Democrats have won the Senate majority, a feat that seemed unreachable last year but that came to fruition with Republican candidates failing in states won just two years ago by President Trump, whose failing approval ratings was a huge drag on the GOP.
Victory in the Senate will deliver additional oversight powers to Democrats, who will now have a much bigger say on administration and judicial nominations.
They will also set the schedule for the Senate and have new powers to call in administration officials for hearings.
The string of Democratic victories sets the stage for Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to return as majority leader in 2027 and for hardball negotiations with Trump on an array of issues, including on federal spending levels.
Florida stayed quite red, the only good news was the the Republican off-year gerrymander of their district map did not win them any seats. The margins were tight but it was the only state the GOP really performed well in. Alabama nothing really changed, the red seats stayed red and the few blue seats stayed blue.
There were some really surprising results in other states though. Texas went from all Republican-held state legislature, governor, Lt. governor and supreme court to Democrats winning or claiming majorities in all those positions. It’s hard to describe how massive this is, because the Republicans have been suppressing metropolitan voters in that state for 30 years, which means that Texas might be a swing state in 2028.
Another one-off result is in Tennessee, which mostly went well for Republicans, but House District 04 in that state is currently too close to call with the Democratic candidate ahead by (currently) 280 votes. Trump won this district two years ago with +24%.
It’s hard to describe how much an an historic wave tonight has been. I’ve not seen a midterm this one-sided since '94, when the GOP flipped 54 seats during Clinton’s administration.