Breaking: Trump Loses as Democrats Win House and Senate on Disastrous Night for Republicans
- CNN's Decision Desk projected that Democrats flipped control of both the House and Senate in the 2026 US midterm elections
- Democrats won Senate seats in deeply Republican states including Texas, South Carolina, Kansas, and Iowa, breaking decades-long trends
- Trump's unpopularity, tariffs, inflation, and the Iran war appear to have driven voters toward Democrats in historic numbers
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Legit.ng journalist Adekunle Dada has over eight years of experience covering metro, government policy, and international issues
Washington, DC, USA - Democrats have swept both chambers of the United States Congress in the 2026 midterm elections, with CNN's Decision Desk projecting the party will take control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate in what analysts are calling a historic victory.
The wins give Democrats significant power to challenge President Donald Trump and his administration during the final two years of his presidency, including the ability to launch investigations with subpoena authority and block his judicial appointments.
Source: Facebook
How Democrats broke through Red territory
As reported by CNN, the Senate result was particularly striking. Democrats won seats in states that Trump carried by wide margins in 2024, including South Carolina, Texas, Ohio, Kansas, and Iowa.
Texas had not sent a Democrat to statewide office since 1994, while Kansas had not elected a Democratic senator since 1932. South Carolina went to Trump by 18 points just two years ago.
Winning both chambers in the same midterm cycle is exceptionally rare. It has happened only twice in the past 50 years.
US midterm election: What drove the result
CNN's voter poll showed more than six in ten voters disapproved of Trump, with a majority saying they strongly disapproved. Two-thirds of respondents said his policies had made the economy worse.
The main factors behind the swing appear to be inflation, Trump's tariffs, the Iran war, and widespread concern among voters about the president's conduct and personal enrichment.
Democrats needed to gain only three seats to retake the House, which many analysts had already anticipated given the historical tendency for the sitting president's party to lose seats at midterms. The Senate result, however, required winning multiple seats in states Trump had won by double digits, making it the more remarkable achievement of the two.
What Democrats can and cannot do
The final size of Democrats' majorities in both chambers is still being determined as vote counting continues. However, the party appears likely to have enough of a buffer to operate with some flexibility.
That said, the limits of their power are significant. Trump retains his veto, and most Senate legislation still requires 60 votes to advance, meaning Democrats are unlikely to push through much of their own legislative agenda.
What they do gain is the authority to decide what Congress investigates, backed by subpoena power. Control of the Senate also means Democrats can block Trump's picks for federal judgeships and potentially any Supreme Court nominations if a vacancy arises.
The results mark a sharp turn from the previous 22 months, during which Trump consolidated executive power with little resistance from a Republican-controlled Congress.
US midterm elections: Pope Leo XIV cast vote
Meanwhile, Legit.ng also reported that Pope Leo XIV cast a mail-in ballot in Chicago under his birth name, Robert Francis Prevost, making history as the first American pope to vote.
The Vatican confirmed the vote but did not reveal which candidates.
Leo supported in the November 3 midterm elections Leo's vote came weeks after he had surgery to remove the lower lobe of his right lung following a lung cancer diagnosis.
Source: Legit.ng
