseated Republican Ken Paxton to become the first Democrat elected to a Texas Senate seat since 1988. And in Maine, Troy Jackson's win ended the nearly three-decade Senate career of Susan Collins, long one of the chamber's most prominent Republican moderates. Down the ballot, Democrats also claimed the California governor's race — Xavier Becerra's win makes him the state's first Latino governor in more than 150 years — while Chris Pappas became the first openly gay man elected to the Senate, winning New Hampshire's open seat, and Kathy Hochul won a second full term as New York's governor.
It has been the honor of my life to serve the people of Maine.
Sen. Susan Collins, conceding defeat
Tuesday's results followed a campaign dominated by the cost of living, health care prices and the war Trump launched against Iran in February, which has drawn repeated American and Israeli strikes and intermittently closed the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping for much of the year. Exit polling cited widely by networks pointed to economic frustration as the single biggest driver of the Democratic wave, with Republican losses concentrated in suburban districts that had backed Trump in 2024.
Reaction from both parties
"Against all odds, we Democrats have won the Senate," Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer told supporters shortly after the chamber was called. Jeffries, addressing his own crowd, said simply: "America is back." Former President Barack Obama said voters had sent "a clear message" that they wanted leaders who bring people together, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi predicted Jeffries "will be a magnificent speaker."
Republicans were more muted. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said his conference "will not stand idly by" as Democrats move to undo the party's legislative record, and Paxton called the night "difficult" for Republicans across the map. Trump, writing on Truth Social, argued "I wasn't on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!" — while telling reporters separately that he intended to work with the incoming Democratic majorities and would use his veto power "liberally" against legislation he opposes. A detailed BBC analysis of the results described Democrats as having "torn up" the political map Trump built in 2024.
With both chambers now under Democratic control, the party will set committee chairmanships and legislative priorities — and gain subpoena power over the administration — when the new Congress convenes in January. The scale of the flip immediately reshapes the political map heading into the final two years of Trump's presidency and raises early questions about the 2028 field on both sides.
