American voters delivered a stunning rebuke to President Donald Trump, ushering in a new era of Democratic leadership that will transform politics across the country not only for the remainder of his presidential term but for the foreseeable future.
In 2022, Democrats regained the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives after Republicans seized the chamber amid post-pandemic inflation under former President Joe Biden.
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Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is set to become the first black speaker, announced the results, which he claims prove “America is alive and well.”
“America’s great comeback begins today,” Jeffries told supporters in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. “From sea to shining sea, the American people have said and made it clear that they are tired of extremism and corruption. They want a Congress that gets results for the American people, and that’s exactly what House Democrats will do.”
Democrats also routed Republicans in the U.S. Senate, flipping at least six seats across conservative strongholds in the South and Midwest, giving the party full control of Congress.
President Trump, who had repeatedly told Republicans to “pretend to vote” in the lead-up to the midterm elections, walked back his words on Tuesday as it became impossible to deny that the party had suffered significant losses.
President Trump posted on social media: “I’m not on the ballot.” “If I had done that, I would have won by a landslide!”
History of various parts of the country
The Democratic Party’s gains cut across blue and red districts, giving the party full legislative control in Washington, D.C.
The race is still being counted, but the party is likely to win more than 230 House seats, one of the largest majorities since former President Barack Obama first took office nearly 20 years ago.
“This is not a wave,” one Democratic Party official told Al Jazeera. “This is a tsunami.”
Kansas will be represented by a Democrat in the U.S. Senate for the first time in 94 years after Adam Hamilton, the pastor of the nation’s largest Methodist congregation, pulled off an upset against unpopular Republican incumbent Sen. Roger Marshall.
In nearby Iowa, which President Trump won by 13 points just two years ago but faces the harshest fallout from his unpopular tariff policies, Democrat Josh Turek defeated former TV journalist Ashley Hinson in a hotly contested Senate race.
Democrats also have new hopes in the U.S. South, which has been elusive for Democrats amid strong Republican dominance.
U.S. Sen. Roy Cooper, a popular two-term former governor, handed Democrats the first major victory of the day in North Carolina, flipping the seat held by retiring Republican Sen. Thom Tillis.
Further south, in Georgia, Sen. Jon Ossoff is up for re-election and fellow Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms made history as the first black female governor.
“With a landslide and decisive victory, the American people rebuked the corruption, corruption, and incompetence of their failed lame-duck president, Donald J. Trump,” Ossoff declared before a crowd of supporters in Atlanta.
“And if you have ever doubted whether our republic can survive the last two years amid the relentless onslaught of brutality and indecency, let tonight’s results give you courage that the first light of dawn is at hand.”
In Texas, a state whose population has grown rapidly in recent decades, James Talarico defeated scandal-plagued Ken Paxton in a race that drew national attention for its level of spending and attacks, allowing Democrats to inflate their Senate majority.
But perhaps the most unexpected and painful loss for Republicans came in South Carolina, a deep red state that President Trump won by 18 points two years ago.
For the first time in nearly 30 years, a Democrat will represent the state in the U.S. Senate. Democratic Senate candidate Annie Andrews, a pediatrician, defeated Sen. Darline Graham, who was appointed to fill the seat of her late brother Lindsey Graham.
“No one in Washington recruited me to run. No one gave me this seat. No one wrote my script,” Andrews told supporters in Charleston, South Carolina, as she talked about her historic victory.
“I don’t owe anything to anyone in Washington, but I owe everything to the people of South Carolina. And to those very people I answer.”
economic frustration
The same economic grievances that brought Republicans to power in Washington four years ago drove them out on Tuesday.
An Associated Press poll showed voters are overwhelmingly dissatisfied and the economy is the top issue. About four in 10 people said the economy was the most important issue facing the country, and most expressed concern about soaring gas and food prices, which rose after the U.S. went to war with Iran in February.
Republicans have argued publicly and privately that this cost them the election. A party source told Al Jazeera that the loss lies directly with Trump’s defense secretary.
“(Pete Hegseth) pitched the war to Trump by saying it would be an easy victory,” the source said. “He cost us this election.”
What’s next for the Republican Party?
President Trump was quick to blame his fellow Republicans, not himself, for Tuesday’s historic loss.
“If Texas Governor Greg Abbott had not become a RINO (Republican in Name Only) in the last six months of his political life, he would not have lost,” President Trump posted on Truth Social on Tuesday. “He went back to the original formula, and it wasn’t pretty.”
In his concession speech after Mr Andrews’ victory was announced, Mr Graham called for more introspection within the party, telling supporters: “Conservatives have more work to do.”
“I still believe in the promise of South Carolina and the greatness of America,” she said. “Tonight was not the outcome that any of us in this room or across the country wanted, but we cannot walk away from the fight. This is a tough cycle, and charting a path forward will require all of us to be involved.”
