By NICK ALLEN, US NEWS EDITOR (POLITICS)
Democrats have seized the House of Representatives and the Senate in a devastating double blow to President Trump that could mark the beginning of the end of the MAGA era.
In what amounted to a political earthquake, the midterm elections saw a series of deep-red states turn blue.
In Texas, Democrat newcomer James Talarico defeated Trump-backed Republican Ken Paxton, while South Carolina elected a Democratic senator for the first time since 1998.
Most remarkably of all, Kansas sent a Democrat to the US Senate, which it had not done since 1932 during the Great Depression.
There were further stunning Democrat Senate victories in Iowa and Ohio, states Trump won by more than 10 points in the presidential election in 2024.
Jubilant Democrats described the results as a ‘blue tsunami’ or a ‘Bluenami.’
Although he was not on the ballot, the midterms were effectively a nationwide referendum on Trump. Republicans’ crushing losses were a dagger to the heart for the White House.
Voters appeared to have passed a damning judgment on Trump’s inability to bring down the cost of living for ordinary Americans, according to exit polls.
The results, reflecting a huge shift in Trump’s once impressive MAGA base, will also cast a cloud over any ambitions Vice President JD Vance has for a 2028 run.
Losing both chambers of Congress will mean Trump entering lame duck territory in his final two years in office.
He will face Democrat-led corruption investigations into himself, his allies and family, and could even be impeached for a third time.
Even though he wasn’t on the ballot the midterms were effectively a referendum on President Trump
Democratic congressman Robert Garcia will lead some of the probes as the chair of the Oversight Committee.
He issued a blunt two-word statement: ‘Lawyer up.’
It also means Trump will now be blocked from getting much of his agenda through Congress.
The President will have to rely on issuing executive orders in areas where he retains authority, including tariffs, immigration, foreign policy and military actions, and the use of his veto power to stop Democrats getting their policies made law.
Immediately after the House was called, a defiant Trump wrote on Truth Social: ‘I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!’
Earlier, in a sign of election night frustration, he had raged at Fox News when the first polls closed, writing on Truth Social that their exit poll questions were ‘BULLS***.’
The Fox News poll showed 87 percent of voters were concerned about gas prices and 62 percent blamed Trump.
He then texted Fox News host Greg Gutfeld live on air, telling him: ‘I inherited the worst prices and inflation in history from Sleepy Joe. Prices are heading down FAST!’
James Talarico, who put his Christian faith at the center of his campaign, turned Texas blue
Among the early race calls, Trump suffered his first significant blow as Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff crushed the President’s hand-picked Republican challenger Mike Collins in Georgia.
That was quickly followed by the first Republican loss of a Senate seat that the party held. In North Carolina, Democrat Roy Cooper stormed to a quick victory over Trump favorite Michael Whatley.
Democrats then picked up a Senate seat in South Carolina. Pediatrician Dr Annie Andrews narrowly defeated Republican Darline Graham, who was personally chosen by Trump and had sought to permanently fill the seat of her late brother Lindsey Graham.
Trump won South Carolina in a landslide by 17 points in 2024. He held rallies with Graham in the state twice in eight days in late October, at which he called Andrews ‘Tranny Annie.’
Texas was then called for Talarico, a 37-year-old former schoolteacher who had put his Christian faith at the heart of his campaign, with the slogan ‘Love Thy Neighbor.’ He overcame Paxton, the scandal-plagued Republican state attorney general, who had been backed by Trump.
During the campaign Trump had dubbed the Democrat ‘Talafreako’ and falsely told Texas voters he was a vegan.
The Lone Star State had not elected a Democratic senator since 1988. It also backed a Democrat, Gina Hinojosa, for governor, for the first time since Ann Richards was elected in 1990.
Kansas then fell as Democrat Adam Hamilton, a megachurch pastor, defeated sitting senator and Trump loyalist Roger Marshall.
Jubilant Talarico supporters at an election watch party in Austin. Texas
Democrat Jon Ossoff dealt an early election night blow to Trump by winning his Senate seat in Georgia
Celebrations among Jon Ossoff supporters in Atlanta, Georgia
The rural state emerged as an unexpected battleground amid soaring diesel prices caused by the Iran war.
Trump held rallies twice there toward the end of the campaign in an ultimately futile bid to save Marshall, a doctor who had been forced to fend off attacks that he sued his own patients and had a house in Florida.
Iowa was also hit by high fuel prices, helping Democrat Josh Turek, a Paralympian basketball player, to defeat Republican Ashley Hinson, a former broadcast journalist.
Many had thought Susan Collins, the Republican senator from Maine, could buck the trend. She has been in office for 30 years and clashed with Trump over issues including the Iran war. But in the early hours she conceded defeat.
In a late-night call to Fox News, Trump admitted high fuel prices had been a factor, saying: ‘The gasoline was caused by Iran.’
But he added: “I don’t view it as a hit on me. There was a mood in the air, I guess, and if you look, I shouldn’t feel guilty.
‘I think the Democrats did a good job, I really do. They fought hard.”
The President told the New York Times he was ‘absolutely willing’ to accept the results and would ‘probably work something out’ with Democrats.
An expansive Associated Press Voter Poll found the electorate was in the mood for change, with 75 percent saying they felt ‘angry’ or ‘dissatisfied’ with the way things are going in the country.
Roughly six in 10 blamed high prices on Trump’s policies, and 71 percent wanted Congress to provide more checks and balances on the presidency.
Democrat Dr Annie Andrews, a pediatrician, pulled off a shock victory in the Senate race in South Carolina over President Trump’s personally chosen candidate Darline Graham, the sister of the late Lindsey Graham
All 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 seats in the Senate were up for grabs on November 3
Democratic congressman Hakeem Jeffries is expected to become the first black Speaker of the House
About four in 10 said the economy was the most important issue, while three in 10 said it was ‘democracy,’ according to the poll, both well above crime, healthcare and immigration.
On the eve of the election, Trump’s approval rating was just 32 percent in a Reuters/Ipsos poll, with 64 percent disapproving of his job performance.
Some 78 percent of voters said the cost of living was the most important, or a very important, factor in their decision.
And 49 percent of Democrats were ‘very enthusiastic’ about voting compared with just 33 percent of Republicans.
In a CNN exit poll, 65 percent said Trump had worsened economic conditions.
That poll found 16 percent of people were casting their vote to support Trump, 43 percent to oppose Trump, and for 41 percent he was not a factor.
Evidence suggests many Latino voters who backed Trump in 2024 also returned to the Democratic fold amid frustration over the economy and roundups by ICE.
The new Speaker is expected to be Hakeem Jeffries, the New York congressman and current Democratic leader in the House. He will replace Republican Mike Johnson.
Jeffries, 56, formerly a corporate lawyer, will be the first black Speaker of the House, and the position will make him second in line to the presidency after the Vice President.
Food and gas prices were very much on voters’ minds as they went to the polls
A woman leaves a polling station after voting in Georgia
In addition to overseeing investigations into the Trump family, he plans to lead a legislative agenda aimed at reversing Medicaid cuts, restoring Obamacare subsidies, and reducing the costs of groceries, housing and energy.
Going into the midterms, Republicans had a slim 218-214 majority in the 435-seat House. One independent member caucused with Republicans and two seats were vacant.
The Republicans held a comfortable majority of 53-47 in the 100-seat Senate.
All seats in the House, and 35 Senate seats were up for election this time. Of the 35 Senate seats 22 were held by Republicans, and 13 by Democrats.
A total of 36 of the 50 states were also holding elections for governor.
Early voting had been underway for weeks and, in the end, over 100 million people are believed to have cast ballots, around two thirds the number in a presidential election.
A record-breaking $12 billion was spent on adverts, according to advertising intelligence agency AdImpact.
Some $4 billion of that was spent in October alone as TV viewers were bombarded with incessant ads, many of them negative attacks on opponents.
The results of the midterms could cast a cloud over any upcoming 2028 White House bid by JD Vance
Mike Johnson, the Republican House Speaker, will have to hand over the gavel to Democrats
In the final month, Republicans slightly outspent Democrats, with Elon Musk alone pouring in over $300 million.
The states where most was spent were Texas, Ohio and Michigan.
Held in the middle of each four-year presidential term, midterm elections do not involve the President, but they are generally a setback for his party.
They are a chance for voters to make their feelings known about the first two years of an administration, and to call for a change in direction.
In 2006, during the Republican presidency of George W Bush, Democrats achieved a so-called ‘blue wave’ of gains amid a backlash to the war on terror.
Four years later, in 2010, Republicans won 63 extra House seats in what the incumbent Democratic president Barack Obama described as a ‘shellacking’ for his party.
In 2018, during Trump’s first term, Democrats gained 40 House seats.