Democrats usher in a new era with their resounding sweep of the House and the Senate

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats are riding their sweep of Congress into a new era, eager to meet voter demands for change with plans to tackle high costs of living and confront President Donald Trump's final years in the White House.

In a nationwide romp, Democrats ousted Republicans from coast to coast, with many surprising places in between, as voters rejected the president’s party for the promise of something different for the country. Their majorities will be padded by wide margins in both the House and the Senate.

The results set up a divided government, with Congress poised to reassert itself as a coequal branch ready to challenge Trump and reverse course after two years of unified GOP control.

“We hear you,” said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, who would make history as the first Black speaker of the House if his colleagues elect him to the job when the new Congress begins on Jan. 3, 2027.

“We're going to work hard to deliver on the dramatic change that you deserve,” he said.

The tally was decisive, at times bewildering, for the staggering scope of Democratic gains and the depth of Republican losses. The swelling margins underlined a deep sense of voter anger and concern over the economy and the state of democracy.

All told, the results present a fundamental reshaping of power in Washington, with new opportunities and challenges for governing.

Vice President JD Vance blamed war in Iran for Republican midterm losses.

Trump struck a conciliatory tone, suggesting he could work with the Democrats, but he also warned of gridlock ahead as he threatened to use the power of the presidential veto to strike down their agenda.

"I don't want to be just sitting there for two years vetoing everything," he told Politico.

House Speaker Mike Johnson will not seek reelection as House Republican leader following the Democrats' win, according to two people familiar with his plans who insisted on anonymity to disclose them.

House Democrats are promising a 100-day agenda starting with efforts to lower the costs of gas, groceries and other goods, as well as bills to reverse cuts to the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid healthcare programs. They're also ready to launch a robust oversight agenda to, as Jeffries says, “hold the crooks accountable.”

Impeachment — of the president or his Cabinet members — is an option.

The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Robert Garcia of California, issued a one-sentence warning: “Lawyer up.”

Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, issued his own one-word missive: "Subpoenas."

Democrats will be under pressure to quickly show that they have solutions for the high gas and grocery prices, the war in Iran and concerns about the direction of the country.

For Jeffries and his leadership team, it will be their first time in the majority, managing a class of newcomers including a handful of far-left democratic socialists.

With the majority in the 435-member House well past the 218 needed and the Senate Democrats holding at least 54 of 100 seats in that chamber, Jeffries and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer will have room to maneuver.

“Five words for the American people: Relief is on the way,” the New York senator said.

For Republicans, their shriveled numbers will create a reckoning of their own, as they try to figure out what went so uniformly wrong.

Johnson had quipped he may return to his Louisiana hometown of Shreveport to start a lawn care company if the Republicans lost power. Rivals seek to replace him.

Republicans may be anxious during the post-election lame-duck sprint to accomplish as much as possible in their remaining weeks in power. But hopes for another GOP-only priority package like their big tax breaks and spending cuts bill seem dim as defeated lawmakers prepare to go home at the end of the year.

Conservatives have also eyed the opportunity for Trump to nominate another justice to the Supreme Court while Senate Republicans still hold a majority. However, no current justice has announced any intent to step aside.

And the government could be headed toward a federal shutdown next month if Congress fails to pass a funding bill to keep operations running.

In the weeks ahead, the parties will hold internal leadership elections as members-elect arrive for freshman orientation at the Capitol.

The House will choose its speaker as one of the first votes when the new Congress convenes.

In a lengthy online post, the vice president seemingly sought to distance himself from election results seen as a referendum on Trump that featured big Republican losses across the country.

“The reason we lost is the war,” Vance wrote, adding, “If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest.”

Rarely has the president’s party held on to power during midterm elections, but the Democratic sweep carried echoes of Trump’s first term, when Republicans faced a voter revolt that sent Democrats to the House majority, and the Barack Obama era, when the Republican tea party swept to power.

This new Congress will also mark firsts and welcome trailblazers.

With the election of Democrat Julia Stratton of Illinois, the Senate will for the first time have three Black women in office.

Democrat Peggy Flanagan of Minnesota will be the first Native American female senator, Chris Pappas of New Hampshire will become the first openly gay male U.S. senator and Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan will be the first Muslim to serve in the U.S. Senate.

Associated Press writers Tom Beaumont, Joey Cappelletti, Jill Colvin, Kevin Freking, Mary Clare Jalonick and Will Weissert contributed to this report.

Follow the AP's coverage of the 2026 elections at https://apnews.com/hub/elections.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., looks on as President Donald Trump speaks with reporters, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, at Dubuque Regional Airport in Dubuque, Iowa, en route to a campaign rally. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Rep. Katherine Clark, D-Mass., the House minority whip, from left, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., hold hands during a watch party at a hotel on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee office, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., speaks during a watch party at a hotel on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., holds his handwritten speech at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee office, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

The sun rises behind the U.S. Capitol, as seen reflected in the U.S. Capitol Reflecting Pool, on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

Democrats have won control of Congress in Tuesday’s 2026 midterm elections in a widespread repudiation of President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, a drubbing that reached deep into reliable GOP territory.

Democrats flipped at least seven Senate seats in ruby-red states and battlegrounds alike: Kansas, which hasn’t elected a Democratic senator in nearly a century, Iowa, Texas, Ohio, Maine, North Carolina and South Carolina. They held on to battleground seats in Georgia and Michigan. In the House, Democrats flipped more than two dozen districts, some that voted for Trump by double digits in 2024.

Democrats Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia, Amy Acton in Ohio, Rob Sand in Iowa and Gina Hinojosa in Texas won races for governor, flipping GOP-held offices.

Trump faces a profoundly reshaped Washington for the last two years of his presidency. Democrats will have the power to block his legislative agenda, reject his appointees and investigate his administration.

After telling voters repeatedly to “pretend I’m on the ballot,” Trump tried to shift the blame away from himself, saying Democrats “did a good job” in their campaigns and blaming GOP candidates for losses. Most voters appear to blame his administration for high costs and want Congress to impose more checks on him, according to The AP Voter Poll.

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Talarico said Wednesday on CNN that he believes voters handed Democrats “one last chance to deliver for them.”

“They didn’t send us to Washington for political retribution,” he said in response to a question about whether the incoming Democratic-controlled Congress should impeach Trump administration officials. “They sent us to Washington to lower costs, to root out corruption, to get this economy back on track.”

The Associated Press has not called Colom’s race against Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith. But Colom said Wednesday that outstanding ballots will go his way.

“Unlike all the people across the country that might be surprised, our campaign, our volunteers, the people of Mississippi are not surprised,” he said. “We have already shown the country that Mississippi matters.”

Colom said his campaign has volunteers in every county to monitor the vote certification and help voters who cast affidavit ballots. Often, that involves voters who did not satisfy voter ID requirements. Colom said those voters have until Nov. 10 to visit local elections offices and present valid ID to have their ballot counted.

In the 2022 midterms, Mississippi had 7,612 affidavit ballots cast; 5,710 were counted.

Colom asked his team to help any provisional ballot voter who needs assistance.

“We will protect the integrity of this election,” he said.

State Sen. Cindy Holscher issued a statement Wednesday referring to herself as governor-elect and looking forward to working with term-limited Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly on the transition into office.

But her Republican opponent, Kansas Senate President Ty Masterson, had not conceded, and The Associated Press had not called the race.

A Holscher victory would be an upset after the Republican Governors Association poured $19 million into television and digital advertising in an attempt to flip the office back to the GOP, according to the ad-tracking firm AdImpact. Democrats have never held the Kansas governor’s office longer than Kelly’s eight-year tenure.

Democratic attorney and ex-police officer Chris Mann declared himself the next attorney general over Republican incumbent Kris Kobach even though the AP had not called that race either. The race was a rematch of their 2022 contest, which Kobach narrowly won.

Some world leaders who have sparred with Trump are expressing hope that Republicans’ rout in the midterms will herald a less combative U.S. foreign policy but caution that it might not end the conflict with Iran or boost U.S. support for Ukraine.

Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said the majority of Americans had sent a clear message that “they have had enough of MAGA and now want a different course,” referring to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.

Progressive politicians cast the results as part of a trend of liberal comebacks around the world.

Spain’s social democratic Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Americans had voted “Against hate. Against machismo. Against climate denialism and against the privileges of the elites.”

But others in Europe cautioned that, with Trump in power for two more years, there would be no quick change to American foreign policy.

Republican Byron Donalds, a staunch Trump ally, succeeds Ron DeSantis, who used the office to fan presidential ambitions and steer the nation’s third-most populous state further to the right.

“Over the next four years we’re going to take Florida to a whole new level,” Donalds said in his victory speech.

The race was a test of whether Trump’s unpopularity would extend to his backyard. Donalds balanced his support for Trump with efforts to create some distance, including minimizing references to the president on his website.

“Mr. President, I want you to hear from Florida that we are still red,” Donalds said. “Thank you for your support and thank you for being in my corner.”

Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff’s reelection has made him a national star for Democrats looking to stymie Trump’s final White House years.

A top Republican target and the only Senate Democrat seeking reelection in a state Trump carried in 2024, Ossoff became a staple of social media feeds as he raised more than $100 million, sparking speculation that he could run for the presidency in 2028.

“The American people have rebuked the depravity, corruption and incompetence of the failed lame duck president, Donald J. Trump,” Ossoff said. He added: “Together, we’ve affirmed that our task is not just to contain one president’s wickedness, but to heal the brokenness beneath.”

Democrat Kristina Knickerbocker has declared victory in her challenge to 12-term Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Turner of southwest Ohio.

The 35-year-old nurse practitioner delivered her remarks to supporters early Wednesday in the tight contest, whose result has not yet been called by The Associated Press. Turner has not conceded.

Knickerbocker said Tuesday’s election results represented everyday people standing up to the status quo in Washington.

“As an Air Force veteran and a mom of two young kids, I was so tired of watching families suffer needlessly because policies were built to hurt them, not protect them,” she said, adding she wants to see Ohio families “thrive, not just survive.”

Scalise will seek the leadership post after Speaker Johnson decided not to stay on as leader after Democrats trounced the GOP.

That’s according to a person familiar with Scalise’s thinking who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private plans.

Scalise, who represents Louisiana, is currently the House Majority Leader and is likely to face rival Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, who is also eyeing the leadership position.

Republicans are expected to hold their internal party elections next week.

Asked if he’d support Schumer to continue as leader in the new Congress, Van Hollen said Democrats needed to have a “full, open and honest discussion” about “where we want to take the party.”

“Whoever runs for leader should be able to lay out a clear vision about how we’re going to use this power for good,” the second-term Maryland senator told the AP in a telephone interview Wednesday.

Van Hollen has become a prominent voice among progressives, and he endorsed candidates in Democratic primaries over Schumer’s preferred picks.

He has talked about running for president and told AP that he was still “very actively kicking the tires on 2028.”

Sen.-elect James Talarico invoked a Biblical reference to describe how Democrats overcame money and other challenges to win in Texas.

“David wasn’t as big or as strong as Goliath, he didn’t have as many weapons, but he had hope, he had faith, and he had a slingshot,” he told a crowd of supporters in Austin. “The people of Texas were my slingshot. And tonight we defeated Goliath.”

“We just took back Texas. We just proved that all the money in the world is no match for the people of Texas. We just showed that a politics of division is no match for a politics of love,” he added.

In a lengthy online post, the vice president seemingly sought to distance himself from election results seen as a referendum on Trump that featured big Republican losses across the country.

“The reason we lost is the war,” Vance wrote, adding, “If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest.”

Speaking on CNN Wednesday, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand — who has chaired Democrats’ Senate campaign arm for the midterms — expressed confidence that her party would work with Republicans to put an end to Trump-backed efforts like the war in Iran, which she called “unnecessary, unauthorized, unwanted.”

Asked how Democrats would turn back the president’s efforts without a veto-proof majority in the Senate, Gillibrand called Democratic efforts to clamp down on tariffs and improve elevated costs she traced to the war “common sense, arguably bipartisan ideas.”

Voters, she added, showed they are “fed up” by supporting Democratic candidates in states where Republicans had long held Senate seats, including Texas, Iowa and South Carolina.

Gillibrand said she “certainly” would back fellow New York Sen. Chuck Schumer as her party’s leader in the chamber.

Democrat Cindy Holscher has a lead of less than a percentage point over Republican Ty Masterson in the Kansas governor’s race.

Holscher’s 5,557-vote lead, with an estimated 98% of votes counted, comes after Democrat Adam Hamilton became the first member of his party to win a Senate seat in nearly a century.

Both Holscher and Masterson serve in the state Senate, where the latter serves as its president.

The Associated Press will only declare a winner when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow the trailing candidate to close the gap.

Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins has a 20-percentage-point lead over Republican Bernadette Wilson in Alaska’s governor’s race.

Kreiss-Tomkins’ share of the vote is 49.2% with an estimated 74% of ballots counted.

Under Alaska’s ranked choice voting system, the election advances to another round if no candidate gets more than 50% of the votes.

Troy Jackson, 58, a fifth-generation logger and former state Senate president, had a little more than 100 days to sell himself to Maine voters after he replaced Graham Platner as the party’s nominee in July.

“We had a party to unite, a movement to build and a senator to defeat,” Jackson said in his victory speech. “This morning, the people of Maine have elected that logger to the United States Senate.”

Democrat Mary Peltola has a 626-vote lead over Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan in Alaska.

The Associated Press has not called the contest yet. If neither candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, then it will go to ranked choice voting under Alaska law.

Peltola’s share of the votes stood at 48.2% compared with 47.9% for Sullivan, with an estimated 74% of ballots counted.

The AP does not make projections and will only declare a winner when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow the trailing candidate to close the gap.

In his victory speech in Michigan’s Senate race, Abdul El-Sayed used the middle name Trump often invoked while telling voters they should fear the progressive Democrat.

“My name is Abdulrahman Mohamed Sayed, and I am so proud and honored to stand here as your senator-elect from the great state of Michigan,” he said.

Ron DeSantis, the outgoing Republican governor of Florida, said his state demonstrated how the GOP can win in a tough political environment.

“People can look at Florida and show how you can deliver big results and how you can build a durable coalition,” he said.

The state avoided the brunt of Democratic victories, electing Republicans to the governor’s office and U.S. Senate. But DeSantis, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, was clear about the party’s struggles nationally.

“It’s going to take time to dig out of the hole that was there,” he said.

DeSantis, a former congressman, added, “You’re going to see a lot more conflict between the Congress and the executive.”

He said the chances of a Democratic Congress approving Trump’s nominations to the Supreme Court or Cabinet agencies were “zero.”

Mississippi’s contest is one of two Senate races in which the outcome is still unclear.

Democratic candidate Scott Colom leads Republican incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by 43 votes with an estimated 96% of votes counted.

The Associated Press has not declared a winner in the race yet.

The AP does not make projections and will only declare a winner when it’s determined there is no scenario that would allow the trailing candidate to close the gap.

Mississippi does not have an automatic recount process, but a challenger can seek a court order for one.

The Associated Press has also not called Alaska’s Senate contest between incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan and Democrat Mary Peltola.

Speaking in Italian, Pope Leo XIV told hundreds of faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square that “the political community exists for the sake of the common good.”

“The exercise of political authority must always be directed towards the common good, which must be structured and operate according to local and historical circumstances, but always with the good of the entire human family at heart,” said Leo, the first pope to vote in a U.S. election.

“Oh man, wow, wow, wow,” the Senate minority leader said in his victory speech. “Against all odds, we Democrats have won the Senate!”

Schumer said Democrats recruited great candidates who focused their campaigns on costs, chaos and corruption, while Republicans embraced “the worst president ever.”

“Republicans made a choice and followed Trump over the cliff,” Schumer said. “We listened, they didn’t. And the American people reduced the red brick wall to a pile of bricks.”

Schumer closed with a warning to his own party: “Americans voted for change and now, Democrats must deliver.”

Methodist megachurch pastor Adam Hamilton’s defeat of Republican Sen. Roger Marshall is the first Democratic Senate win in Kansas since 1932.

“It’s pretty exciting to make history … but to me it’s really more a statement of what’s wrong,” Hamilton said. “Kansans voted overwhelmingly to say this is not OK.”

“I think the people in Kansas, Republicans and Democrats, are saying that what’s happening in Washington is not OK,” Hamilton said. “Kansans are also fed up with the way politicians divide us.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson will not seek election as House Republican leader following the Democrats’ win. That’s according to a person who spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose the plans.

Democrats are riding their sweep of Congress into a new era. They’re eager to meet voter demands for change with plans to tackle high costs of living and confront President Donald Trump’s final years in the White House.

The results of Tuesday’s midterm elections set up a moment of divided government. Democrats ousted Republicans from coast to coast and in many surprising places in between. Voters rejected the president’s party for the promise of something different.

Democrats increased their support with moderate voters, particularly in key Senate races where Democrats flipped Republican-held seats.

Roughly two-thirds of moderates supported the Democratic candidate in their local U.S. House race, an uptick from the approximately 6 in 10 moderate voters who backed Harris.

A large majority of moderate voters, about 8 in 10, said Congress was not doing enough to provide checks and balances on the presidency, and a similarly high share said they had experienced at least a “moderate” hardship in the past year because of inflation.

Many Democratic candidates benefited from significant moderate support. In Kansas, Democrat Adam Hamilton won about 7 in 10 moderate voters, a substantial rise from the roughly half that Harris won in 2024. There was a similar pattern in Iowa as Democrat Josh Turek won about two-thirds of moderates, up from about half for Harris.

Supporters cheer as Democratic gubernatorial candidate Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford speaks at an election night event Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Guests attend an election night event for Republican Senate candidate Mike Collins, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)

Supporters check a phone at an election night event for Republican gubernatorial candidate Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, in Hollywood, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

A supporter of Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Crowley touches an "I voted" sticker at an election night event Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Jerry Lorimer votes at the Kanwaka township hall Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, near Lawrence, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)