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By Alia Shoaib
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Democrats have taken back control of both the House and the Senate, in a sweeping blue wave that has dealt President Donald Trump a major political blow halfway through his second term in the White House.
In the Senate, Democrats have secured 54 seats to Republicans' 44, with two races still outstanding. They have so far flipped seven Republican-held seats.
In the House, Democrats have picked up 25 Republican-held seats, so far winning 228 seats to Republicans' 139, with 68 races yet to be called.
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While midterm elections typically favor the party out of power, the scale of this year's result points to a broader rejection of the Republican administration.
In the lead-up to the election, Trump's approval ratings had fallen close to their lowest point, amid widespread voter dissatisfaction with the cost of living and the war in Iran.
The president had also made himself a central figure in the campaign, repeatedly urging supporters to vote as if he were on the ballot. Yet as the results came in, he sought to distance himself from the defeat, writing on Truth Social: "I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!"
The result give Democrats control of Congress for the final two years of Trump’s presidency, handing them significant power to obstruct his legislative agenda and investigate his administration.
The House: How Losses Compare With History
Before the midterm elections, Republicans held 218 seats in the House, while Democrats held 214.
The Cook Political Report had projected Democrats would gain between 12 and 25 House seats, potentially giving them as many as 240 in total. Democrats have already flipped 25 Republican-held seats, reaching the upper end of that projection.
Since 1946, the party controlling the White House has lost House seats in 18 of 20 midterms, with an average loss of about 26 seats.
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The largest House midterm loss for a president's party in the modern era came in 2010, when Democrats under Barack Obama lost 63 seats, falling from 257.
The defeat came amid opposition to the Affordable Care Act, sluggish economic recovery from the Great Recession and the rise of the conservative Tea Party movement.
Republicans are unlikely to face the same scale of loss this year in absolute terms, having gone into the election with fewer House seats, at 220.
However, the final results could still amount to a comparable setback for Republicans.
Beyond the historic loss of 2010, several other presidents have suffered heavy midterm defeats.
Two presidents in the postwar era have lost 50 or more seats: Harry Truman’s Democrats lost 56 in 1946, while Bill Clinton’s Democrats lost 54 in 1994.
House seat losses in the 40s have generally been considered major electoral waves.
Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Republicans lost 48 seats in 1958, Gerald Ford’s Republicans lost 48 in 1974, while Lyndon B. Johnson’s Democrats lost 47 in 1966.
During Trump’s first term in 2018, Republicans lost 41 House seats.
Seat losses below 40, but above the postwar average of around 26, can be considered a notable but relatively typical midterm defeat.
The Senate: How Losses Compare With History
Going into the midterms, Republicans held 53 Senate seats, while Democrats held 45 plus two independents who caucus with them.
Senate losses for the president's party are typically much smaller than in the House. In the postwar era, the party controlling the White House has lost Senate seats in 13 of the 20 midterm elections, with an average loss of around four seats.
Democrats have flipped seven Republican-held seats so far this year, and lost none, putting the results well above the historical average. Five of the seats they flipped were in states Trump won by double-digit margins in 2024.
Large Senate seat losses are not without precedent. Eisenhower’s Republicans lost 13 Senate seats in 1958, while Truman's Democrats lost 12 in 1946. Clinton's Democrats lost eight in 1994, and Obama's Democrats lost nine in 2014.
The contrast with Trump's first midterm is particularly notable, as Republicans lost 41 House seats in 2018 but gained two in the Senate.
However, Senate midterms are not directly comparable because only around a third of the chamber is up for election every two years, with senators serving staggered six-year terms.
In 2026, Republicans had 22 Senate seats up for election, including two special elections, compared with 13 for Democrats. This meant Republicans had a larger number of seats to defend.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: John Fitzpatrick and Trevor Davies
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