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Democrats win majorities in both chambers of Congress

The expected outcome of the US midterms limits Trump's room to implement his agenda.

Follow-up to: Democrats gain Senate seats, majority still uncertain Wednesday, 4 November 2026, 05:16

The Democratic Party is set to take control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, according to US media. The Republicans will therefore lose their majority in Congress halfway through President Donald Trump's second term in office.

CBS News projects that the Democrats have won enough seats to take over the House. According to CBS, the Republicans had held a narrow majority there since 2023; before the election they had 218 seats, along with an independent representative who votes with them, compared with 214 Democrats and two vacancies. The final size of the new majority is not yet known because votes are still being counted in some districts.

CBS is also projecting a change of power in the Senate. The Democrats won several Republican seats, including in Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Kansas and Iowa, and held on to seats in Georgia and New Hampshire. The party needed four seats to overturn the Republican majority of 53 to 47; the final size of the new majority has not yet been established.

The consequences go beyond a different distribution of seats. In the Senate, the majority can decide which bills come to a vote and block presidential appointments. In the House, the opposition also gains broad opportunities for hearings and investigations into the government's policies and functioning. This will make it much harder for Trump's legislative agenda to pass new laws through Congress without Democratic support.

The result is seen in initial analyses as a reckoning with the president, but that is not the same as a referendum with a single cause. CBS reports that affordability was an important issue for voters and that the war with Iran and higher fuel prices influenced the campaign. CBS also describes Republican losses in states that had still clearly backed Trump in the previous presidential election.

Trump congratulated the Democrats on their election victory, according to CBS, and said he wanted to work with them. At the same time, he said that the Republicans would have won if he himself had been on the ballot. Axios had earlier reported that Trump also said he was prepared to accept the result. Those statements reflect his initial reaction, but say nothing yet about future cooperation with the new Congress.

The new balance of power will formally take effect when the new Congress convenes. Until then, the current composition remains in force. The first major political question is whether the Democrats will use their majority for legislation, oversight of the government or both; in the meantime, the Republican president retains his veto and executive powers.

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