Voting has concluded, the votes have been counted, and the Democratic Party has secured a majority in both chambers of Congress. After their decisive defeat in November 2024, this outcome signals strong hope for the Democrats ahead of the 2028 elections. Democrats have won 18 seats in the Senate and 252 seats in the House of Representatives; in contrast, Republicans appeared to have won 13 seats in the Senate and 166 seats in the House of Representatives. Vote counting is still underway for two Senate seats in Alaska and Mississippi; 97% of the votes have been counted, and the Democratic Party candidate is leading in both states. With these two additions, it appears that the Democratic Party will have won 20 seats.
Polls conducted before the midterm elections indicated that there were seven battleground states that would be decisive in determining the balance of power in the Senate. To better understand last night’s victory, let’s take a look at the initial results in those states.
The state of Texas was a huge loss without a doubt for the Republicans. Democratic Party’s candidate Talarico won against four-time incumbent Paxton. Polls were indicating a narrow victory for Talarico, but, surprisingly, Talarico is ahead by 12 points. Kansas is another surprising outcome. Democratic Party’s Hamilton leads by 5 points, ahead of the Republican incumbent Marshall. Hamilton would be the first Democratic senator Kansans have elected since 1939. In Iowa, the most recent polls showed the Democratic Party’s Turek is ahead of the Republicans’ Hinson by 1 point. Results, however, show Turek is ahead of Hinson by almost 5 points.
One of the most contentious election races took place in the state of Michigan. Polls conducted before the election showed Democratic candidate El-Sayed leading Republican candidate Rogers. However, that was not the main point of contention. With just a few days prior to the midterm elections, the Democratic Party’s Congresswoman Haley Stevens announced that she would endorse Republican candidate Rogers; at the same time, she accused El-Sayed of antisemitism during his campaign. This situation caused significant turmoil within the Democratic Party. While many condemned Stevens’s endorsement, others supported her. Despite her endorsement of the Republican candidate, however, El-Sayed won the seat. In Ohio, Brown of the Democratic Party is leading Husted of the Republican Party by 5 points. In Maine, the Democratic Party’s Jackson is ahead by almost 8 points, ahead of the Republican Party’s incumbent. In Alaska, with 75% of the votes counted, Sullivan of the Republican Party is leading incumbent Democratic candidate Peltola by a narrow margin of 1.2 points. The race is still ongoing and quite close.
The seven tossups were already expected to be a close call. However, in a totally unexpected development in Mississippi, with more than 95% of the votes counted, the Republican and Democratic candidates appear to be splitting the vote almost evenly. It’s a very close race. Before the election, polls showed the Republican candidate leading by 5 points. At the moment, the two candidates are virtually tied in the polls.
In the House of Representatives, where every seat was hotly contested, the Democratic Party appears to have secured a majority, as polls had predicted. Given these results, it is almost certain that it will be a divided government in the U.S. The Democratic Party now has a strong platform from which to challenge President Trump. The party holds a majority in the Senate and retains the authority to set the legislative agenda. New York Times states that Mr. Trump was “absolutely willing to accept those results”, and is preparing to work with Democrats.
Meanwhile, Carlson Tucker is sharing a rumor claiming that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is pressuring President Trump to launch a nuclear attack on Iran and has set November 5 as the deadline. Given these developments—and considering that Trump is now a “lame duck” and this is the final stretch of his term—his foreign policy could become much more aggressive. There are precedents for such situations: George W. Bush and Barack Obama both increased troop levels in Iraq after losing their respective midterm elections. Ronald Reagan also launched “Operation Praying Mantis” against Iran immediately after his party lost its Senate majority in the November 1986 midterm elections.
At the same time, President Trump is well aware of how much all these developments involving Iran have damaged his presidency. On election day, he announced that the U.S. would no longer support Israel in its war against Iran and would not continue financial aid as of the end of 2026. However, this was not enough to stop the “blue wave” that everyone had been expecting. Last night’s stunning victory by the Democratic Party, which some call a “blue tsunami”, clearly shows how the American people want the final two years of Donald Trump’s term to unfold. After all, Trump—who took office under the “America First” motto—seemed to have forgotten his own motto by imposing an economic burden on the American people through his foreign policy decisions, particularly the war with Iran and the tariff wars he launched in the Western Hemisphere and with Europe. He cannot run for the 2028 election due to constitutional limitations. Now that his party lost control of both houses, it is highly unlikely that Congress will make an amendment allowing a third term. For the sake of his party’s 2028 bid, therefore, he needs to change his policies drastically.
In the final two years of Trump 2.0, a tough tug of war will seem to prevail as President Trump seems to prepare to war in office. The other day, he announced that he would be a “Mr. Veto” for Democratic lawmakers. Then, he appointed a very tough chief of staff in White House, Stephen Miller. The problem is, however, he does not conceive how he and his party lost the midterm elections. For him, the Republican Party lost because “his name wasn’t on the ballot,” and that “[Republicans] didn’t vote.” Furthermore, the new chief of staff at the White House is widely recognized as the architect of mass deportation policies that are deeply unpopular with the public. Although he acknowledges that strict deportation policies played a role in this great loss, he still refuses to take responsibility in general and is therefore changing his policy stance. As Republican lawmakers prepare to launch an impeachment process against Secretary of Defense Hegseth, he seems to grasp the extent of this defeat better than the president himself. They have correctly identified that the war with Iran contributed to the “blue tsunami” they are facing; that is why they are trying to remove the person responsible from office. However, President Trump is once again on the wrong side by supporting Hegseth. He shared on his X social media account, saying that Hegseth is “doing a great job.”
All these suggest that a very lonely period awaits President Trump in the office. Republicans are trying to save 2028 elections by drifting away from Trump. His prime era seems to end with the midterm elections. Even the vice president, immediately after the election, acknowledged the flawed policies that led to these results, stating that they lost the election because of their policies toward Israel, the war with Iran, and the economic hardships caused by that war. Republicans will probably gather around J.D. Vance in 2028 elections. Democrats, on the other hand, want to use their power in Congress to enact policies they are planning to win 2028 elections. Under these circumstances, if Trump continues to delude himself about what the midterm election results mean, lawmakers from both parties in Congress will likely be allies for the next two years. Even if not for himself, he needs to show that he puts America first for the sake of his party’s bid for 2028.
