Democrat James Talarico Celebrates Flipping Texas Blue.
Democrat Senator-Elect James Talarico celebrates with his supporters after winning the Senate race against Republican Ken Paxton, marking the first time a Democrat has won a Senate election in the Lone Star State in decades. GETTY IMAGES

The Democrats will be in control of Congress for the remainder of the Presidency of Republican Donald Trump after winning key races in traditional Republican strongholds.

It was widely anticipated that the Democrats would win the House, where the party of opposition are projected to win at least 239 seats to the Republicans' 161, but the GOP has also lost control of the Senate as Democrat candidates have thus far flipped red seats blue in Texas, Ohio, Kansas, Iowa, Maine as well as North and South Carolina.

The Democrats are confirmed to have won 53 seats in the 100-seat Senate thus far and, at the time of writing, the Alaska Senate race also remains a toss-up and the Mississippi Senate race is too close to call. Both states currently have all-Republican Senate delegations.

All of these states, with the exception of Maine, voted for Trump in the 2024 presidential election and some of them have not sent a Democratic Senator to Congress in decades; the last time a Texas Democrat had won a Senate election before Tuesday was 1988, whereas the last time a Kansas Democrat won a Senate election before current Senator-Elect Adam Hamilton was 1932.

An election day poll by SSRS of more than 79,000 American voters across the demographic provided insight into what may have motivated Americans to turn away from the GOP in such staggering numbers.

The survey showed that the top issues on American voters' minds at the polls were the economy (39%) and the state of democracy (32%).

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65% of respondents said that the Trump administration had made economic conditions in the U.S. worse, with a further 79% claiming that inflation in the last year had caused them or their families "severe" or "moderate hardship."

A large majority (62%) also said the U.S. made the wrong decision in starting hostilities with Iran in February, and only 1 in 4 of those surveyed reported feeling "enthusiastic" or "satisfied" with the currents state of the country, compared to 75% who reported feeling "dissatisfied" or "angry."

Trump has, thus far, struck a conciliatory tone following the Democrat win, admitting to FOX News that he was "a little surprised" by the results but conceding that his opposition "did a good job."

Trump also claimed on Truth Social that Republicans lost because he wasn't on the ballot, claiming that the GOP "would have won IN A LANDSLIDE" had that been the case. However, several candidates handpicked by Trump, including Senate candidates Darline Graham of South Carolina and Ken Paxton of Texas suffered shock defeats at the hands of the Democrats.

Nevertheless, the president said that he would work with the Democrats on "many, many things" but also stressed that he would make extensive use of his vetoing power.

"They'll send over things that are insane and I'll veto them. And after a couple of months of vetoes, they'll go out and they'll say, how do we get this stuff done? And we'll work together," Trump pledged.

Senior Democrats, on the other hand, have responded jubilantly to the news, with current House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is poised to become the speaker of the House, hailed Democrats' victory as the beginning of "the great American comeback."

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