Democrats win House and Senate majorities in US midterm elections

Democrats take both chambers

Democrats won majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate in the midterm elections held on Tuesday, 3 November. Reporting from around midnight Eastern time projected 54 or 55 Senate seats and more than 255 of the 435 House seats for Democrats. Republicans lost ground in their own strongholds, and Democrats also won important seats in deep-red states including Texas, Kansas, Ohio, Iowa and the Carolinas, according to Wirtschafts Woche.

Cost of living and tariffs

An exit poll by SSRS, commissioned by several US media outlets, found that almost nine in ten voters called the cost of living a decisive or important factor in their vote. Three quarters said they were angry or dissatisfied with the direction of the country, and almost two-thirds held Trump responsible for high prices. Wirtschafts Woche reported diesel and petrol prices at record levels, inflation at 3.7% and tariffs costing the average household about $1,750. Trump had urged voters at his rallies to imagine his name on the ballot, and they voted against him and the candidates he had handpicked. On the eve of the vote, he spent more than 20 minutes discussing projects such as the repair of the Reflecting Pool and an 'Arc de Trump'.

Reactions in the international press

The New York Times wrote that the American system had held and that voters had denied Trump the chance to further undermine democracy, calling it a day to be proud of. The Atlantic said Trump had been forced to confront his political mortality after asking voters to treat the midterms as a referendum on him. The Wall Street Journal described Republicans being punished for Trump's own economic missteps. Süddeutsche Zeitung reported that Trump blamed Republican candidates for the defeat and threatened the Democrats who now hold the majority. The Sydney Morning Herald said the end of the Trump era was in sight, with polls suggesting his peak had probably already passed, and warned that two difficult years could follow. La Nación called it a nightmare evening for Trump, and Reforma described the results as a democratic tsunami.