US Midterms: Democrats Projected to Win the House
US media project Democrats have won the House, and NBC and CNBC also give them the Senate. Trump says he accepts the results.
After the last polls closed in Alaska, at 1 a.m. Eastern time, US media are projecting that Democrats have won the House of Representatives, and, according to NBC and CNBC, the Senate as well. For Serbia, like every country whose relations with Washington depend on tariffs, sanctions and foreign policy, this matters because from January 3 President Donald Trump will, for the first time in his second term, no longer have full control of Congress.
These are projections, not a final seat count. A House majority requires 218 seats, and the estimates differ:
- CNBC reports that Democrats are winning at least 245 seats;
- NBC News counts on about 255, noting that the number may shift by a few seats;
- CBS News estimates Democrats could reach up to 259 seats, but says the final total may be lower.
At 4:18 a.m. Eastern time, CBS said about 75 races were still undecided. Among them are some that proved unexpectedly close, such as Arizona’s 1st District, Colorado’s 4th District, where Lauren Boebert is battling Democrat Eileen Laubacher, and Florida’s 13th District, where Republican Anna Paulina Luna is being challenged by Lila Gray.
What do we know about the Senate?
NBC and CNBC project that Democrats are taking the Senate too. CNBC gives them at least 51 seats, and at 50 seats the deciding vote would belong to Vice President JD Vance. According to the Associated Press, Democrats flipped Republican Senate seats in Iowa, Kansas, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas.
In Texas, James Talarico is projected to have won. In his victory speech, as reported by CNBC, he said:
“We just proved that all the money in the world cannot measure up to the people of Texas.”
Before the election, Republicans held the majority in both chambers. The sources do not agree on the House numbers: NBC says Democrats held 215 seats, while CBS counts 219 Republican seats (including one independent who votes with them), 214 Democratic seats and two vacancies.
Who lost a seat in the House?
NBC singles out four Republican members of Congress from Pennsylvania. Brian Fitzpatrick was defeated by Democrat Bob Harvey, and Scott Perry, the former chairman of the far-right Freedom Caucus, lost to Janelle Stelson in the 10th District. In Virginia, Jen Kiggans lost to Elaine Luria, who won back her old seat, and in New Jersey Tom Kean Jr. was defeated by Rebecca Bennett.
The biggest prize of the night, NBC writes, is Democrat Richard Ojeda II beating Republican Richard Hudson of North Carolina. Hudson chairs the Republican House campaign committee, whose job is to protect the party’s own incumbents. Here the sources diverge: NBC projects Ojeda’s win, while at 4:18 a.m. CBS still listed the same district among the undecided races, having earlier in the night rated it “likely Democratic.” For now, Hudson’s defeat is a projection from a single newsroom.
What drove voters to the polls?
According to early exit polls reported by CBS, Trump’s approval rating stands at 38 percent, the lowest recorded for any president in a midterm election. About six in ten voters said Trump influenced their vote, and for 89 percent of them the cost of living was an important or decisive factor.
What does Hakeem Jeffries say?
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries is expected to be elected Speaker on January 3, the first Black American in that office. At his election night event in Washington, he said:
“Today begins the great American comeback. The American people have spoken all across the country, in the north, in the south, in the east, in the west, in the Midwest, from sea to shining sea. The American people have spoken and made it clear that they have had enough of extremism, enough of corruption.”
He added: “They want a Congress that will work for the American people, and that is exactly what House Democrats will do as soon as we take office in January.”
The majority brings control of committees and the power to issue subpoenas and run investigations of the Trump administration. Representative Robert Garcia of California, who is expected to take over the Oversight Committee in January, announced a focus on “the Trump family’s corruption,” including cryptocurrency, abuses by the immigration agency ICE and the Jeffrey Epstein files. On impeachment, Jeffries told NBC that Democrats have “ruled nothing out, but ruled nothing in.” Before the election, speaking to reporters at Democratic headquarters, he described how he would approach investigations:
“We will follow the facts, apply the law, be guided by the Constitution and let the chips fall where they may.”
He made that statement before the vote, about investigations, and not as a response to the win. According to Jeffries, the legislative agenda rests on four points: reversing Trump’s Medicaid cuts, extending Affordable Care Act credits, restoring Congress’s authority over tariffs and ending the war with Iran, which has lasted eight months.
How did Trump react?
The president, as CNBC reports, said of the Democrats to Fox News:
“I think they did a good job.”
He told the New York Times that he accepts the outcome: “I am absolutely ready to accept those results.” On Truth Social he wrote: “I wasn’t on the ballot, and if I had been, we would have won BY A LOT!”
The defeat leaves Speaker Mike Johnson facing the question of whether he will fight for the minority leader’s post, and NBC assesses that his departure would set off a sharp race for his successor. The new Congress takes office on January 3, and until then the count of the remaining votes will show exactly how many seats Democrats will hold.
