In a sweeping midterm rout, Democrats won control of the US Congress, with a series of upsets delivering a major rebuke to President Donald Trump and his Republican Party.
The victory handed Democrats both the House of Representatives and Senate, giving them power to block Trump’s agenda and investigate alleged corruption for the last two years of his presidency.
Many politicians, Democrats and Republicans alike, reacted as news of America’s choice broke, with the former rejoicing countrywide.
Former US president Bill Clinton said Democrats will lower costs, protect healthcare, end senseless wars, while also stopping tariffs that make life more expensive.
“You deserve a government that works as hard for you as you do for your family,” Clinton posted on X. “It’s high time we put people first again!”
Former US president Barack Obama said the results were a “clear message” from the Americans.
“They want a politics that brings people together rather than divides them, and leaders who offer concrete solutions to the challenges they face,” Obama said on X.
“These results were only possible because outstanding candidates stepped forward in every region of the country,” he added.
“While this administration has another two years in office, our job now is to roll up our sleeves, make changes wherever we have the power to do so, prevent further damage, and lay the groundwork for the future,” Obama further asserted.
President Trump, meanwhile, in comments to Fox News, said, “Congratulations to the Democrats — they did a good job. They’ve been looking for this one for 11 years and they finally got it.”
He added, “I don’t view it as a hit on me.”
US Senator Bernie Sanders called the news “great” on X.
“At a time of massive income and wealth inequality, we must do more. We must aggressively fight for working families. No more excuses,” he wrote.
Former US vice president Kamala Harris reacted to the news with a video of herself saying, “Hallelujah!”
Democratic Representative Robert Garcia, now expected to lead the powerful House Oversight Committee, in a post on X warned Republicans on social media: “LAWYER UP.”
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries declared Trump’s MAGA movement “on the run from sea to shining sea”. Jeffries could become the first Black speaker of the House when the new Congress convenes in January.
Former secretary of transportation Pete Buttigieg, in the wake of a number of Republican strongholds flipping blue, said, “Tonight proves it: there is no such thing as a permanently red seat.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, in a post on X, vowed: “As we head into 2027, Senate Republicans will not stand idly by as the far-left, socialist wing of the Democratic Party attempts to unwind everything we’ve done.”
He expressed gratitude that Trump was still in the White House, hoping that the Republicans will “work with him to stop the worst impulses of Democrat extremism. We cannot let their fringe positions become the mainstream”.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis pointed out that it was “unlikely” Republicans would recapture Congress in 2028, looking at the Senate map and given the “massive” margin in the House.
“Might not have a shot at Senate control until 2032,” he added.
CNN cited DeSantis as saying that Republicans underemphasised the impact of high gas prices due to the Iran war, although he did not name Trump specifically.
“Listen, we’ve just got to be honest. Gas is higher. It hurts people, working-class people, and it’s higher because of the Iran conflict […] If you can’t admit that to voters, then you’re gaslighting them,” DeSantis said on Stephen A. Smith’s podcast “Straight Shooter” on Monday, according to CNN.
Former US Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, reacting to the development, said it was a “total referendum” for Trump, accusing the US president of “covering up the Epstein files, protecting rapists and paedophiles” and starting the US-Iran war.
She said Trump “killed a school full of kids, put his rich elite donors before the struggling Americans who put him in office, made life unaffordable with his tariffs, and caused gas and diesel prices to skyrocket while he played the market and sold crypto.”
“And Republicans stood behind him silently clapping like trained baby seals,” she said.
“And tonight they sent him a clear message,” she added, warning that Republicans “need to learn the lesson and drastically change course”.
“And I’m not sure if they’re capable of that.”
