Democratic sweep of Congress ushers in a new era as Trump acknowledges impact of the Iran war
WASHINGTON (AP) — The midterm election blowout delivered a new era in Washington, with Democrats in Congress eager to meet voter demands for change while Republicans watched their majorities evaporate after a revolt against President Donald Trump and his party in power.
Democrats ousted Republicans from coast to coast, with many surprising places in between, in a decisive rejection of unified GOP control for the promise of something different for the country. Their majorities will be padded by unusually wide margins in both the House and the Senate.
The staggering results are setting up a starkly divided government, with an emboldened Congress poised to reassert itself as a coequal branch when Democrats take over in the new year. They are ready to launch a 100-day agenda to lower the costs of gas, groceries and healthcare and conduct vast oversight and investigations into Trump and his administration, with impeachment an option.
“We hear you,” said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, who would make history as the first Black speaker of the House if his colleagues elect him to the job when the new Congress begins on Jan. 3, 2027.
Jeffries called the election a “stunning rebuke of MAGA extremism” and “a great victory for the American people.”
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer acknowledged the political reality that voters may have been more willing to reject Trump's party than to embrace the Democrats.
“Many of the folks who voted for us yesterday are still skeptical, and that’s OK,” the New York senator said Wednesday at the Capitol.
He said the history-making scale of his party's wins — picking up long-shot Senate seats in South Carolina, Texas and Kansas — creates “the opportunity to prove ourselves worthy of their trust.”
All told, the results present a fundamental reshaping of power in Washington, with new openings and challenges for governing. The tally was bewildering for the scope of Democratic gains and the depth of Republican losses, which indiscriminately wiped out GOP firebrands, moderates and veteran conservatives nationwide. The swelling majorities, with some races still too early to call, underlined a deep sense of voter anger and concern over the economy and the state of democracy.
Trump struck a conciliatory tone, suggesting he could work with the Democrats, but he also warned of gridlock ahead as he threatened to use the power of the presidential veto to strike down their agenda.
“I don’t want to be just sitting there for two years vetoing everything,” he told Politico.
Later, he acknowledged the Iran war impacted the midterm elections, suggesting voters were frustrated by surging gas prices that have been a byproduct of the 8-month-old conflict.
“The Iran thing we had to do, and we continue to do it,” Trump told reporters.
He said he was not considering replacing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, despite voter dissatisfaction with the war, saying Hegseth was “doing a great job."
Vice President JD Vance, often eyed as Trump's likely successor at the White House, pointedly blamed the president's war in Iran for Republicans' midterm wipeout.
House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana will not seek reelection as House Republican leader, according to two people familiar with his decision, setting up a potentially brutal leadership battle following the party's trouncing by the Democrats. The people who told The Associated Press about Johnson’s decision insisted on anonymity to disclose it.
House Democrats are planning to quickly launch efforts to reverse Trump's GOP cuts to the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid healthcare programs. They're also ready to dive into a robust oversight agenda to, as Jeffries says, “hold the crooks accountable.”
The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Robert Garcia of California, issued a one-sentence warning: “Lawyer up.”
Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, issued his own one-word missive: "Subpoenas."
Democrats will be under pressure to quickly show that they have solutions for voters' anger and frustration over high prices, the war in Iran and unease about the direction of the country. About 7 in 10 voters nationally say Congress is not doing enough to provide checks and balances on the presidency, according to The AP Voter Poll.
For Jeffries and his leadership team, it will be their first time in the majority, managing a class of newcomers including a handful of far-left democratic socialists.
With the majority in the 435-member House growing well past the 218 needed and the Senate Democrats holding at least 54 of 100 seats in that chamber, Jeffries and Schumer will have room to maneuver.
For Republicans, their shriveled numbers quickly launched a reckoning of their own, as they try to figure out what went so uniformly wrong.
In a lengthy online post, the vice president seemingly sought to distance himself from election results seen as a referendum on Trump that featured big Republican losses across the country.
“The reason we lost is the war,” Vance wrote, adding, “If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest.”
Republicans may be anxious during the post-election lame-duck sprint to accomplish as much as possible in their remaining weeks in power. But hopes for another GOP-only priority package like their big tax breaks and spending cuts bill seem dim as defeated lawmakers prepare to go home at the end of the year.
Conservatives have also eyed the opportunity for Trump to nominate more judges or even a justice to the Supreme Court while Senate Republicans still hold a majority to confirm the picks.
And the government could be headed toward a federal shutdown next month if Congress fails to pass a funding bill to keep operations running.
In the weeks ahead, the parties will hold internal leadership elections.
Johnson will stay on as a rank-and-file lawmaker in the new Congress, but rivals are lining up to replace him as GOP leader.
Jeffries will seek to shore up support as Democratic leader, before the House chooses its speaker as one of the first votes when the new Congress convenes.
In the Senate, Schumer faces a new generation of Democrats including some who have yet to support him as majority leader.
Rarely has the president’s party held on to power during midterm elections, but the Democratic tsunami carried echoes of Trump’s first term, when Republicans faced a voter revolt that sent Democrats to the House majority, and the Barack Obama era, when the Republican tea party swept to power.
This new Congress will also mark firsts and welcome trailblazers.
With the election of Democrat Juliana Stratton of Illinois, the Senate will for the first time have three Black women in office.
Democrat Peggy Flanagan of Minnesota will be the first Native American female senator, Chris Pappas of New Hampshire will become the first openly gay male U.S. senator and Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan will be the first Muslim to serve in the U.S. Senate.
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This story has been corrected to show the Illinois Democrat’s name is Juliana, not Julia.
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Associated Press writers Tom Beaumont, Joey Cappelletti, Jill Colvin, Kevin Freking, Mary Clare Jalonick and Will Weissert contributed to this report.
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