Democrats win US House majority and flip a Texas Senate seat in midterms

Democrats take the House

Projections from CNN and NBC, reported on 4 November, give Democrats control of the House of Representatives in the US midterm elections. All 435 House seats and 35 of the 100 Senate seats were up for election. Democrats built an early lead and may now hope to take control of the Senate as well.

Before the vote, the economy (39%), democracy (32%) and immigration (14%) were the top campaign issues in the pre-election survey figures cited in the reports. Forty-four percent of the Americans surveyed said they were worse off than they had been two years earlier.

Economy39%

Democracy32%

Immigration14%

Economy

39 %

Democracy

32 %

Immigration

14 %

Data from the article text

Talarico beats Paxton in Texas

Democrat James Talarico, 37, defeated Republican Ken Paxton, 63, in Texas, according to projections by NBC News and CBS News based on voter surveys and vote counts. The reports describe it as the first Democratic Senate win in the state in nearly 40 years. Texas is the third Senate seat Democrats have taken from Republicans, following North Carolina and South Carolina, according to projections.

Paxton had served as the state's attorney general and faced impeachment proceedings over allegations of corruption and abuse of office. The reports also note that his wife left him last year, accusing him of infidelity. Talarico, who worked as a teacher in Texas, was first elected to the US House in 2018 and ran on affordable living and opposition to corruption.

Trump and Musk in the Texas race

Donald Trump endorsed Paxton in the Republican primary against longtime incumbent John Cornyn, which makes the defeat a personal setback for the president. During the general election, Trump campaigned several times in Texas, including a rally in San Antonio in early October where he urged supporters to vote for Ken Paxton. Republicans had also held their first major pre-midterm convention in Dallas in September.

Elon Musk, who the reports say now lives and runs his businesses in Texas, put more than 150 million dollars into the campaign supporting Paxton and attacked Talarico on his platform X. Talarico turned the spending into a campaign theme, telling supporters in Houston days before the vote that Musk was trying to buy the Senate seat. The pre-election survey also found that only 7% of respondents were very satisfied with Trump's work and 18% were satisfied, while 37% were dissatisfied and 38% were angry.

Very satisfied7%

Satisfied18%

Dissatisfied37%

Angry38%

Very satisfied

7 %

Satisfied

18 %

Dissatisfied

37 %

Angry

38 %

Data from the article text

Georgia and Virginia

In Virginia, Democrat and incumbent senator Mark Warner secured the first of the Senate seats up for election. In Georgia, Jon Ossoff, 39, defended his seat against Republican Mike Collins, according to projections from NBC, CBS and CNN. Collins had received heavy campaign support from Trump.

The reports describe Ossoff as the youngest US senator and a rising star in the Democratic Party, often compared with Barack Obama because of his speeches. During the campaign Trump attacked Ossoff with insults, and Ossoff in turn accused the 80-year-old president of senile babbling. Ossoff has so far strongly denied any ambitions for the presidency.