Democrats retake House and Senate as Trump says he was not on the ballot

Democrats take back both chambers

Democrats recovered control of the House of Representatives and the Senate in the midterm elections held on Tuesday, 3 November, a shift not seen in twenty years. The results confirmed the White House's worst fears shortly before midnight, as Democratic victories kept accumulating through the evening. Democrats also won a Kansas Senate seat for the first time since 1932, while Annie Andrews took a South Carolina seat that Democrats had not won since 1998. Roy Cooper won in North Carolina. Early turnout reached a record 57 million votes, and the midterms were the most expensive in history, with record spending on advertising.

Trump-backed candidates lose key races

Several of the defeats involved candidates Trump had personally backed. In Texas, James Talarico beat Attorney General Ken Paxton, a candidate the president had championed. In Ohio, Democrat Amy Acton defeated Vivek Ramaswamy, one of Trump's closest allies, and in South Carolina Annie Andrews beat Darline Graham, a candidate Trump had handpicked and endorsed. During the campaign Trump had urged voters to act as though his own name were on the ballot, and he travelled across the country to make that case. His final rallies included Vandalia in Ohio, Fort Myers in Florida, Perry in Georgia and Corpus Christi in Texas, before he closed the campaign at the airport in Salina, Kansas, on Sunday, 1 November.

Trump disowns the defeats

Trump did not appear before the cameras and held no event at the White House to acknowledge the setback. Instead he posted on Truth Social that he had not been on the ballot and that, had he been, Republicans would have won by a landslide. A White House statement argued that voters turn out when Trump is on the ballot and that he promoted many candidates better than they promoted themselves. Trump later told The New York Times that he was prepared to accept the results and to work with Democrats. Meanwhile, allies, conspiracy-minded figures and MAGA influencers spent the day laying groundwork for possible challenges, alleging machine failures in New York, ballot supply errors in Kansas and power problems in Arizona and Colorado.

What comes next for Trump

Before the vote Trump told the New York Post that he would veto everything if Republicans lost, and after the results he again threatened to veto Congress's initiatives. He also told Time that he would go after his opponents, signalling a combative stance toward a Democratic opposition. With a Democratic House, lawmakers could block Republican bills and open investigations into the executive, and impeachment, which was attempted during Trump's first term, becomes a possibility. A Democratic Senate could shape senior appointments. Historically the president's party has lost seats in nearly every midterm, with only three of 23 exceptions, namely Roosevelt in 1934, Clinton in 1998 and Bush in 2002, and only Roosevelt and Bush gained in both chambers. Trump is 80 years old and the Constitution bars anyone from being elected president more than twice, while the 2028 race has begun informally as aspirants start visiting the early primary states.