Democrats win House and move toward Senate majority as Trump accepts

Democrats take the House and push toward the Senate

Media projections on Tuesday, 3 November, showed the Democratic Party taking control of the House of Representatives, according to EFE and El Mundo. Der Tagesspiegel reported that all 435 House seats and 35 of the 100 Senate seats were up for election. Neue Zürcher Zeitung wrote that the Democrats secured a Senate majority within hours of polls closing, even before every state had been counted, while a clear House win was emerging. The gains came in states long considered Republican strongholds, including Texas, South Carolina and Kansas according to El Mundo, with Ohio and North Carolina also named in EFE's projections. El Mundo identified James Talarico as the senator-elect for Texas.

Trump concedes, but blames the ballot and Fox News

Trump congratulated the Democrats in an interview with Fox News, saying they had done good work and had fought hard. He told the channel the Republican loss was not a personal defeat for him. On Truth Social he argued that his name not being on the ballot was the biggest problem, and that had he been a candidate, Republicans would have won by a crushing majority. Der Tagesspiegel noted that during the campaign he had urged voters to imagine his name was on the ballot. On the same platform he faulted Fox News for focusing on Democrats and something worse, and he also attacked former New York City mayor Bill de Blasio, who had appeared on the channel. According to The Daily Beast, Fox host Greg Gutfeld then received an angry text from Trump and read it out live on air. The text reportedly argued that gas prices were lower than under Joe Biden and Barack Obama and that inflation over the previous three months stood at 1.75 percent.

What Trump says comes next

Trump told The New York Times that he was fully prepared to accept the results and expected to reach some agreement with the new majority in Congress. He struck a similar note with The Wall Street Journal, where he said:

“It's just the way the ball bounces sometimes.”

He also said that if cooperation failed, he would be very tough on Democrats, who he expected would be tough in return. Der Tagesspiegel reported that he expected to strike deals on migration policy. Tagesschau reported that he said Democrats would send bills he considers crazy, which he would veto, and that after some months of vetoes the other side would show willingness to compromise. Handelsblatt noted that a budget deadlock would force a government shutdown, which means both sides must cooperate on the budget. ARD correspondent Torben Börgers said Trump could approach Democrats as a 'deal maker' or confront them as 'Mr. Veto', and that he would likely keep using executive orders that do not require Congress. Trump's term ends in January 2029.

Campaign effort, ratings and the Iran war

The White House said Trump held 30 events in 20 states over 32 days, according to Handelsblatt, while EFE counted about twenty rallies in the final month before the vote. Der Tagesspiegel reported that Trump's approval ratings are at a record low and that pre-election polls showed broad dissatisfaction with his policies drove many voters. It also linked a large shift among Latino voters to migration and deportation policy. Trump acknowledged that the Iran war played a part in the losses, but said voters understood what he had done on Iran. Neue Zürcher Zeitung argued that Trump's decision in February to go to war against Iran was the main reason for the Republican defeat, noting that Washington has not reached any of its stated war aims and that the conflict has pushed up petrol and diesel prices and interest rates. The same outlet said tariffs have hurt consumers and businesses, while border crossings fell from more than 200,000 a month under Biden to a few thousand.