Democrats win control of both chambers of the US Congress
Democrats won control of both chambers of the US Congress in the November 3 midterm elections, overturning Republican majorities in the House and Senate. The result is being viewed as a major rebuke to President Donald Trump, whose name was not on the ballot but who repeatedly urged voters to treat the elections as a judgment on his presidency.
Counting was still under way, but Democrats had secured 228 of the 435 House seats and were leading in 34 more. They had flipped at least 25 Republican-held seats, potentially giving them more than 260 seats—the party’s strongest House position since 1990. In the Senate, Democrats had won 54 seats and led in another, compared with 44 Republican wins and one Republican lead. The party’s projected totals would represent its clearest Senate majority since 2008, when Barack Obama’s election helped Democrats win 56 seats.
Democrats also led the governors’ count, with 28 governors against 20 Republicans, while two races remained undecided. Their victories included Republican-held seats in Texas, South Carolina, Iowa, Michigan and Kansas. Abdul El-Sayed defeated Mike Rogers in Michigan to become the first Muslim elected to the US Senate, while Kansas elected its first Democratic senator in nearly a century. The outcome marked the first time since George W Bush’s defeat in 2006 that a Republican president had lost control of both congressional chambers.
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