US midterms: Democrats projected to seize House, near Senate takeover, in major setback for Trump
AI Summary
US media projected that Democrats would win the House and move closer to taking control of the Senate in the 2026 midterms, dealing a major setback to President Donald Trump and Republicans. Democratic victories in South Carolina, Ohio, and other races contributed to the party's gains, while several Senate contests remained undecided.
Democrats were projected to win the US House of Representatives Tuesday and closed in on control of the Senate after a stunning victory in deeply conservative Texas, inflicting a sweeping midterm defeat on President Donald Trump’s Republicans. US media projected a Democratic takeover of the House, giving the opposition the power to obstruct Trump’s legislative agenda and launch far-reaching investigations of his administration. According to media projections, pediatrician Annie Andrews became the first Democrat to win a Senate seat since 1998 in South Carolina, a stunning victory over Trump’s hand-picked candidate Darline Graham in a state that he carried by nearly 18 percentage points in 2024. Andrews’ win, along with Democrat Roy Cooper’s projected win in North Carolina’s Senate race, gave the party two of the four seats it needs to net in order to take control of the chamber. The results also suggested that a Democratic wave was growing large enough to swamp even deeply Republican areas. After the death of his ally, US Senator Lindsey Graham, Graham’s sister Darline was appointed to fill his seat and Trump encouraged her to run for a full six-year term. But her political inexperience proved a liability. Democrat Sherrod Brown defeated Republican Jon Husted in a tight US Senate race in the Midwestern state of Ohio, notching another flip for his party in the all-important race to control the upper chamber of Congress. The special election was called to fill the seat for the last two years of what had been Vice President JD Vance’s term, after Husted served in 2025-26. Brown is a former senator himself. CNN and NBC News called the race in Brown’s favor. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton speaks following her victory in the US midterm elections at a Democratic Election Night rally, in Columbus, Ohio, US, November 3, 2026. — Reuters It was still too early to determine whether Democrats would be able to replicate those performances in the other critical races that will determine the Senate majority, including Alaska, Iowa, Michigan, Maine and Texas, with millions of votes still uncounted in those states. Democrats held onto Senate seats in Georgia and New Hampshire, both races that were once considered competitive but moved out of reach for Republicans amid Trump’s declining approval ratings. While several television networks projected that Democrats would eventually win a House majority, most of the chamber’s most tightly contested races had yet to be called. So far, Democrats have picked up four seats from Republicans, meaning they can afford to lose one of their existing seats and still take control of the 435-member chamber. A rebuke to Trump, winner says “In sweeping and decisive victories, the American people have rebuked the depravity, corruption and incompetence of the man named President Donald J. Trump,” incumbent Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff, the projected winner in Georgia, told supporters at a victory party. In Florida, Republican Senator Ashley Moody fended off Democrat Angie Nixon but was ahead by only about three percentage points in a state Trump carried by 13 points in 2024, according to a vote count compiled by Reuters and USA Today, further evidence that even solidly Republican states were shifting dramatically toward Democrats. Democrats held onto three House districts in Florida that Republican lawmakers had redrawn earlier this year, all of which backed Trump by at least nine percentage points, according to media projections. The fate of the House overall remained uncertain, with the majority of races still uncalled. Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, a former mayor of Atlanta, on Tuesday was elected governor of the state of Georgia, becoming the first Black woman elected to that office in the US, media projections showed. CNN and NBC News called the race in her favour. Bottoms defeated billionaire health care executive Rick Jackson, who ran as a Republican. Current Governor Brian Kemp is term-limited and could not run again. Midterm elections are typically viewed as a referendum on the president, and that is especially true for Trump, who dominates attention like no other politician. Trump himself told his supporters to “pretend I’m on the ballot” and held dozens of rallies in the closing weeks. According to exit polls conducted by SSRS on behalf of a consortium of US media outlets including major television networks and the Associated Press, half of voters nationwide said they saw the 2026 midterm elections as an opportunity to rebuke the president, and three-quarters said they are “angry” or “dissatisfied” with the way the country is headed. In addition, 70 per cent of voters surveyed said they want Congress to provide more checks and balances on the president. Democrats were favoured to win the House, while the Senate battle was unfolding across several closely contested states, as millions of Americans cast ballots in an election that served as a referendu