Democrats win Congress with Senate gains in Republican states

Democrats won control of the House and Senate, capturing Republican-held seats in states that had appeared difficult for the party to win and changing the balance of power in Washington.

One of the biggest surprises came in South Carolina, where Democrat Annie Andrews defeated Darline Graham. Graham had been appointed to the Senate seat after the death of her brother, Lindsey Graham. Few analysts had considered the seat competitive months earlier, the BBC reported.

In North Carolina, former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper defeated Michael Whatley, a Republican Party insider backed by President Donald Trump, for the seat previously held by Sen. Thom Tillis. Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff also won re-election in Georgia, defeating Republican Mike Collins. The BBC reported that both races, once viewed as potential battlegrounds, became comfortable Democratic wins.

Democratic gains extended into other Republican-held states. In Texas, James Talarico defeated Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton for a Senate seat, while Gina Hinojosa beat Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, Talking Points Memo reported. The BBC had described Abbott as a prohibitive favorite a year earlier.

Kansas elected Democrat Adam Hamilton over Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, sending a Democrat to the Senate for the first time in 94 years, according to Talking Points Memo. The outlet also reported that Democrat Josh Turek defeated Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson in Iowa after months of close polling. In Ohio, former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown defeated Republican Sen. Jon Husted and will serve the remainder of J.D. Vance’s Senate term, it reported.

Democrats also took the House for the first time since 2022. Republicans in Florida had redrawn the boundaries of three Democratic-held districts to improve their chances, but lost all three races, the BBC reported. Democrats flipped House seats in western North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Kentucky. At the time of its report, the BBC said the party also appeared positioned to make gains in Virginia and Indiana.

The BBC reported strong Democratic turnout, particularly among Black voters in the South, and renewed support from Hispanic voters in Florida who had backed Republicans two years earlier. Andrews outperformed Kamala Harris’s 2024 presidential showing in majority-Black South Carolina counties, while Democratic candidates led in Miami-Dade County, which Trump had carried in 2024, according to the BBC. Florida nevertheless offered Republicans two narrow wins: Sen. Ashley Moody secured re-election, and Rep. Byron Donalds won the governor’s race.

The Senate result gives Democrats the power to block Trump’s judicial nominees. Before the election, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer told NBC: “The bottom line is: One of the reasons we want to do everything we can to take back the Senate is not let Trump put such horrible justices — MAGA justices — on the Supreme Court and the lower courts.”

The incoming majority will also have oversight powers and a role in negotiations over a federal budget that expires in December and a debt ceiling expected to require an increase in 2027, according to Talking Points Memo. The outlet reported that House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries has called for ending tariffs and the Iran War, reversing Medicaid cuts and restoring Affordable Care Act subsidies.