It’s a new day in America. Last night, Democrats didn’t just win, they won big. The 2026 midterm elections were downright historic, as Democrats won seats they had no hope of winning in previous elections. It was a rout of epic proportions.
As of this writing, Democrats will hold at least 54 Senate seats in the next Congress, and at least 237 House seats — but those numbers could go even higher. There are still two Senate races and 51 House seats that haven’t been called yet. The blue tsunami isn’t over yet, in other words. Estimates go as high as 255 or 256 in the House, which would mean Democrats picked up 40 seats or more. And this happened despite all the gerrymandering Republicans did to create “safe” districts.
The two Senate races left to call are in Alaska and Mississippi. Think about that: Mississippi. A Black man might be Mississippi’s next senator. That is just stunning. Scott Colom is ahead right now, but only by 34 votes, so it could go either way. In Alaska, they’ve only reportedly counted 77 percent of the vote, and so far Mary Peltola is ahead by 626 votes (but she failed to top 50 percent, so when the ranked-choice tabulations are made she could still fall short). Whatever the final numbers turn out to be, Democrats will hold a healthy majority in both chambers of Congress — that much is already guaranteed.
There are many questions about what will happen in January when all the Democrats get sworn in and take over, but the biggest of these (to me, at any rate) is: “Will the fever break among Republicans?” Will they all finally start to distance themselves from Donald Trump, since he has so obviously lost his magic touch with the voters? Will other Republicans start to openly defy Trump on individual issues? Will they even actually start working with the new Democratic majorities? Or will they just revert to form and oppose everything while still swearing their fealty to their Dear Leader?
As of now, it is a question (for Republicans) of self-preservation. Blindly following Trump led them precisely to where they now find themselves. Blindly following him for another two years could lead to just as much of an electoral slaughter in 2028. Think about it — if Texas is in play in the presidential race, it could mean putting together an Electoral College majority might become downright impossible for the GOP.
Last night Democrats won in places they haven’t won for a very long time. They won all the states on the Atlantic seaboard except Florida. They swept into the governor’s office in Georgia, Ohio, and Texas. They won a Senate seat in South Carolina. And Kansas — the first time the Sunflower State has elected a Democrat to the Senate since the Great Depression. In fact, Democrats won just about everywhere, taking every battleground state with the exception of Florida (which they came very close to winning as well).
The other big question which will emerge in January is what is Trump going to do? The midterm defeat he just suffered was historic. It was so big and so sweeping that he didn’t even have the energy to throw a presidential-sized tantrum. He’s not threatening to seize ballot boxes or voting machines, because it would be pointless for him to do so. It wasn’t even close, and Democrats won such stunningly-large majorities that even Trump must know that claiming everything was rigged or stolen just isn’t feasible. So what is he going to do when they’re all seated in Congress?
Will Trump actually try to cut deals with Democrats? It’s happened before — just ask Nancy Pelosi. Will Democrats be able to actually advance major parts of their agenda and get Trump to sign it into law? Stranger things have happened.
Democrats are pretty giddy right now, but when last night’s hangovers wear off there will be some decisions to make about how to move forward. The good news is that all kinds of Democrats won last night, including lots of progressives and even Democratic socialists, as well as more centrist or mainstream Democrats. This will mean there won’t be a bitter battle of recriminations with one side or the other claiming: “If a different candidate had won the primaries, they would have won!” There isn’t any finger-pointing going on today because everybody won. To be sure, there will still be factional struggles among the new Democratic caucuses in Congress, but their majorities are so large in both houses that it will be almost impossible for one faction or another to halt legislation that most Democrats support. To put it another way: Who cares what John Fetterman says or does?
As of today, Donald Trump is a lame-duck president. His power will be curtailed by a Congress that will not just allow him to get away with everything under the sun. Come January, the Senate is not going to blindly confirm any nutjob nominee Trump puts forward. Come January, both houses of Congress are going to start investigating all the criminal activity within the executive branch. Come January, Democrats will be in charge of the legislative agenda.
It’s a new day, America. And one thing is almost certain — the next two years are going to be a lot better than the previous two years have been.
— Chris Weigant
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
“It’s so dark outside, so early”
-President Donald Trump
I am interested in just what the Democratic majorities in Congress are going to DO. The president can still veto any legislation he doesn’t like, without much care about what that might look like to the 2028 electorate, which won’t be voting for or against him.
What are these Democratic majorities going to DO? Impeach — when the Senate is nowhere near a 2/3 majority against the president or his henchmen? Investigate – when most Americans can hardly say what exactly any Executive branch henchman actually does? Pass hopeful or progressive bills? – when the president can veto them and the headlines will pass into history in just a week or two?
What is going to be the real-world result of this historic Blue ‘Tsunami’?
pass policy that makes Donald look like a hero. he doesn’t care what’s actually in it.
You would think that enough Republicans exist to override a veto of legislation that addresses Trump’s policies that sunk the GOP, but I doubt that they’ve learned anything.