Democrats have flipped at least six Senate seats previously held by Republicans, securing a Senate majority, according to projections based on incomplete results. Democrats will also take control of the House of Representatives.
Democratic candidates won in North Carolina and Maine, as well as in Texas, Kansas, Ohio, South Carolina and Iowa, states previously considered Republican strongholds. The party has already secured 53 seats in the 100-member chamber but will likely expand its advantage.
In the most closely watched and most expensive race in terms of money spent, Democrat James Talarico.
Talarico, a former theology student and state legislator, defeated Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
The biggest upset so far was the defeat of Darline Graham, sister of the recently deceased Sen. Lindsey Graham, in South Carolina, where Trump won by 18 percentage points in 2024. Physician Annie Andrews will become the new senator.
In relatively liberal Maine, Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who has held office for 30 years, was defeated by Troy Jackson, a former Democratic leader in the state legislature.
In the Ohio race, former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown defeated incumbent Republican Sen. Jon Husted.
In Kansas, Democrat Adam Hamilton, a Methodist pastor, defeated Sen. Roger Marshall, and in Iowa, former Paralympian Josh Turek defeated Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson. As expected, the party that had been in the opposition defended its seats in all states except Michigan, where candidate Abdul El-Sayed is the favorite.
Democrats also have a chance to take Republican seats in Alaska. A surprisingly close race is also under way in conservative Mississippi. The results indicate that Democrats could pick up the largest number of Senate seats since the 2014 election, when Republicans won nine seats under President Barack Obama.
The question of the majority in the new House of Representatives had been settled earlier. Democrats will also regain control there, giving the party full power in Congress for the first time since 2022.
According to an NBC News projection, Democrats will hold 255 seats in the House, 41 more than they have now. The results are slightly better for Democrats than pre-election polls had indicated. Opposition candidates won in many districts where Donald Trump won by double digits two years ago.
Democrats also performed better than expected in a number of governors’ races. Democrat Gina Hinojosa, who defeated incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott, will become governor of the state, which had been dominated by Republicans. In Georgia, Keisha Lance Bottoms will become the first Black woman to lead the state government. Democrats also took control of the governor’s office in Ohio, Iowa and Kansas.
Reacting to his party’s clear defeat, President Donald Trump tried to downplay his role in the rout in a series of posts on his Truth Social platform.
“I wasn’t on the ballot, and if I had been, we would have won BY A HUGE MARGIN!” he said in one post. In another, he posted only a photo of a red cap reading “VETO,” signaling that he will block legislation passed by the Democratic-controlled Congress.
Even so, in a telephone interview with Fox News, Trump praised Democrats for running a good campaign, though he also called them “lunatics.” He said he believes history will judge his decision to attack Iran favorably, even though it contributed to higher fuel prices and a drop in his approval ratings.
From Washington, Oskar Górzyński (PAP)
