Democrats win control of both chambers as Trump accepts midterm results

Democrats take both chambers

Projections from several US media outlets give Democrats control of the Senate and the House of Representatives after voting on Tuesday, 3 November 2026. Republicans had led both chambers until now. Democrats also won seats in Republican strongholds such as Kansas and Texas. SIC Notícias reported that Democrat James Talarico had taken the Texas Senate seat from Republican Ken Paxton. The result could sharply limit the president's powers for the remaining two years of his term.

Trump accepts the results, but not the blame

Trump told the New York Times that he was fully willing to accept the outcome and that his administration would work with Democrats. In a long telephone interview with Fox News, he said Democrats had done a good job and had fought well, a reference to the eleven years since he entered politics. He rejected the idea that the vote was aimed at him and said he did not see it as a personal defeat. Trump admitted the war against Iran had weighed partly on the results, but argued that people understood why he had started the conflict. He also said he did not feel guilty. On Truth Social he wrote that he had not been on the ballot and would have won by a large margin if he had been. A White House official told AFP that Trump's voters turn out when he is on the ballot and argued that the quality of Republican candidates had been poor. Trump also told Politico he had the right to veto anything, and on election night he posted a photo of a red cap with the word 'Veto' in white letters, after pledging before the vote to block initiatives from a Democratic majority.

Voters and the campaign message

CNN listed inflation, Trump's tariffs, the war against Iran and voter concern about his conduct and personal enrichment among the reasons for the Republican defeat. The Washington Post reported, citing exit polls conducted for the Associated Press and the main TV networks, that Democrats gained by double digits compared with 2024 among Latinos, Catholic voters and voters under 30. The paper also reported a collapse in Republican turnout, based on preliminary data showing fewer Republican voters went to the polls than four years earlier. Voters rejected his record on the cost of living by a wide margin. The New York Times noted that Trump repeatedly appeared on Fox News during election night and repeated slogans from his rallies.

The Iran war and the Strait of Hormuz

The conflict began on 28 February, when Israeli and American attacks on Iran opened the war. Since then Tehran has regularly attacked ships trying to pass the Strait of Hormuz without its permission, and Washington has responded with a maritime blockade of Iranian ports south of the strait. Before the war, around 20% of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas moved through the strait, and the disruption has pushed fuel prices up, hitting American purchasing power. On Monday, 2 November, Iran said it was ready to reopen the strait if Washington accepted a series of demands, following threats from the United States and Israel to resume large-scale attacks. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the Iranian leader in negotiations with the United States, wrote on X that Americans had said no to war, and that Iran agreed with that message.