Democrats Sweep Midterms, Trump Blames Candidates
With 54 Senate seats and a projected 256 House seats, Democrats secured historic majorities while the President attempted to distance himself from the results.
By Chinedu Schneider ·
President Donald Trump faced a decisive electoral defeat on Tuesday as Democrats captured control of both chambers of Congress, a result that contradicts his recent claims of inevitable Republican victory. The President sought to shift responsibility to his party's nominees, arguing in a late-night interview that the candidates, not the incumbent, were the cause of the loss. He posted on social media that he was not on the ballot, insisting a landslide would have occurred had he been.
Democrats secured 54 seats in the Senate, a gain that includes victories in traditionally red states like Kansas and South Carolina. Adam Hamilton defeated Senator Roger Marshall in Kansas, marking the first Democratic Senate win in the state in nearly a century. The party also swept the House, with polling partner Decision Desk HQ projecting 256 seats for Democrats as of 1 a.m. Eastern Time. This total approaches the high mark reached during the Obama administration, shattering recent theories that polarization and gerrymandering had made wave elections obsolete.
Texas marked a significant shift in the political map for the party. State Representative James Talarico defeated Attorney General Ken Paxton for the Senate seat by roughly 10 points with 90 percent of ballots counted. In a surprising upset, Governor Greg Abbott conceded his race to State Representative Gina Hinojosa, trailing by approximately seven points. Republicans are expected to debate the primary selection process in Austin, as Trump had previously supported Paxton over incumbent John Cornyn.
Contested races in the Midwest and Midwest also swung blue. Abdul El-Sayed won the Michigan Senate race, becoming the first Muslim senator despite a contentious primary where his opponent endorsed the Republican candidate. Amy Acton was projected to win the Ohio governor's race against Vivek Ramaswamy. The campaign drew national attention after a Republican ad featured Acton's estranged mother, a move that prompted criticism from Republican leaders Mike DeWine and John Kasich.
The results reflect a strong negative reaction to the President, whose approval rating sits 20 points in negative territory according to DDHQ averages. Issues including the cost of living, the economy, and the war in Iran contributed to voter dissatisfaction. The outcome also validated pre-election polling, which had predicted a strong night for Democrats despite skepticism from some conservative observers.
The precise final tallies for Alaska and Mississippi remain undecided as of early Wednesday. The Democratic majority in the House appears to be the largest in decades, while the Senate control provides the party with a legislative advantage that was not widely projected just weeks before the election.
