The midterm election blowout has set up a new era in Washington, with Democrats eager to meet voter demands for change as Republicans majorities evaporated in a revolt against President Donald Trump’s policies. The Democrats' triumph included some surprise upsets in a decisive rejection of unified GOP control of the House and Senate. See the full election results.
Trump acknowledged the Iran war's impact, suggesting voters were frustrated as gas prices
surged. “The Iran thing we had to do, and we continue to do it,” Trump told reporters. He struck a conciliatory tone in suggesting he could work with the Democrats, only to threaten his veto power to strike down their agenda.
The fallout for Republicans is only beginning. Vice President JD Vance, a 2028 presidential contender, blamed the war in Iran for Republicans’ midterm wipeout. Mike Johnson will not seek reelection as House speaker, but his No. 2 Steve Scalise wants the GOP leadership job, sources say. And Trump suggested Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth could make a good senator from Tennessee.
Democrats, meanwhile, are ready to launch a 100-day agenda to lower the costs of gas, groceries and healthcare and conduct vast oversight and investigations of Trump and his administration, with impeachment an option.
Here's the latest:
And then there was one.
Come January, Sen. Lisa Murkowski will be the last Republican in Congress who supported impeaching Trump during his first term.
It comes after Rep. David Valadao of California lost to Democrat Randy Villegas. Valadao had been a GOP survivor, defying the odds to win a series of tough races. But he couldn’t overcome Villegas and the overwhelming repudiation of Trump that voters delivered this week.
Ten House Republicans, including Valadao, voted to impeach Trump following the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021. Seven GOP senators voted to convict him, and of the five who remain, all but Murkowski will be leaving Congress in January.
Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana lost his GOP primary earlier this year after being targeted by Trump. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine lost the general election last night. And in the House, Rep. Dan Newhouse of Washington is retiring.
The steel beam for Trump’s ballroom was topped with a small evergreen tree before it was hoisted into place on the roof.
The tree is part of a longstanding tradition in construction known as a “topping out,” and it derives from an ancient practice meant to symbolize growth and bring good luck.
When asked about it, Trump told reporters who were brought out to witness the ceremony that “it’s a thing that they do.” He said someone would retrieve the tree later on.
Trump defended the speech he delivered on the eve of Election Day in which he spent several minutes talking about completing renovations of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, a project that has been marred by algae blooms and a peeling liner.
He was asked by a reporter whether he regretted focusing on the monument in his final pitch to voters as polls showed they were primarily thinking about pocketbook issues. Instead, he went into detail about the project, touching on its plumbing and the paint color.
“I heard it was a very good speech, got great reviews,” he said to reporters during a tour of the new White House ballroom.
Two GOP lawmakers, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan and current House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, have announced their intentions to run for Republican House minority leader.
The president, who has wielded significant influence in past House leadership contests, said he has no plans to get involved this time around.
“We’ll stay out of it,” Trump said, answering reporters’ questions at the White House.
He said Speaker Johnson was “fantastic” and said he did not ask him to step down as the leader of House Republicans.
“The people under him were fantastic, all good people,” Trump said.
Much of the post-midterms speculation about potential Cabinet shuffles has centered on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, a key architect of Trump’s unpopular war with Iran who is already shaping up to be a top target of congressional Democrats.
Trump told reporters on Wednesday that he is not considering replacing Hegseth, saying “I think he’s doing a very good job.”
Hegseth has also been talked about as a potential appointed senator in Tennessee, where incumbent Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a Republican, won the governor’s race on Tuesday and could pick her interim successor.
“I actually think he’d be very popular if he did that,” Trump said of Hegseth potentially filling Blackburn’s seat.
Hegseth moved to Tennessee with his family in 2022, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel.
After adding his signature to the ballroom beam, Trump paused to admire the project.
“You can land anything on top of that roof,” he said, “but it will be all drones.”
As part of his legal justification, Trump said the ballroom is needed so the U.S. military can host a drone port on the roof.
He has previously shared AI-generated images depicting armed drones and troops atop the roof. Experts say it would be impractical to keep attack drones there. Plus, on a nearby rooftop, the U.S. Secret Service already commands a drone port used for security surveillance.
The president was asked about the vice president’s comments Wednesday that the Iran war was to blame for deep GOP losses and said, “I think it’s largely true because it drove the gasoline up a little bit, short term.”
Trump, speaking to reporters as he was showing off the construction of the White House ballroom he ordered, defended the conflict.
“The Iran thing, we had to do and we continue to do it,” Trump said.
Standing in front of a large white beam bearing dozens of signatures inked in red and black, Trump said his autograph would add the final flourish.
He added a giant signature in black Sharpie marker between two gold seals and then wrote “Love!” above it.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum signed after Trump.
“Everybody in the room signed it,” Trump told reporters before he signed the beam. “All of the workers, not just the steel workers, the plumbers, electricians, the painters, everybody signed it. And I’m going to be the last to sign it.”
A contractor who spoke alongside Trump said the beam will be the final one raised for the project.
Miller lost to Democrat Brian Poindexter, a union ironworker and councilman, after remaining in a race that both Ohio’s Republican U.S. senators, one his former father-in-law, Bernie Moreno, had urged him to exit. Allegations of domestic abuse marred his campaign.
“I am disappointed at this evening’s election results,” he posted on X late Tuesday. “I have fought earnestly to continue to represent the interests of my home and community in the Ohio 7th District.”
Moreno’s daughter, Emily, is among several women who had accused Miller of physical abuse. Miller has denied the abuse allegations.
Trump stuck by Miller, a top adviser in his first White House, up through Election Day with a final endorsement on X.
He'll represent California’s 22nd Congressional District, defeating Republican incumbent David Valadao.
Villegas is a progressive who was endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders. He overcame concerns among some Democrats that he would be seen as too liberal for the district in California’s Central Valley. In the primary, national Democrats backed a rival with ties to the party establishment. The Associated Press declared Villegas the winner at 1:17 p.m. EST on Wednesday.
Nancy Lacore is running as a Democrat to replace Republican U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, who lost a bid for South Carolina governor.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth never gave a public reason why he fired Lacore, a three-star Navy vice admiral, along with about two dozen other high-ranking military leaders in August 2025. But it spurred Lacore to move to Charleston and run for office.
“That was my goal the whole time, right? When I, when I launched this campaign, I said I’m not done serving, and that’s really what I want to do,” Lacore told reporters Wednesday.
She declared victory over Republican Jenny Costa Honeycutt in the coastal 1st District around Charleston and Hilton Head Island. The Associated Press hasn’t called the race.
As Trump gave reporters a tour of the partially completed White House ballroom, he rattled off other projects he’s undertaken in Washington since returning to the presidency.
He talked about his hope to renovate a public course not far from the White House and plans for a massive triumphal arch. Litigation has slowed both projects.
Trump also again boasted of reopening the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, one of the main subjects of his final address to voters at the landmark on Monday.
Democrat Sean McCann won election Wednesday to the U.S. House of Representatives representing Michigan’s 4th Congressional District, defeating Republican incumbent Bill Huizenga.
McCann, a state senator who pitched himself as a bipartisan problem-solver for the southwest Michigan district, blocked Huizenga from winning a ninth term in the House. Huizenga consulted with Trump before deciding not to run for the open U.S. Senate seat this year.
The Associated Press declared McCann the winner at 1:13 p.m. EST.
Maj. Gen. Mohsen Rezaei portrayed the outcome of the U.S. midterm elections as a defeat for Trump.
“The Iranian nation handed Trump a strategic defeat on the battlefield and in the Hormuz — and a POLITICAL DEFEAT in Washington,” the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council wrote on X.
“Anyone who takes on Iran will pay the price — from the battlefield to their own doorstep,” Rezaei added.
Democrats made major gains in the elections, with Americans frustrated about the Iran war and the resulting impact on the economy and their cost of living.
Fresh on the heels of Democrats’ resounding victories in the midterm elections, the New Jersey senator presumed to be part of his party’s 2028 presidential hopeful field is headed to the state that holds the nation’s first primary in that contest.
Booker is slated to headline the Sumter Branch NAACP Freedom Fund Dinner on Friday in Sumter, South Carolina.
Booker and a slew of other Democrats likely to seek their party’s presidential nomination in two years have already been making swings through the state, appearing with midterm candidates and also aiming to forge inroads with the electorate set to cast the first votes for the White House.
Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez won election Wednesday to the U.S. House of Representatives representing Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, defeating Republican John Braun.
Gluesenkamp Perez, who owns an auto repair shop, won for the third time in a district that has traditionally leaned to the right. She has warned her fellow Democrats that they’re losing touch with working-class voters and has occasionally drawn ire from the left for bucking party leaders.
Braun owns a company that makes ambulances and other emergency response vehicles. He also serves as minority leader in the state Senate.
The Associated Press declared Gluesenkamp Perez the winner at 1:04 p.m. EST.
Democratic incumbent Adam Gray won election Wednesday to the U.S. House of Representatives representing California’s 13th Congressional District, defeating Republican Kevin Lincoln.
Gray, a moderate Democrat who won his first House term by just 187 votes in 2024, secured a second term. The 13th District has been a perennial battleground but became more favorable to Democrats under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s redistricting plan last year intended to help his party’s electoral chances. Lincoln is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and former mayor of Stockton.
The Associated Press declared Gray the winner at 1:03 p.m. EST.
Lombardo called Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford on Wednesday morning and congratulated him on his victory, the governor said in a statement.
“Whether you cast your vote for me or Attorney General Ford, we are all Nevadans, and our shared future is far more important than the differences of any one election. The campaign is behind us, and now is the time to come together,” Lombardo said.
The Republican governor and former sheriff lost his reelection bid alongside other Republicans on the ballot in Nevada.
Ford, who will be the state’s first Black governor, campaigned on affordability and his work fighting against the Trump administration.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries says the midterm election results are a “stunning rebuke of MAGA extremism.”
“It wasn’t simply a blue wave. It was an American tsunami,” he said during a celebratory news conference.
Jeffries projected that Democrats would win at least 255 House seats, and cited the party’s gains in gubernatorial races and the Senate.
“It was a great victory for the American people,” Jeffries said.
Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, who will inherit the gavel of the Senate Finance Committee in January, said Wednesday that one of the panel’s priorities will be looking at how the Treasury Department and the IRS have been administered under Trump.
The Trump administration has been accused of using the IRS for political means, particularly for its immigration policies. There was also a Justice Department order that the IRS would be “forever barred and precluded” from investigating or auditing the tax filings of Trump, his family, and his businesses.
In a statement, Wyden said the White House and its business allies “will be forced to answer to the Senate Finance Committee for their role in hurting the American people and enabling Trump’s corruption.”
The party took control of several legislatures and shifted the balance of power across battleground and historically Republican-leaning states.
Democrats took full control in Minnesota and Wisconsin and could pick up more states to earn additional trifectas. That means having both statehouse chambers and the governor’s office.
The wins put pressure on the party to answer to an electorate angry over gas prices, affordable housing and the rising cost of living overall. State governments shape a wide array of policies affecting everyday lives. That includes tax rates and abortion rights, school choice and education funding, and data center development.
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U.S. Rep. Kat Cammack said it’s time for the Republican Party to have a “family discussion and a frank one at that” following its election “wipeout.”
Asked about the House Republican leadership, the Florida Republican told Fox News, “Last night was a referendum on all of the leadership in Washington. For anyone who is looking for my support, I want to see a game plan because the same tired playbook is not going to work.”
She said the party will be “missing the bigger picture” if it only focuses on the 2028 elections, including for president.
“We need to be prepared for the next 10, 15, 20, 50 years, and the same tactics are not going to do it. … It’s clear (voters) weren’t happy with our performance,” she said.
Democrat Christina Hines won election Wednesday to the U.S. House of Representatives representing Michigan’s 10th Congressional District, defeating Republican Michael Bouchard.
Hines hails from Macomb County in the battleground district. A prosecutor, she has criticized the Democratic Party’s left wing, refusing to back candidates who belong to the Democratic Socialists of America.
Bouchard is an Army veteran and the son of a longtime Oakland County sheriff, who hoped to succeed Republican John James, who left the seat to run for governor. The Associated Press declared Hines the winner at 12:26 p.m. EST.
Schumer told reporters Wednesday that “I’ll be reelected as majority leader” after resounding Democratic wins in Tuesday’s elections.
Schumer has faced criticism from many in the left wing of his party who say it is time for generational change at the top, and several Democrats who were elected would not commit to supporting him.
No senators have stepped up to challenge him in the closed-door leadership race, which is expected to happen in the coming weeks.
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.
