Democrats’ control of Congress will put them in position to launch investigations into the president and his family
Daily Telegraph 04/11/26
Donald Trump lost control of the House of Representatives and the Senate in a disastrous midterm election that threatens to derail the final years of his presidency.
Democrats carved deep inroads into Republican heartlands in a blue wave that rolled across the country on Tuesday, winning both chambers and breaking long-standing records along the way.
Washington is now set for political deadlock as Mr Trump will struggle to pass legislation against a considerable Democratic majority.
It also raises the prospect of the US president facing impeachment proceedings and a wave of investigations into everything from the administration’s business dealings to the purges inside the Pentagon.
On their way to victory, Democrats not only won states that had backed Mr Trump by significant margins in the 2024 election, some by double digits, but also won states for the first time in decades. Kansas had not elected a Democrat since 1932.
At the same time, the party successfully fought off challenges that the Republican Party had mounted against Democratic-held seats such as New Hampshire.
As Republican strongholds crumbled, Mr Trump spent his time in the East Room where he liberally fielded calls from journalists for the first time in months.
In an uncharacteristic moment of statesmanship, the US president congratulated the Democrats on their victory and acknowledged that the war in Iran played a role in Republicans’ losses.
He told The New York Times that he was “absolutely willing to accept those results”. Of the war, he told Fox News: “I think a part of it was Iran, but at the same time people understood the importance of what I’ve done with Iran.”
Mr Trump did, however, post a picture of a red hat with the word “veto” written on it, and pledged to spike any Democratic legislation using his executive power.
The election had been a referendum on Mr Trump’s two years in office, which had been defined by his decision to lead the US into a war with Iran and a high cost of living.
Mr Trump swept back to power in 2024, promising no more wars and an end to inflation “on day one”. Yet Americans went to the polls with inflation higher than it was two years ago, and a fresh war raging in the Middle East.
The results have called into question the future of the Maga movement and who, if anyone, can inherit its decade-long dominance in American politics.
Mr Trump blamed candidates – including Greg Abbott, Texas’s “Rino” (Republican in name only) governor — for being weak and even pointed the finger at Fox News for the defeat.
One source close to the administration said the president was unlikely to take the loss personally, and framed it as proof that the GOP could not survive without his name on the ballot.
Most analysts had believed that Mr Trump losing control of the House was a virtual certainty, although he managed to cushion Republican losses by gerrymandering of districts in states including Texas and Florida.
But it was not enough to stop the blue tsunami.
James Talarico won the Senate in Texas, marking the biggest political upset of this year’s midterm elections. The 37-year-old’s victory shattered the Republican monopoly on Senate seats in the Lone Star State, which had lasted for decades.
Mr Talarico fought off Republican rival Ken Paxton to become Texas’s first Democratic senator since 1988.
Elsewhere, Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive candidate, won the Senate seat in Michigan in one of the most closely watched races of the night.
The president has previously described Dr El-Sayed, who grew up in the Rochester Hills suburb of Michigan, as a “jihadist” and member of the Muslim Brotherhood terror group. Dr El-Sayed, who has rejected the president’s characterisations, spoke in English but made a joke about an Arabic phrase.
Roy Cooper, the 69-year-old former North Carolina governor, defeated his Republican rival in a state where Democrats have been kept out of the Senate for nearly 20 years.
Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms won the race for Georgia governor, in the first gubernatorial pickup for either party. She is the first black woman elected governor of any state.
The Democrats’ win puts Mike Johnson, the House speaker, out of a job. He looks set to be replaced by Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic minority leader.
Democrats, with control of both chambers and the committee systems, will be able to launch investigations into the president as well as his family and administration, leading to potentially embarrassing disclosures.
Although they can vote to impeach Mr Trump and senior officials, a conviction in the Senate requires two-thirds support – well beyond the Democratic majority. The president was impeached twice in his first term but acquitted both times.
Sources have told The Telegraph that a likely target for investigations and impeachment will be Pete Hegseth, the defence secretary.
The president will struggle to pass significant legislation through Congress including funding bills, which will make government shutdowns more likely.
Mr Trump said he would use his power as president to veto any legislation passed by Democrats that he considered “insane”.
“They’ll send over things that are insane, and I’ll veto them,” he said.
“And after a couple of months of vetoes, they’ll call and they’ll say, ‘How do we get this stuff done?’ And we’ll work together.”
Without Democratic support, he will be unable to appoint judicial nominees, including to the Supreme Court, senior administration officials and ambassadors.
Traditionally, presidents after the midterms focus on foreign affairs, where their powers are less constrained, rather than on domestic issues, where Congress functions as a more effective check.
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