WASHINGTON, D.C. — Democrats took back control of the U.S. Senate in Tuesday’s midterm elections, flipping Republican seats in states that had looked out of reach a few weeks ago, and they also won a majority in the House.
The results end the near two-year stretch of unified Republican control in Washington that began with President Donald Trump’s return to office. The new Congress convenes in January.
Republicans went into the night with a 53-seat Senate majority. Democrats had locked up five pickups by early Wednesday, enough to take the chamber even with races in Minnesota and Alaska still unresolved.
In Texas, state Sen. James Talarico defeated Attorney General Ken Paxton, becoming the first Democrat the state has sent to the Senate since 1988. In Kansas, pastor Adam Hamilton unseated Sen. Roger Marshall and became the first Democrat to win a Senate seat there in 94 years. Democrats also flipped Iowa’s open seat.
In Ohio, former Sen. Sherrod Brown defeated Sen. John Husted, who had been appointed to the seat Vice President JD Vance left. In Maine, Republican Sen. Susan Collins conceded to Democrat Troy Jackson shortly before 1 a.m., ending nearly three decades in the seat.
Control of both chambers gives Democrats subpoena and oversight power in the House and the ability to block many of Trump’s judicial and cabinet nominees in the Senate. The 60-vote filibuster rule makes major legislation unlikely, and Trump has said he will veto bills Democrats send him.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries would be the first Black House speaker in the nation’s history. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer told supporters that relief is on the way, though several incoming Democratic senators have declined to say whether they will back him for leader. On the Republican side, Senate Majority Leader John Thune intends to seek the job of minority leader.
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