Control of the Senate passed to the Democrats in this year’s balloting, according to a projection by CBS News, as the party toppled Republicans in a run of pivotal races and flipped the upper chamber.
The projected gains ran through Ohio, Iowa, Kansas, Texas and the Carolinas, contests that turned surprisingly close down the stretch, while the party defended Georgia and New Hampshire. The eventual margin is not yet settled.
Republicans had entered with 53 seats to the Democrats’ 47, a six-seat edge, and the opposition needed four flips to take charge. More than a third of the chamber was on the ballot, and while the GOP had more ground to guard, most of it lay in states Trump had carried easily. Late in the race, fury over the Iran war and painful gasoline and diesel costs pulled fresh states into play. Despite pouring hundreds of millions into defending turf across Alaska, Nebraska, Ohio, Iowa, Kansas and Texas, states Trump had won by double digits two years before, the party fell short.
The Democrats last held the majority in 2022 before surrendering it in 2024, and the win hands them leverage over Trump’s final two years: they can stall nominees and set the floor agenda, boxing in his legislative plans. CBS News also called the House for the party.
Reached by phone, Trump told The New York Times he was “absolutely willing” to accept the midterm verdict and ready to deal with the incoming majority. “We’ll, you know, look forward to working with them,” he said, adding, “We’ll probably work something out.”
He pinned the defeats on his own absence from the ticket and stood by his choice to wage war on Iran, branding it a “very wise decision.” He voiced no regret over endorsing losers such as Senator Darline Graham of South Carolina and Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, both beaten in their Senate runs.
Watching returns at the White House close to 10:30 at night, the president sounded deflated. “I’m just looking at these results as I’m talking,” he told The Times, before adding: “I see that Darline lost. Wow, that’s amazing. How do you think Lindsey would have done if he ran?” The question nodded to Senator Lindsey Graham, who died in July and who, Trump reckoned, would most likely have won.
Even so, he refused to second-guess his own record. “I consider it to be the most successful two-year period in the history of any president,” he said. The pledge to respect the count followed a year of Trump questioning election integrity, and hours earlier the Homeland Security Department had vowed on social media to arrest noncitizen voters it has struggled to track down.
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