Congress Watch · Report · File No. 261104-098
Democrats win Senate control, gaining leverage over Trump's final two years
Democrats flipped Senate seats in Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Kansas and Iowa, and are projected to take the House, giving them full control of Congress in January.
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Democrats have won control of the Senate, CBS News projected, after flipping seats in Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Kansas and Iowa and holding seats in Georgia and New Hampshire 2. The Guardian reported that Democrats regained the Senate majority, routing Republicans nationwide 1.
CBS News also projected that Democrats would take control of the House 2. Together, the two victories would give Democrats full control of Congress beginning next year, for the first time since 2022, The Guardian reported 1.
Republicans currently hold a 53-seat Senate majority to Democrats' 47, and Democrats needed to win four seats to win the majority, CBS News reported 2. The size of the new Democratic majority remains to be seen 2.
The Guardian reported that Democrats won in states where they had not had success in years, if not decades, including South Carolina, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Iowa and Kansas, according to the Associated Press 1. Kansas has not sent a Democrat to the Senate since 1932, and Texas since 1988, The Guardian reported; in South Carolina it has been 38 years since a Democrat won a Senate race, while in Iowa and North Carolina it has been 18 years 1.
From Channel GOPTalarico lists the Trump promises that weren't keptJames Talarico · 1.6K plays · captioned, with the source named
CBS News reported that the unpopular war with Iran and high gas and diesel prices put more states in play for Democrats in the final months of the campaign 2. Republicans spent hundreds of millions of dollars defending seats in states like Texas, Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska and Ohio, where the president had won by double digits just two years earlier, but Democrats still secured enough seats to flip the Senate 2.
What the majority means
With the majority, Democrats can block the president's nominees and control what measures receive votes on the floor, severely limiting his ability to get anything done legislatively, CBS News reported 2. The Guardian reported that Democrats will soon have the ability to hold up not just Trump's legislative agenda, but also any appointments he makes to his cabinet or the federal judiciary, including the Supreme Court, where conservatives have a 6-3 majority 1.
Vote counting is ongoing in Minnesota and Michigan, where the party hopes to hold seats vacated by retiring Democrats, as well as Maine, where they are trying once again to oust Susan Collins, the last Republican senator representing a blue state, The Guardian reported 1. They also hope to beat two-term Republican Dan Sullivan in Alaska, but the result in that race may take days to be determined 1.
Republicans had hoped to unseat Democrats they viewed as vulnerable after the 2024 election, but have thus far failed in two target states, Georgia and New Hampshire, The Guardian reported 1. Democrats lost control of the Senate two years ago, when voters sent Trump back to the White House and gave his allies a 53-seat majority 1.
The Guardian reported that Trump's meddling in Republican primaries appeared to backfire 1. He condemned North Carolina Republican senator Thom Tillis for opposing his main domestic policy legislation, leading him to announce his retirement, and the Democratic nominee, former governor Roy Cooper, easily won the race to replace him 1. Trump also endorsed scandal-plagued Texas attorney general Ken Paxton over longtime U.S. senator John Cornyn, causing the incumbent to lose his primary, and Democratic state representative James Talarico won that seat by a double-digit margin, according to the AP 1.
After the sudden death of South Carolina's longtime Republican senator Lindsey Graham, Trump backed the bid of his sister, Darline Graham, to serve a full term, even though she'd never won elected office and there were other Republicans in the race, The Guardian reported 1. Graham has lost to Democrat Annie Andrews by a margin of about four percentage points 1.
That matters because the new majority will be seated as Trump enters his final two years in office, with Democrats able to block his nominees and set the Senate floor agenda 2. The pattern is that the same states Trump won by comfortable margins in the last election became competitive as the war with Iran and fuel prices weighed on the campaign 2.
The Record
- Democrats lost control of the Senate two years ago, when voters sent Trump back to the White House and gave his allies a 53-seat majority 1.
- Democrats won Senate seats in Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Kansas and Iowa, and held Georgia and New Hampshire, CBS News projected 2.
- CBS News projected Democrats would take control of the House as well 2.
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Sources
- The Guardian, “Democrats win control of Senate as US voters reject Trump’s agenda” (2026-11-04). theguardian.com/us-news/2026/nov/03/democrats-senate-republi
- CBS News, “Democrats win majority in the Senate, flipping control of upper chamber” (2026-11-04). cbsnews.com/news/senate-control-democrats-republicans-2026-m
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