Democrats have won control of Congress after flipping Republican-held House and Senate seats in Texas, South Carolina, Iowa, Michigan and Kansas in the midterm elections.
asserted
Democrats → win → elections
The results are being seen as a major rebuke to US President Donald Trump’s Republicans, who were previously in control of both houses of Congress.
asserted
who → see → Congress
House Speaker Johnson rants about Marxism after Democrat gains
- list 3 of 3Democrat Troy Jackson wins Maine US Senate seat in blow to Republicans
All 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 of the Senate’s 100 seats were contested in Tuesday’s elections, including special elections in Florida and Ohio to fill the seats vacated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance.
asserted
seats → rant → Rubio
Voters in 36 states also elected governors, as well as state legislators and local officials.
asserted
Voters → elect → governors
Counting continued throughout Tuesday evening and night in the US.
asserted
Counting → continue → US
Results in some races may, however, not be known until Wednesday or later.
uncertain
Results → know → Wednesday
This is the biggest win for the Democrats since the 1990s
Democrats have won 228 seats in the House of Representatives so far, according to the Associated Press’s tally, and are leading in 34 others.
uncertain
Democrats → win → others
That means they could end up with in excess of 260 seats in the House, the party’s biggest strength since 1990, when the Democrats won 267 seats in the lower chamber.
uncertain
Democrats → mean → chamber
The Republicans held 220 seats in the House after the 2024 elections, while the Democrats had 215.
asserted
Democrats → hold → 215
In the Senate, the upper chamber of Congress, Democrats have won 54 seats and are leading in another, while the Republicans have won 44 seats and are leading in one.
asserted
Republicans → win → one
To control the Senate, a party needs 51 seats.
asserted
party → control → seats
In the 2024 midterm elections, the Republicans had a majority with 53 seats, while the Democrats won 47 seats.
asserted
Democrats → have → seats
The Democrats have not had such a clear majority in the Senate since 2008, when the party won 56 seats in the slipstream of Barack Obama’s historic first presidential election.
asserted
party → have → election
Amid governors leading in each state, Democrats now have 28 governors, while 20 governors are from the Republican Party.
asserted
governors → lead → Party
Races in two states currently remain uncalled.
asserted
Races → remain → states
Following the 2024 midterms, 27 governors of states were Republican while 23 governors were Democrats.
asserted
governors → follow → states
Not all seats have been called, and Democrats are projected to win more, but they have already flipped 25 seats in the House of Representatives from the Republicans – more than the 21 they took in 2008 when they last held the largest majority in Congress.
asserted
they → call → Congress
Several historic wins for Democrats
They include the following:
asserted
They → include → following
Trump loses both houses of Congress
This is the first time in 20 years that a Republican president has lost control of both houses of Congress, after George W Bush in 2006.
asserted
president → lose → 2006
But Trump’s losses are far deeper than Bush’s: In the 2006 midterms, the Republican strength in the House went down from 232 to 202, while the party’s numbers in the Senate fell from 55 to 49.
asserted
numbers → go → 49
This time though, the party is projected to fall short of 180 seats in the House, and is not expected to win more than 45 seats in the Senate.
asserted
party → project → Senate
In the House, in 18 of the 20 midterms held from 1946 to 2022, voters have taken House seats away from the party in power.
asserted
voters → hold → power
Only Bill Clinton’s Democrats in 1998 and George W Bush’s Republicans in 2002 bucked that trend by gaining seats or holding them all.
asserted
Democrats → buck → them
In the Senate, the governing party has lost seats in 13 of the 20 midterms since 1946 but lost overall control of the chamber in only six: 1946, 1954, 1986, 1994, 2006 and 2014.
asserted
party → govern → six
In the current midterms, while President Trump’s name was not on the ballot, he regularly urged voters to imagine that it was, and the results are seen as a verdict on his presidency.
asserted
results → urge → presidency
Michigan elects Senate’s first Muslim
Abdul El-Sayed, a former public health official, has defeated Mike Rogers for senator after a fierce Michigan battle, becoming the first Muslim ever elected to the US Senate.
President Trump has repeatedly targeted El-Sayed, even calling him a “jihadist”.
“He would be the only senator that will have to go through a metal detector before he’s allowed to go into the Senate,” Trump said during a campaign rally in Michigan.
asserted
Trump → elect → Michigan
In his victory speech, El-Sayed said: “America’s greatness is not about ignoring our flaws; it’s the courage that we have to correct them.
asserted
we → say → them
“We don’t need to be great again.
asserted
We → need → ?
We need to embrace that thing about us that has always made us great: the will to be more perfect,” he said.
asserted
he → need → us
“And right now that means taking on the corporations and the billionaires’ special interests who rigged the system against us,” El-Sayed said.
asserted
Sayed → mean → us
A record for Black women in the Senate
Democrat Juliana Stratton’s win in the Senate race in Illinois marks the first time in US history that three Black women will be in the Senate at the same time.
asserted
women → mark → time
Stratton will join Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and Senator Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, who were not up for re-election.
asserted
who → join → election
Meanwhile, among governors, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms has made history as the first Black woman elected governor in the US.
asserted
Bottoms → make → US
The former Atlanta mayor emerged victorious over her billionaire opponent, Republican Rick Jackson, who spent more than $200m of his personal fortune in an attempt to succeed popular outgoing Republican Governor Brian Kemp.
asserted
who → emerge → Kemp
First Native American state governor
Democrat Deb Haaland has made history as the first Native American woman elected governor of a US state, according to The Associated Press news agency’s projections.
uncertain
Haaland → make → projections
Haaland, a former US interior secretary and member of the Laguna Pueblo, defeated Republican Gregg Hull, a former mayor of Rio Rancho, to lead New Mexico.
asserted
Haaland → defeat → Mexico
First Democratic senator to serve in Kansas in 94 years
Democratic US Senate candidate Adam Hamilton has defeated Republican incumbent Roger Marshall in Kansas.
asserted
Hamilton → serve → Kansas
The highly competitive contest between Hamilton, a Methodist pastor, and Marshall stunned political observers given the state’s long history of Republican wins.
asserted
contest → stun → wins
A Democrat has not won a Senate seat in Kansas since 1932.
asserted
Democrat → win → 1932
“We’re always told to not talk about politics or religion but this is one time we’re trying to save our democracy.
asserted
we → tell → democracy
…and 52 more, not listed.
The Aporia
