Democrat Gains In Midterms Prompt ‘Cautious’ Optimism Amongst Some International Leaders. Others Are Apprehensive.

European leaders have reacted largely positively to the news that the Democrats will control Congress for the remainder of President Donald Trump's time in office after the opposition party caused the governing GOP a series of stunning upsets in key congressional races.

The most emphatically positive response came from Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, whose government has repeatedly clashed with the Trump administration over the former's refusal to allow Washington to use Spanish bases to conduct military operations against Iran.

"Yesterday, American society voted against the policies that only impoverish. Against hate. Against machismo. Against climate denialism and against the privileges of the elites. It happened in Brazil. It just happened in the US. And it will happen soon in Spain," Sánchez, who is also up for election soon, wrote on X on Wednesday.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk posted "I love democracy" in response to the results.

Christel Schaldemose, a Danish politician who serves as the European Parliament's Vice President, said that she was "cautiously optimistic on Europe's behalf. Not because everything now changes for the better, but because it could benefit the support for Ukraine, the green transition, and relations with the rest of the world."

The president and European leaders have repeatedly clashed over Trump's perceived lack of support for Ukraine, his repeated criticism of Europe's supposedly insufficient contributions to the NATO alliance as well as his explicit support for right-wing political parties in opposition in countries such as the UK, Hungary and Germany.

Denmark, in particular, has had strained relations with the U.S. over Washington's repeated threats to annex Greenland, a part of the Kingdom of Denmark.

Other European leaders were more circumspect in their responses.

"President Trump has accepted the results and I feel the world has an opportunity now to unite around the issue that is affecting us all and that's the cost of living ... I can't get people's cost-of-living pressures down until the conflict in the Middle East is resolved," UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said.

The responses from Washington's traditional adversaries were more mixed. For its part, Russia appeared pessimistic about the prospect of increased Democrat influence over U.S. affairs.

"The approach of the activist wing of the Democratic Party towards Russia is extremely negative," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said, but the diplomat indicated that Moscow's foreign policy would not change significantly as a consequence of the election.

Relations between Moscow and Washington have improved recently; Trump has waivered a comprehensive Russia sanctions package, suspended sanctions on Russian diesel and repeatedly denigrated his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky for supposed intransigence in negotiations.

Beijing was neutral in its response; a spokeswoman for China's foreign ministry told remarked that the elections were an "internal affair" and that China would continue to "build a constructive, strategically stable China-U.S. relationship based on the principles of respect, fairness, and reciprocity."

Tehran, on the other hand, welcomed the news, with Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf saying that the midterm results showed that "Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message."