US midterm elections: Democrats seize control of House and Senate, deal blow to Trump

Democrats have seized control of both chambers of the US Congress in a major setback for President Donald Trump. Defeats in traditionally Republican states, including Texas, Kansas and South Carolina, have raised questions about his influence within the party

New York: Voters in the United States meted out a harsh punishment to President Donald Trump and the Republican Party as Democrats seized control of the House of Representatives and the Senate decisively with numbers far beyond the wildest poll projections. They may end up with 256 seats, according to NBC News projections, in the 435-member House, giving a margin of 81 seats, and at least 54 places in the Senate, a lead of four in the 100-member Senate.

Trump campaigned in 2024 with promises of bringing down prices and making life more affordable.

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But back in power, he instead seized on grandiose ideas of a legacy like using tariffs to “make America great again”, launching an attack on Iran for a regime change, and beautifying the White House and Washington.

They ran counter to his promise to the electorate.

The US President posted on Truth Social as the news of the rout poured in, “I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE”!

But his larger-than-life presence that overwhelmed the Republican Party blurring the line between him and the organisation, has been punctured by the party’s dismal performance in true red states, the indefatigably Republican ones, like Texas, Kansas and South Carolina.

In Kansas, Adam Hamilton ended almost a century of Republican monopoly of the Senate, becoming the first Democrat elected after 95 years.

The election of Hina Hinojosa as Texas Governor broke a 36-year Republican run.

Making the defeats personal for him were the rout of his hand-picked candidates for Senate like Ken Paxton, who had been impeached by the Texas House on bribery charges, but acquitted by the Senate, and Susan Graham, the sister of late Senator Lindsey Graham.

With the myth of power over the electorate broken, the question is whether more in Trump’s party would defy him and act independently.

The few who showed even mild signs of independence, like Texas Senator John Cornyn, were punished.

Now more could be emboldened to act freely and criticise Trump’s actions like the tariff war, the disastrous Iran conflict or his flirtations with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, in his last two years as President, that have cost the party dearly.

Trump threatened in a CBS News interview on Tuesday, while the elections were in progress, to be “Mr Veto”, shooting down Democratic Congress legislation, expecting them to tire of it and make a deal.

But as the news of the defeats poured in, he told Politico, “I don’t wanna be just sitting there for two years vetoing everything”.

Extending an olive branch, he said, “We’re going to work with the Democrats to make sure things go well for our country”.

While there are fears that he may go on a rampage given his rhetoric about his foes at home and abroad, the massive scale of the defeats, which gave the Democrats not just a passable majority, but a significant one, may constrain him.

An early test would be how he now deals with Iran, the source of his woes that he had threatened to annihilate.

He claimed in the Politico interview that Democrats have “already called and they want to work with” him.

But Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic Party leader in the House and the likely Speaker, was defiant.

“We understand as House Democrats we need to deliver dramatic change”, he said.

“Things are broken. We need a Congress that puts the American people first”, he said.