Trump goes meekly as Democrats take Senate and House

Some key US Senate races haven’t yet been called, but as of late Tuesday, Democrats have flipped enough seats to secure majorities in both chambers of Congress—a clear rejection of President Donald Trump’s Republican Party by voters across the country. The decisive wins in the US Senate, according to various decision desks, were by Josh Turek in Iowa, Roy Cooper in North Carolina, Annie Andrews in South Carolina, Adam Hamilton in Kansas, Troy Jackson in Maine, Sherrod Brown in Ohio, and James Talarico in Texas. So far, Democrats have not lost any Senate seats they currently hold. As of press time, Democrats are projected to control enough seats to not need support from Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who continues to buck his party on issues including war. Watching the calls come in one after another, MS NOW anchor Chris Hayes said the results were not “just an eke out” win with an “11,000-vote margin or a 20,000-vote margin” in the races that Democrats are winning. “This is a total shellacking,” he said, specifically referring to the Senate and governor races in Texas, but also in the context of the other races called. Texas, Hayes said, “has been run as a one-party state for a generation—for 30 years,” and now “Talarico may win the [seat] by seven or eight points when all is said and done. It’s not even close. They’re getting their clocks cleaned.” From the Lone Star State, Talarico declared that “we just took back Texas,” and “we just sent a message to every billionaire megadonor… In this state, in this country, power belongs to the people.” Earlier in the night, after decision desks determined that Democrats had won enough seats to control the House of Representatives, Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Greg Casar (D-Texas) said that “working people came together to change the course of American history. From coast to coast, Americans are demanding a country that works for all of us, not just corrupt politicians and billionaires.” After his party picked up the necessary number of seats to also control the Senate, Casar said, “Abolish the filibuster.” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who’s expected to chair the Senate Finance Committee, identified another priority: “Subpoenas.” Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) similarly said that “they are going to need to plant new forests for all of the subpoenas we’ll be printing.” The looming majorities give Democrats critical opportunities not only to thwart Trump’s legislative agenda for the latter half of his second term, but also to exercise oversight of him and his administration—and could even lead to a historic third impeachment of the president. As Trump often does, he took to his Truth Social platform late Tuesday. The president—who faces historically low approval ratings as his policies, including an illegal war on Iran, fuel a nationwide affordability crisis—wrote that “I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!” While there have been serious fears that Trump would not accept a Democratic tsunami, given his refusal to concede after losing in 2020, The New York Times spoke with him by phone shortly before 10:30 pm Eastern Time. Despite his hallmark hostility toward elected Democrats, he said: “We’ll, you know, look forward to working with them… We’ll probably work something out.” Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee chair, Ken Martin, pledged the kind of accountability Democrats campaigned on when his party officially reclaims both chambers. “Thanks to Democrats going on offense throughout the country, we have held Republicans accountable for their harmful policies, elected real champions for working families, and flipped control of the US Senate,” Martin said. “Congratulations to our incredible candidates, our hardworking state Democratic parties, and all of the organizers who put in the work to protect our incumbents, flip seats from red to blue, and put Republicans on defense while expanding the map.” “With Democrats back in the Senate majority,” he added, “we will fight to lower the cost of groceries and gas, expand access to healthcare, make housing and childcare more affordable, stand up for workers, end Republicans’ costly war with Iran and their reckless tariffs, put a check on Trump’s corruption, and invest in communities across America.” – Common Dreams