Senate flips blue in staggering rebuke of Trump presidency

The historic midterms saw Democratic victories in states long considered out of reach, including Texas, Kansas and South Carolina.(CN) — The Democratic Party shellacked Republicans across the country to win the Senate on Tuesday, picking up seven seats as of Wednesday morning with two more races — Alaska and Mississippi — still too close to call.The midterms were already expected to be a slam dunk for Democrats amid President Donald Trump’s floundering poll numbers. But blue candidates outperformed even the most bullish of expectations on Election Day in what turned out to be a stunning referendum on the Trump administration.In a marquee Texas contest — the most expensive Senate race in United States history — James Talarico defeated Ken Paxton to become the first Democratic senator elected in the Lone Star State since 1988.It was a major rebuke of Trump’s hand-picked candidate in Paxton, who entered the race marred by a history of scandals including accusations of fraud and bribery and admitted instances of adultery. He still ran neck-and-neck with Talarico in most polling before Tuesday. But Talarico, a state representative for the Austin area, beat Paxton, the state attorney general, by more than 1 million votes in a long-awaited victory for Texas Democrats.“Pollsters, while they got the direction of travel right, were very conservative in their polling,” said Mark Shanahan, a U.S. politics professor at the University of Surrey in England. “They were reluctant to show just how wide these races were going to be.”More history was made in Michigan, where Democrat Abdul El-Sayed became the first Muslim candidate elected to the upper chamber of Congress. El-Sayed, previously a top Detroit health official, beat out Trump loyalist Mike Rogers, who previously served in the House of Representatives.Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed speaks at an election night event, early Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, in Detroit, as his wife Sarah Jukaku watches. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)El-Sayed’s success vindicated the left, offering a road map for progressives to win in toss-up states. The 42-year-old is a defiant advocate for single-payer healthcare and has repeatedly criticized Israel’s violence against Palestinians.He faced unexpected adversity days before the election after his primary opponent, U.S. Representative Haley Stevens, abruptly pulled her support and endorsed Rogers instead. The move may have backfired — El-Sayed raised $2.4 million in the day that followed, while Stevens’ political future took a hit when top Democrats denounced her about-face.“It was a dangerous play,” John Cluverius, political science professor and pollster at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, told Courthouse News. “It does not show a lot of political savvy.”In Maine, Democrat Troy Jackson overcame a late entry to the race — replacing a scandal-ridden Graham Platner — to unseat longtime incumbent Republican Susan Collins, who was one of the GOP’s strongest candidates this cycle, according to Shanahan.“She has a huge local cachet,” he said. “But the national picture was just so bad that even Collins, with all of her guile as a local operative, could not carry that state.”Democrats picked up more key Senate victories in races they were expected to win. In North Carolina, former Governor Roy Cooper, who has never lost a statewide race, kept his streak alive by beating former RNC leader Michael Whatley. And in Georgia, incumbent Senator Jon Ossoff, who has emerged as a dark horse Democratic presidential candidate for 2028, held onto his seat amid a challenge from MAGA-aligned House member Mike Collins.But a number of surprising states went the Democrats’ way, too. They picked up seats in Iowa, South Carolina and Kansas — three states that went for Trump in each of the last three presidential elections. The Kansas win by Methodist minister Adam Hamilton was historic; a Democrat hasn’t won a Senate seat there in 94 years.The results are a testament to Americans’ growing dissatisfaction with the Trump administration amid high fuel prices, controversial immigration enforcement tactics and an unpopular war with Iran.“One electorate’s voters took it more seriously than the other,” Cluveris said. “We’ve seen record Black participation in early voting across the South. We’ve seen a huge swing among Latino voters … all across the country.”Trump denied the notion that the results were a referendum on him or his administration’s policies.“I wasn’t on the ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!” he posted on social media Tuesday night.The president has started embracing a new moniker, “Mr. Veto,” in anticipation of the Democrats’ strong showing. But he also struck a conciliatory tone Tuesday night, pledging to accept the results and work with new members of Congress.Still, Shanahan said the so-called blue tsunami is a wakeup call for Republicans, who can no longer safely hitch their wagon to Trump.“We are way past peak Trump now,” he said. “I think what we will see increasingly, and it started last night, is the emergence of post-Trump Republicanism, because they cannot do the same again.”Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads