Live updates: Voters hand Democrats Congress, leaving Trump a reshaped Washington

The blue-wave election gave a burgeoning crop of 2028 Democratic presidential hopefuls plenty to brag about as they try to convince voters, donors and power players that they are the face of the Democratic Party’s future.

Some won landslide reelections of their own. Others are taking credit for helping Democrats win up and down the ballot. The result is a party with no shortage of success stories or competing theories about what delivered the wins.

The election was mostly a repudiation of President Trump and a reflection of voters’ worries about affordability, but the landslide also allows Democrats across the ideological spectrum to claim vindication, Democratic strategist Ben Tribbett said.

“Because everybody won, everyone will declare victory,” he said. “Everyone can say that their ideological breakdown was the right way to go for the Democratic Party.

“And the Democratic Party is an identity politics party, so every single group is going to want to be represented in this primary season as the key bloc that delivered us these victories, and that should be rewarded.”

Former Vice President Kamala Harris, the party’s failed 2024 nominee, struck a similar note Wednesday. She cast the results as a rejection of Mr. Trump and congressional Republicans and pointed to her own role campaigning for Democrats “up and down the ballot.”

“The American people have elected Democrats across the country in federal, state and local races who must be ruthless in using every lever of power to deliver economic relief for working families and hold this administration accountable for their deep-seated corruption,” Ms. Harris said.

Few Democrats woke up Wednesday with more momentum than Sen. Jon Ossoff, Georgia Democrat.

Mr. Ossoff, 39, jumped to the top of the latest Polymarket odds for the Democratic nomination after cruising to an 18-percentage-point reelection win in the battleground state. He capped a campaign that reinforced his reputation as one of the party’s best communicators.

He has pledged to serve a full six-year term, though he would not be the first elected official to rethink such a promise if the White House came calling.

Right behind him in the Polymarket sweepstakes are Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Ms. Harris, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Raphael Warnock, Georgia Democrat, and Sen.-elect James Talarico, Texas Democrat, arguably the biggest winner of the midterms.

If the past two competitive Democratic primaries are any guide, the fight for the party’s next nomination will not be pretty.

The 2016 and 2020 contests exposed deep tensions between the moderate and more liberal wings, and there is little reason to think those divisions have disappeared. The early jockeying will now play out with Democrats controlling Congress and Mr. Trump facing a much more empowered opposition in Washington.

Ms. Ocasio-Cortez spent the campaign’s final days at a town hall with Senate candidate Troy Jackson in Maine, then barnstormed Michigan’s Upper Peninsula with Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed.

Mr. El-Sayed’s win hands her allies fresh evidence for an argument they have been making for years. Their pitch is that a left-wing populist economic message, one focused on taking on the wealthy, expanding government-funded healthcare and rethinking the U.S.-Israel relationship, can resonate beyond deep-blue strongholds and win in battleground states.

Her political operation did not waste any time making that case. In an Election Day memo, aides said Ms. Ocasio-Cortez “emerged as one of the most powerful endorsements in the United States” and that “candidates from rural districts and battleground seats see her as an asset for their general election campaigns.

“She has proven herself to be one of the most effective voices in the country for America’s working class,” the memo said.

Mr. Shapiro also bolstered his standing with a nearly 22-point reelection victory, which reinforced his image as a Democrat who can thrive in a battleground state.

His success went beyond his own race. Democrats flipped four U.S. House seats in Pennsylvania and captured the state Senate, securing a governing trifecta in Harrisburg alongside their existing state House majority. That opens a path for priorities that have been stalled for years, including a minimum-wage increase. A win there could further strengthen his appeal to Democratic primary voters.

Democratic governors in reliably blue states also padded their resumes. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore cruised to reelection by more than 29 percentage points, adding another commanding win to the record of a politician already seen as a rising star in the party. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker won reelection by 23 points after spending nearly $40 million to help Democratic candidates this cycle, according to the Chicago Tribune.

On Wednesday, Mr. Pritzker rolled out “Fighting for Illinois: The Day One Agenda,” a policy wish list for the incoming Congress that he says includes 200 proposals such as reversing the Medicaid and food stamp cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, halting mass immigration roundups and deportations, and passing legislation to return what it calls unlawful tariff payments to consumers.

Mr. Pritzker also renewed his calls on Congress to end the war in Iran, raise the federal minimum wage, provide universal healthcare and childcare, and codify abortion rights.

“Americans made their voices heard, and this is an opportunity for Congress to immediately address the challenges of working people: higher wages, lower costs, rooting out corruption,” Mr. Pritzker said.

Former South Carolina governor and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley told Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin on the “TODAY” show that Republicans should not spend the day after the midterms “whining, complaining or pointing fingers.”

She said the GOP can’t blame “the media, academia or Hollywood,” which she said have been against them for years, “and we’ve won.” 

Republicans “didn’t listen to the American people,” who she said were telling them that groceries, gas and health care are too expensive, while Washington was focused on what she called “self-dealing and corruption.”

Asked whether this was the beginning of the end of the Trump era, Ms. Haley responded, “It depends on if the Trump administration suddenly realizes, Okay, we better start talking about what the American people are suffering from, instead of focusing on what buildings we’re gonna build in D.C., what else we’re gonna do to help pad our pockets.” 

She said Republicans haven’t acted like fiscal conservatives over the last two years, saying, “I don’t think Democrats won. I think Republicans lost,” calling Republicans “tone deaf” and pointing to losses in South Carolina and the Texas governorship. 

Ms. Haley also warned Democrats to “be careful what you wish for,” saying they had elected a handful of “Democrat socialist” candidates whom she said want to “eliminate law enforcement, prisons and private insurance” and asked whether the Democratic Party would pursue impeachments or listen to voters. 

Ms. Haley concluded that both parties need to reflect because “a lot can change” in two years.

Two GOP lawmakers, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan and current House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, have announced their intentions to run for Republican House minority leader.

The president, who has wielded significant influence in past House leadership contests, said he has no plans to get involved this time around.

“We’ll stay out of it,” Trump said, answering reporters’ questions at the White House.

He said Speaker Johnson was “fantastic” and said he did not ask him to step down as the leader of House Republicans.

“The people under him were fantastic, all good people,” Trump said.

District residents strongly supported a ban on foie gras during Tuesday’s election, meaning the days are numbered for the duck and goose liver delicacy on D.C. menus — that is, as long as the city can enforce it.

Roughly 73% of voters backed Initiative 86, which calls for banning the sale of fattened bird liver products that come from force-feeding the avian animals.

The initiative’s passage was a banner day for Pro-Animal DC, the activist group that got the measure on the ballot.

“We just won a major battle in the fight against force-feeding, and the foie gras industry is freaking out,” the group said on social media late Tuesday. “Ducks and geese will no longer be force-fed to supply this gross form of animal torture to Washington DC. We just won in the nation’s capital. This is a huge deal.”

The advocates said the District is the third-largest consumer of foie gras nationwide, striking a major blow to the luxury food item that comes from French cuisine.

Voters in Denver also approved a ban on foie gras Tuesday, joining California and New York, as well as Pittsburgh and Portland, Oregon.

The measure says restaurants that violate the ban will be fined anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000, and eateries that repeatedly violate the restriction could have their business license suspended or revoked.

The District’s Department of Energy and Environment is tasked with leading the crackdown when the ban kicks in July 1.

The city’s culinary industry has already rallied to oppose the new initiative.

The Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington said in a statement that it’s “concerned about the foie gras ban and the precedent it sets for government dictating what restaurants can serve and diners can choose.”

The organization said these are not simple yes-or-no questions to be listed on a ballot and should instead be hashed out in public hearings held by the D.C. Council.

Burt Hutchins, head chef of Butterworth’s in the heart of Capitol Hill and a vocal critic of the city’s anti-foie gras movement, said Tuesday’s vote was “largely symbolic.”

He said the city still has to foot the more than $300,000 bill to make the initiative enforceable, and he said there are bigger budget needs on lawmakers’ minds than creating the “foie gras police.”

Mr. Hutchins also said the activists misunderstand the basic biology of ducks, which has powered their arguments calling the practice animal cruelty.

He said ducks overfeed every winter in the same manner they are force-fed to make foie gras, and their esophaguses have few nerve endings that make the process more natural for them. Mr. Hutchins said he believes the I-86 advocates have more ambitious motives than merely banning the luxury food item.

“The campaign is being funded by out-of-state vegans who very explicitly have said, on multiple occasions, that this was just low-hanging fruit, so it was like their best chance to get a win of any kind on the path to banning meat altogether,” he said.

The chef was serving a multi-course foie gras meal prior to Tuesday’s vote in order to raise money for the coming legal fight. Ongoing litigation has prevented New York from enforcing its own foie gras ban that was passed in 2019.

When asked if he will continue serving foie gras after the measure takes effect next summer, Mr. Hutchins responded that he will be serving the dish “forever.”

And then there was one.

Come January, Sen. Lisa Murkowski will be the last Republican in Congress who supported impeaching Trump during his first term.

It comes after Rep. David Valadao of California lost to Democrat Randy Villegas. Valadao had been a GOP survivor, defying the odds to win a series of tough races. But he couldn’t overcome Villegas and the overwhelming repudiation of Trump that voters delivered this week.

Ten House Republicans, including Valadao, voted to impeach Trump following the Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021. Seven GOP senators voted to convict him, and of the five who remain, all but Murkowski will be leaving Congress in January.

Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana lost his GOP primary earlier this year after being targeted by Trump. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine lost the general election last night. And in the House, Rep. Dan Newhouse of Washington is retiring.

Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, a Democrat, beat Republican businessman Rick Jackson to become the nation’s first Black female governor, succeeding the GOP’s Gov. Brian Kemp. Democrats also swept the other statewide constitutional offices.

“The voters of our state have spoken. As long as I’m governor, we will always respect the results of secure, accessible, and fair elections, and also abide by the laws and constitution of our state,” Kemp said. “I will not be calling a special session of the Georgia General Assembly in order to curtail executive branch powers or debate redistricting changes.”

But Kemp did say he might call state legislators back to tend to “budgetary issues that may need to be addressed before the convening of the regular session in January.”

Michigan Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed used his victory speech to dog on those in the Trump world who attacked him and his campaign platform.

The Democrat who defeated Republican Mike Rogers said his opponents “went all-in on one of the ugliest campaigns we’ve seen in our lifetimes,” pushing back on anti-Muslim rhetoric and attacks on his identity.

He said President Trump’s comments about him became “uglier and coarser.”

“They might have been pointing to my name and my faith, but we all know my name and my faith are not why you can’t afford your gas,” he said in his victory speech. “To all the parents who struggled to explain why the president openly mocks someone for their name or how they pray, let them know tomorrow that the bad guys lost.”

Mr. El-Sayed is the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate.

“They want an America that is too small for some of us, but we know America is big enough for all of us,” he continued.

Similar to his campaign speeches, he emphasized domestic relief — noting how hard it is to buy groceries or fill a gas tank — and criticized U.S. funding abroad.

“We want our taxes spent here, for schools here, and healthcare here, and infrastructure here. We don’t want our money sent to do apartheid, or genocide, or war,” he said.

Addressing the president, who repeatedly misnamed and attacked him during the campaign, Mr. El-Sayed said, “Donald, I know you struggled with my name. So after [Vice President J.D. Vance] swears me in in January, you can just go on and call me ‘Senator.’”

Mr. El-Sayed said that with Mr. Vance “constitutionally obligated” as president of the Senate to swear in new members, it was a “delicious irony.”

He told his opponent to “enjoy your retirement” and added, “May we never have to see the likes of you in the state again.”

Nodding to his Arabic heritage, having been born to Egyptian immigrants, he said, “Up until right about now, you might have noticed I always say ‘inshallah,’ or ‘God willing,’ whenever the outcome of this race was mentioned.

“But today, tonight, we can turn that inshallah into alhamdulillah!” — adding for context that it means “praise be to God.”

Former South Carolina governor and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley told Savannah Guthrie and Craig Melvin on the “TODAY” show that Republicans should not spend the day after the midterms “whining, complaining or pointing fingers.”

She said the GOP can’t blame “the media, academia or Hollywood,” which she said have been against them for years, “and we’ve won.” 

Republicans “didn’t listen to the American people,” who she said were telling them that groceries, gas and health care are too expensive, while Washington was focused on what she called “self-dealing and corruption.”

Asked whether this was the beginning of the end of the Trump era, Ms. Haley responded, “It depends on if the Trump administration suddenly realizes, Okay, we better start talking about what the American people are suffering from, instead of focusing on what buildings we’re gonna build in D.C., what else we’re gonna do to help pad our pockets.” 

She said Republicans haven’t acted like fiscal conservatives over the last two years, saying, “I don’t think Democrats won. I think Republicans lost,” calling Republicans “tone deaf” and pointing to losses in South Carolina and the Texas governorship. 

Ms. Haley also warned Democrats to “be careful what you wish for,” saying they had elected a handful of “Democrat socialist” candidates whom she said want to “eliminate law enforcement, prisons and private insurance” and asked whether the Democratic Party would pursue impeachments or listen to voters. 

Ms. Haley concluded that both parties need to reflect because “a lot can change” in two years.

The Democratic Socialists of America is celebrating widespread wins across the U.S. after its candidates racked up more than 50 election victories.

In a social media post, the largest socialist organization in America said that the midterm elections “prove socialism can win in the U.S.”

“Workers deserve more and a reality where all of us live with dignity and hope is closer than we think,” DSA said Wednesday. “The job’s not done, though. Tomorrow, we continue organizing, fighting, and winning for the working class!”

At the New York City-DSA Astoria watch party, co-chair Gustavo Gordillo said the night would send the largest bloc of socialists to Congress in U.S. history, adding that “2028 is ours for the taking.”

He credited New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a socialist, with giving Democrats such as Texas Senate winner James Talarico credibility on an economic populist agenda.

Candidates backed by the DSA won five new U.S. House seats in New York, Colorado, Michigan and Pennsylvania, and DSA member Janeese Lewis George was elected mayor of the District of Columbia.

DSA-backed candidates also won state, county and local offices on Tuesday.

The Tampa DSA chapter said Ashley Herrmann’s election win made her the first socialist elected to the Florida Legislature in more than a century.

Prominent figures in the never-Trump movement were close to giddy in the wake of Tuesday’s election drubbing for the GOP, pronouncing it a long-awaited comeuppance for a party that leashed itself to President Trump.

Some took delight in mocking losing Republican candidates on social media, while others settled scores with I-told-you-so posts. And some just basked in being right.

“Six months ago, I predicted a political tsunami,” Steve Schmidt, who was a senior adviser to Sen. John McCain, said on Substack. “I believed Trump’s coalition was far weaker than it appeared. I believed Americans were preparing to judge his corruption, his cruelty, his war and his economic failures. I believed that judgment would reach into states and races the political establishment had written off. Yesterday, it did.”

Mike Murphy, another GOP campaign consultant who worked for McCain and Jeb Bush, said the election meant the “Trump show was finally canceled.”

“Trump has brought a Chornobyl-level disaster to the Republican Party tonight,” he said.

The White House argued Mr. Trump wasn’t to blame for the losses, noting that poor candidates failed to excite voters.

White House officials pointed out that when Mr. Trump himself is on the ballot, Republicans turn out.

The never-Trumpers saw it differently.

Tim Miller called the decision to launch a war with Iran a “policy that was so monumentally stupid that they have unraveled the entire Republican coalition.”

President Trump said Wednesday he doesn’t regret getting involved in the Iran war even though he acknowledged it contributed to the GOP’s devastating defeat in the midterms.

In his first public appearance since the elections, Mr. Trump said even if he knew the war would result in a midterm shellacking for the Republicans, he would still have gone ahead with the strikes.

“If I had to do it again, I’d do it again because, long term, it’s the only answer. You can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon,” Mr. Trump said at a White House event celebrating his ballroom. “You have no choice,” he said.

“I would have done nothing different,” he said.

Mr. Trump, whose party lost control of Congress in the midterm election, stood by his decision to attack Iran in February, even as voters delivered a sweeping rejection of his leadership and policies.

He said he agreed with Vice President J.D. Vance’s assessment that voters were angry over the war, but insisted the conflict was worth it.

“I think it’s largely true,” he said of Mr. Vance’s comments. “It drove gasoline up a little bit short-term. But we had to and will continue to do it.”

Mr. Trump also said he wasn’t worried — “not even a little bit” — about getting impeached by the incoming Democrat-run Congress.

“I think it would destroy the Democratic Party if they did that. Impeachment for no reason. What? For having a successful country? Our country is more successful now than any time in its history,” Mr. Trump said.

If House Democrats decide to do it, Mr. Trump would face a historic third impeachment and likely break his own record for being the most impeached president.

Several Democrats have already called for impeaching Mr. Trump over his handling of the Iran war and allegations he’s sought to enrich himself through the presidency. Rep. Jamie Raskin, Maryland Democrat, said the president committed numerous impeachable offenses during his second term, including usurping congressional authority to attack Iran.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is poised to become speaker, has said Democrats would follow the evidence and constitutional requirements before deciding whether to pursue another attempt to remove the president.

The president’s unapologetic defense of the war with Iran marks a rare acknowledgment from him that one of his policy decisions was widely unpopular and came with a steep political cost.

The Iran war disrupted global energy markets, drove up gasoline prices and complicated Mr. Trump’s efforts to persuade Americans that his economic policies are improving their lives.

The war also put Mr. Trump at odds with his 2024 campaign promise to avoid new foreign conflicts. That argument helped him appeal to voters weary of prolonged American military engagements overseas.

Democratic candidates seized on the conflict throughout the midterm campaign, accusing the president of prioritizing a costly foreign war while American families struggled with rising prices.

The criticism appeared to resonate with voters. In a Fox News survey conducted between Oct. 19 and Election Day, 74% of respondents identified the Iran war as a crucial or major factor in their congressional voting decisions.

Mr. Trump had repeatedly suggested that the war would end before or shortly after the midterms, while leaving open the possibility of renewed military strikes if diplomatic negotiations fail.

U.S. Rep. Kat Cammack said it’s time for the Republican Party to have a “family discussion and a frank one at that” following its election “wipeout.”

Asked about the House Republican leadership, the Florida Republican told Fox News, “Last night was a referendum on all of the leadership in Washington. For anyone who is looking for my support, I want to see a game plan because the same tired playbook is not going to work.”

She said the party will be “missing the bigger picture” if it only focuses on the 2028 elections, including for president.

“We need to be prepared for the next 10, 15, 20, 50 years, and the same tactics are not going to do it. … It’s clear (voters) weren’t happy with our performance,” she said.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries says the midterm election results are a “stunning rebuke of MAGA extremism.”

“It wasn’t simply a blue wave. It was an American tsunami,” he said during a celebratory news conference.

Jeffries projected that Democrats would win at least 255 House seats, and cited the party’s gains in gubernatorial races and the Senate.

“It was a great victory for the American people,” Jeffries said.

President Trump said Tuesday that the Iran war played a role in the midterm election results that saw Republicans lose control of the House and Senate.

“I think people agree with what I’m doing on Iran, but they really probably weren’t willing to do the short-term consequence of paying more for gasoline,” Mr. Trump said in an interview with Fox News that ran almost 30 minutes into Wednesday morning.

“Historically, I think it’s going to be much more important than this evening because you can’t let the No. 1 state sponsor of terror have a nuclear weapon,” he said.

“I think historically I will be judged for having done the right thing, but it gave us an evening that was not that pleasant,” Mr. Trump said with uncharacteristic understatement.

The eight-month war emerged as a major political liability for Republicans, with voters increasingly frustrated by rising gasoline prices, economic uncertainty and the administration’s handling of the conflict.

The war sent energy prices soaring, raising the already high cost of living.

Democrats made the war a central part of their closing argument, accusing Mr. Trump of dragging the country into an expensive confrontation while Americans struggled with the cost of living.

The president had pledged in October that American forces would not launch additional attacks against Iran before the election, citing progress in diplomatic negotiations.

But U.S. forces carried out limited strikes against Iranian targets near the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, just hours before voters headed to the polls. American military officials described the operation as defensive and said it followed Iranian fire against a U.S. aircraft.

Early exit polls suggested Mr. Trump faced significant dissatisfaction among voters, with his approval rating standing at roughly 38%, according to CBS News.

About six in 10 voters said the president was a factor in their House vote, but the overwhelming number of that group said his influence was negative.

The results underscored the extent to which the midterms had become a referendum on his second term and raised questions about the president’s handling of Iran.

Vice President J.D. Vance said Wednesday that Republicans’ problem in the elections wasn’t that they didn’t show up — but that they did show up, only to cast votes for Democrats.

The No. 2 Republican delivered a striking mea culpa, saying those who’d been warning for months that the GOP was on the wrong track were correct.

That included voters angered by higher prices, but chiefly upset over President Trump’s deepening involvement in the Middle East, he said on social media.

“The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night,” Mr. Vance said.

“If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest,” he said. “But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.”

He specifically discounted the idea that Mr. Trump’s mass deportation campaign was the cause, saying that while tweaks to the operation may be welcome, blaming the GOP’s immigration message was “gaslighting.”

“I’m open to the idea that we should change enforcement — by focusing more on businesses that hire illegal labor, for instance. But anyone pushing amnesty is lying to you,” he said.

Mr. Vance, who had been seen as a likely contender for Mr. Trump’s seat in 2028, said voters who backed him and Mr. Trump two years ago abandoned Republicans this time.

“To the people who are pissed off and want to say, ‘I told you so’: you’re right, you did tell us so. Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview. To the people who are just pissed at the results, you should be. Let’s take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country,” Mr. Vance said.

Democrats’ massive gains in Congress have set up a race for Republican House minority leader.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, informed staff on Wednesday that he won’t seek the top GOP leadership spot in the new Congress.

Rep. Jim Jordan, Ohio Republican, entered the race with a letter to his colleagues.

“We can expect Democrat legislation to wreak havoc on every sector of our economy and transform time-tested American institutions,” he wrote. “I know the Democrats’ playbook. I know what it will take to lead our Conference in the minority.”

Mr. Jordan, who sought the speaker’s gavel twice, aggressively campaigned alongside Republican candidates this year while winning reelection to Ohio’s 4th Congressional District in a landslide.

He has argued that his experience as chair of the House Judiciary Committee will be useful next Congress, as Democrats have pledged to investigate President Trump and his allies.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican who has been part of GOP leadership for over a decade, officially entered the race with his own letter.

He touted his experience, saying he could help members deliver wins even when the party is in the minority.

“Being in the minority does not mean giving up on delivering policy results,” he wrote. “We can disrupt [Democrats’] agenda and secure wins along the way.”

Mr. Scalise said he would work to “discredit” Democrats’ committee investigations.

Asked by reporters Wednesday whom he backed as House GOP leader, President Trump said, “We’ll stay out of it.”

David McIntosh, president of the Club for Growth, a free-market conservative group, declared his support for Mr. Jordan’s bid.

“He is a conservative fighter, principled, politically savvy, prolific fundraiser, and the best communicator who can lead House Republicans back to the Majority,” Mr. McIntosh said on social media.

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, Minnesota Republican, has said he plans to shift down to minority whip, a move confirmed Wednesday by a House GOP aide.

Mr. Emmer will face a challenge from Texas Republican Rep. August Pfluger, a source confirmed.

Mr. Pfluger chairs the Republican Study Committee, a caucus that includes most House Republicans.

Rep. Greg Steube, Florida Republican, said on social media that current Republican leaders are at fault for the losses and should not seek to hold on to their positions.

“You have been embarrassingly weak and more afraid of governing conservatively than of disappointing the voters who put us in office,” he wrote. “Please do us all a favor and step aside so new leadership can take a truly conservative direction, with the courage to do the things we were elected to do.”

When bruised House Republicans return to the Capitol, they may try to advance an ambitious legislative agenda.

On Wednesday, House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, Maryland Republican, called for an aggressive legislative push before Democrats assume control of both chambers in January.

“House Republicans have only 20 legislative days left in this Congress to stop Democrats from weaponizing looming deadlines against the American people,” he said in a statement.

Congressional Republicans could move unilaterally to raise the debt ceiling — a statutory limit on federal borrowing that Democrats could leverage in the next Congress.

“We must finish the unfinished business now — before they take an axe to the conservative victories secured over the last two years, including ending taxpayer-funded welfare for illegal aliens, stopping the Green New Scam, and slashing waste, fraud, and abuse,” wrote Mr. Harris.

“Clear the decks now, in a fiscally responsible way, so we can lock in these conservative wins without unfinished business giving Democrats new leverage.”

The elections unseated multiple top-ranking Republicans.

Rep. Bryan Steil, a Wisconsin Republican who chairs the House Administration Committee, lost his reelection bid.

Rep. Richard Hudson, the North Carolina Republican who led the National Republican Campaign Committee, also lost.

The North Carolina race of Rep. Virginia Foxx, who chairs the powerful House Rules Committee, was too close to call Wednesday morning.

Voters in Arizona and Nebraska passed measures bolstering their transgender athlete bans, and Florida solidified its position as a GOP stronghold, offering a few bright spots for conservatives on a night featuring a flood of Democratic victories.

Early returns also showed a one-time wealth tax on California billionaires heading for defeat, cheering conservatives and wealthy tech founders in the Golden State.

Arizona approved a ballot measure, 59% to 41%, that would designate sports teams as male, female or co-ed based on the sex of the athletes as recorded at birth. Athletes must stick to their birth-assigned gender when playing.

Similarly, conservatives in Nebraska led a successful effort to require schools to designate sports teams as male, female or co-ed, and to prohibit male participation on female teams.

Voters approved the measure, 68% to 32%, meaning the ban will be added to the state Constitution.

For years, President Trump and Republican allies warned that biological males were seeking an unfair advantage in female athletics or putting women at risk of injury during competition.

Conservatives will relish the victories on an otherwise bleak night for their movement.

Democrats cruised to the House majority and routed Republicans in major Senate races, giving liberals a key check on Mr. Trump during his last two years in office.

Florida was an exception.

Byron Donalds, a Republican congressman and Trump ally, won the governor’s race over Democrat David Jolly, and Sen. Ashley Moody kept her seat by fending off Democrat Angie Nixon.

Taken together, the races underscored Florida’s emergence as a GOP stronghold less than three decades after the “hanging chad” drama in the 2000 presidential race underscored its position as a political battleground.

Elsewhere, Republicans successfully pushed patriotism-related measures.

Alabama voters approved a ballot measure requiring public schools to broadcast or perform the first stanza of the national anthem once per week.

Voters passed the measure, 59% to 41%.

State Sen. Gerald Allen, a Republican who sponsored the effort, said hearing and performing “The Star-Spangled Banner” would bolster national unity.

“Ultimately, this legislation is about more than a song. It is about ensuring that our children understand the significance of our national symbols, appreciate the freedoms they represent, and recognize the importance of civic responsibility,” he said before the vote.

Alabama voters also approved a measure requiring public schools to conduct the Pledge of Allegiance daily and allow for student-led prayer in schools.

Voters in Idaho rejected a measure that would have granted the right to “reproductive freedom,” including an abortion up to the point of fetal viability. The measure failed, 56% to 44%.

Yet pro-choice liberals shored up abortion elsewhere, padding sweeping wins for Democrats in this cycle.

Missouri voters on Tuesday rejected a ballot measure, 55% to 45%, that would have prohibited abortion except in cases of medical emergency, fetal anomaly, rape or incest.

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe and state Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, both Republicans, supported Amendment 3 as a good way to avoid all-or-nothing options on abortion.

Voters rejected the effort, opting to keep the status quo under a 2024 ballot provision that ensured access to abortion in the wake of the 2022 Supreme Court decision that cleared the way for state limits on abortion.

Nevadans voted to add a provision to the state Constitution that protects the right to an abortion until the point of fetal viability or in cases in which an abortion would protect the life or health of the pregnant patient. The measure passed easily, with more than 6 in 10 voters supporting it.

Virginia also solidified abortion rights, using Question 1 on the ballot to create a “fundamental right to reproductive freedom.”

Other ballot measures scrambled political lines.

The proposed 5% tax on California billionaires faced long odds after tech founders spent lavishly on opposition ads and the measure split liberals, with Gov. Gavin Newsom saying a national levy would work better.

Supporters of the wealth tax trailed its detractors, 44% to 56%, on Wednesday as California finished counting votes.

The Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West drove support for the levy, saying the tax was necessary to restore fairness and backfill federal cuts to healthcare funding.

The tax would affect 200 to 250 billionaires in the state.

The issue also divided liberals. While Rep. Ro Khanna cheered the idea, other Democrats said a one-time tax was unsustainable and would chase wealthy residents away, eroding the tax base over the long term.

Mr. Newsom, a Democrat eyeing a run for president in 2028, proposed a nationwide wealth tax on those worth more than $100 million, hoping to avoid state-level taxes that rich people could dodge by moving around the country.

Elsewhere on Election Day, Nebraska voters rejected a measure that would have allowed online sports gambling, and Kentucky constrained the governor from issuing pardons around an election and inauguration day in the state.

Marjorie Taylor Greene has a blunt message for her former party: If Republicans want a future, President Trump must go.

The former Georgia congresswoman, who resigned from Congress last year after breaking with Mr. Trump over the Epstein files, has emerged as one of the president’s sharpest critics. She accused him of abandoning key promises, pointing in particular to the joint U.S.-Israeli strike on Iran that pushed gasoline prices higher and deepened voters’ concerns about affordability.

“If the GOP wants any chance in the future, it will have to kick Donald Trump out of the party,” Ms. Greene wrote Wednesday on X after Republicans were routed in the midterm elections. “He has absolutely destroyed it and the current state of the GOP is a warmongering, corrupt, corporate focused, entity that does not at all reflect the conservative values of its voters.”

Other Republican critics of Mr. Trump also seized on the party’s massive midterm losses.

Former Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, who lost his reelection primary bid to Trump-backed Ed Gallrein, said many Republicans may be second-guessing their support for the president’s foreign policy.

“I wonder how many of my colleagues would like a chance to go back and change their vote on my Iran War Powers Resolution in March?” he said on X.

Mr. Massie also said voters had used the midterms to hold “Republicans accountable for betraying their promises.

“All Republicans had to do was: 1. Put Americans First 2. Not start another war 3. Prosecute sex traffickers,” he said.

Ms. Greene also took aim at former colleagues who refused to stand up to the president, predicting that few, if any, will challenge him now.

“And those in his administration are going to defend him and stay loyal in hopes for pardons,” she said. “They will probably blame everyone and everything else and continue to worship Trump.”

She said if that remains the party’s course, Republicans could find themselves in the political wilderness for years.

“And if that remains their course, the Republican Party won’t be able to win nationally for decades,” she said.

Nebraskans rejected a ballot measure that would have opened the door to online sports wagering in the state.

The measure failed, 55% to 45%, signaling heartland skepticism about the sports gambling boom sweeping the country.

Measure 440 would have allowed people to wager on sports through internet-based platforms offered by authorized gaming operators. Nebraska would have joined over 30 states that have legalized online sports gambling.

Proponents said gambling revenue would go toward property tax relief.

Critics said the relief would have been nominal and personal gambling losses would lead to reduced consumer credit scores, more consumer bankruptcies and higher auto loan delinquency rates.

The Nebraska Catholic Conference had urged voters to reject the measure, saying Nebraskans would “pay the costs of addiction, family breakdown, and threats to athletes.”

Alabama voters have approved a ballot measure requiring public schools to broadcast or perform the first stanza of the national anthem once per week.

Voters passed the measure, 59% to 41%. 

State Sen. Gerald Allen, a Republican who sponsored the effort, said hearing and performing “The Star-Spangled Banner” would bolster national unity.

“Ultimately, this legislation is about more than a song. It is about ensuring that our children understand the significance of our national symbols, appreciate the freedoms they represent, and recognize the importance of civic responsibility,” he said before the vote. “By taking a small but intentional step each week, we can create opportunities for students to reflect on our shared history and the principles that continue to shape our nation.”

Alabama voters also approved a measure requiring public schools to conduct the Pledge of Allegiance daily and allow for student-led prayer in schools. 

It passed, 63% to 37%.

Mississippi Republican incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democratic challenger Scott Colom are neck-and-neck on the day after Election Day, with Mr. Colom leading the race by just a few dozen votes with 96% of ballots counted.

Counting the remaining ballots could take days. A recount would require a court order, as Mississippi does not have an automatic or candidate-requested recount.

General elections for federal office in Mississippi require only a plurality, so there will be no runoff.

Mr. Colom led by 28 votes shortly after midnight and by 43 votes shortly before 4 a.m. Wednesday.

His campaign seemed like a long shot, but on the day after Election Day, only a handful of votes could determine whether a Democrat represents the Magnolia State.

Mississippi’s provisional ballots were not included in the initial vote and still must be reviewed by election officials.

Some voters who cast this ballot must follow up with the circuit clerk’s office within five business days after Election Day, or by Nov. 10, for the ballot to count, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The Colom campaign estimated 10,000 to 15,000 affidavit ballots remained outstanding.

Mississippi is the only state without a recount provision in state law, according to Ballotpedia.

The state also has no mechanism under state law to contest a U.S. Senate general election, according to Election Law Blog. While it allows some ways to challenge primary elections, including for the Senate, the election code speaks only of countywide contests for general elections.

What could have been a long shot to topple a seat that’s been held by Ms. Hyde-Smith since 2018 is now close to joining Tuesday’s blue wave.

While Mr. Colom said the race is too close to call, he pledged to make sure every vote was counted.

During a Wednesday morning press conference, he said he has a team of lawyers “ready to make sure the law is followed” and said volunteers in each county will “make sure that process is followed.”

He added, “Now, I think that anybody who can look at the math should be able to know where this is going. It’s going to Scott Colom as the next United States Senator, and I’m confident that’s where we’re going, but we’re going to protect the integrity of the process.”

The last Democrat to serve as a senator from Mississippi was John Stennis, who served from 1947 until he retired in 1989.

Both Mississippi Senate seats have been occupied by the GOP since 1989.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s job is in jeopardy after a disastrous showing for Republicans in midterm elections driven primarily by issues connected to the Iran war, a cause he proudly championed alongside President Trump.

Mr. Trump is considering replacing Mr. Hegseth at the Pentagon and has been phoning advisers after the catastrophic election results, according to multiple reports. However, Mr. Trump rejected those reports, saying he is not considering firing the secretary.

“No, I think he’s doing a very good job,” the president said when asked whether he was considering replacing Mr. Hegseth. He said Mr. Hegseth would be “very popular” as a replacement for Marsha Blackburn, the Tennessee Republican who won the state’s gubernatorial race Tuesday and is set to vacate her Senate seat.

Even if Mr. Trump sticks with Mr. Hegseth, a Democratic-controlled Congress may move to impeach him anyway. That threat has dogged the former Fox News host in one form or another since his confirmation in 2025.

High-profile members of the House have openly called for Mr. Hegseth’s impeachment over the past two years.

Rep. Adam Smith, Washington Democrat and expected chairman of the House Armed Services Committee in the new Congress, said this year that he was in favor of impeaching both Mr. Hegseth and Mr. Trump over the Iran war.

Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who lost his primary reelection bid in May, introduced articles of impeachment against Mr. Hegseth in September, accusing him of violating the 1973 War Powers Resolution.

Still, it is unclear how much of a priority Democratic leadership will place on ousting Mr. Hegseth. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat who is expected to become the nation’s first Black speaker of the House, emphasized his party’s commitment to focus on economic issues before moving to impeach Mr. Trump or his Cabinet officials.

“The American people don’t want us to get even. They want us to get things done on their behalf because life is way too expensive,” Mr. Jeffries said.

Mr. Hegseth’s tenure at the Pentagon has been marked by controversy after controversy over the past two years.

Just months after his confirmation, the “Signalgate” controversy raised serious questions about the integrity of secure communications within the Pentagon after Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic, was inexplicably added to a group chat planning airstrikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen.

In September 2025, a military strike in the Caribbean destroyed a speedboat allegedly carrying drugs for the Tren de Aragua cartel, killing nine people immediately and leaving two survivors. A follow-up airstrike then killed those survivors.

News of the “double tap” strike infuriated some on Capitol Hill, who saw it as a clear violation of the Geneva Conventions, potentially constituting an extrajudicial killing.

Democrats have also implied that Mr. Hegseth has blocked officer promotions based on their race or gender and has obscured true casualties of the Iran war from the American public.

Mr. Hegseth has made few friends at the Pentagon during his tenure and has often alienated some top military commanders via his confrontational public appearances.

Numerous high-ranking officers told The Washington Times last year that Mr. Hegseth’s theatrical speech before hundreds of generals and admirals gathered at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia was “embarrassing” to many in leadership positions who judged it as “below our institution.”

That criticism coincided with a widespread overhaul of the Pentagon’s leadership, spearheaded by Mr. Hegseth. High-level military sources told The Times late last year that the firings, early retirements and resignations fundamentally weakened the U.S. strategic position.

Those high-profile departures have continued since then, and the Iran war has exacerbated the potential risks to American military readiness abroad.

Most recently, Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia, director of strategy, plans and policy on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was removed from his post after he was accused of leaking to the media classified information about the Iran war and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Other high-profile removals this year include Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George and Army Secretary Dan Driscoll. Although those departures may have made it easier for Mr. Hegseth to carry out his vision for the Defense Department, they may have left him with few allies who could come to his defense if Democrats move to impeach.

“The blatant and corrosive politicization of our armed forces and purging of the ranks based on loyalty and ideology are high on the list” to be investigated, Mr. Smith said Wednesday.

• Ben Wolfgang and Mike Glenn contributed to this report.

Tuesday’s midterm elections laid bare voters’ deep frustrations over high prices, the Iran war, and concerns over government corruption. Democrats routed their rivals across the map, flipping states that have voted Republican for decades and that Trump won by double digits just two years ago.

President Donald Trump repeatedly encouraged voters to pretend he was on the midterm ballot. They did. And it’s hard to imagine a worse outcome for the Republican President and his party.

Voters absolutely punished Trump’s allies almost everywhere. Democrats won in swing states like Georgia, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and in Republican strongholds of Iowa, Kansas, Texas, and even South Carolina. Trump’s controversial mid-decade redistricting plan appeared to backfire.

Republican losses allowed Democrats to make history in Georgia, where Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms became the first Black woman elected governor in U.S. history, while in Texas, Democrat Gina Hinojosa became its first Latina governor.

Voters nationwide were in the mood for change, according to The AP Voter Poll, which found that roughly three-quarters of voters feel “angry” or “dissatisfied” with the direction of the country.

Among those who had Trump in mind when they cast their vote, about twice as many wanted to express opposition to the Republican President as those who wanted to support him. Most also blamed the Trump administration for high costs: about 6 in 10 say higher than usual prices are “more because of Trump’s policies.”

Trump’s coalition was also fraying: Young voters dramatically shifted away from the GOP after warming to Trump in 2024, while the GOP also lost ground among Hispanics.

With undeniable momentum, Democrats won control of the House and Senate, which will likely curb Trump’s power after he’s faced few limits from a compliant Republican-controlled Congress.

Beyond control of Congress, the extent of these losses could reshape both parties for at least the next two years, as the political world rushes into a new presidential election.

Democrat Troy Jackson defeated Sen. Susan Collins in the Maine Senate race, ending the Republican’s five-term tenure in the Senate.

Ms. Collins, who has served since 1997, is the first Maine senator to lose a re-election bid since Democrat William Hathaway fell to Republican William Cohen in 1978.

Mr. Jackson, a former state Senate president, was a late replacement for Graham Platner, who withdrew as the Democratic nominee.

He won by tapping into voter frustration with President Trump and the high cost of gas, groceries and health care.

That climate proved too much even for Ms. Collins, who has a history of defying electoral expectations and who has pointed to her record of steering federal money to Maine as chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Mr. Jackson has vowed to end the Iran war, defund Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and fight for Medicare for All.

JUNEAU, Alaska — The two major candidates in Alaska’s U.S. Senate race urged supporters to be patient as results began coming in late Tuesday, delivering rousing speeches and expressing confidence against the backdrop of the fallout from allegations of partisan tricks to recruit a candidate with the same name as the Republican incumbent.

The race headlined by two-term Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan and Democratic former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola had been among those expected to play a role in determining which party gained control of the Senate. Democrats had won control before polls closed Tuesday night in Alaska.

“Lower 48 blue wave. But we’re different,” Sullivan told supporters after initial results were reported. Peltola during her election night party said: “We are getting our government back.”

The race brought top Republican officials to Alaska to rally for Sullivan, including President Donald Trump, who placed particular focus on a third candidate in the race, retired teacher Dan J. Sullivan. Trump called him “fake” and ordered that the Justice Department sue to block certification if the incumbent loses, pending an investigation into potential voter confusion.

The lawsuit, filed less than two weeks before the ranked vote election, was dismissed by a federal judge, prompting a Justice Department appeal.

DETROIT — Abdul El-Sayed clinched victory early Wednesday in Michigan’s Democratic Senate race, fending off a hard-charging challenge from Republican Mike Rogers and overcoming concerns about his views on Israel and his support among Black voters.

Mr. El-Sayed held a healthy five-point lead when he went out to speak to supporters in Detroit around 1:30 a.m. and claim victory.

“Michigan, we did it,” Mr. El-Sayed said going on to give his whole name with correct Arabic pronunciation. “I am so proud to stand here as your senator-elect.”

With 78% of votes counted, Mr. El-Sayed led Mr. Rogers by 51.8% to 46.2%, a margin of almost  220,000 votes.

Mr. El-Sayed, a former public health official who becomes the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate, ran an aggressive, nonstop campaign that withstood Republican efforts to tie him to Islamist terror groups and the surprise last-minute endorsement of Mr. Rogers by his Democratic primary opponent.

Despite concerns about Democratic voters abandoning him specifically and the late Rogers endorsement by Rep. Haley Stevens, Mr. El-Sayed only ran about two percentage points behind Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, his party’s victorious gubernatorial nominee.

Running on a promise of “money out of politics, money in your pocket and Medicare for All,” which he turned into a call-and-response chant at rallies, Mr. El-Sayed tested whether the left-wing populist agenda embraced by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani could resonate beyond deep-blue strongholds.

The victory by the son of Egyptian immigrants, his victory suggests that, under the right conditions, that brand of politics can also find a winning audience in battleground states like Michigan.

Republicans had hoped Mr. El-Sayed’s controversial candidacy would give them an opening to win a Michigan Senate race for the first time since 1994 and deal a major setback to Democratic efforts to reclaim the Senate.

Mr. Rogers entered the race with reason for optimism after losing his 2024 Senate bid by fewer than 20,000 votes.

And it turned out though, the night’s blue wave was so strong that Democrats had clinched control of the upper chamber hours before Michigan’s race was called.

Mr. El-Sayed was also aided by President Trump’s declining approval ratings. Throughout the campaign, Mr. El-Sayed argued that Republican policies, including tariffs and the Iran war, were driving up the cost of everyday necessities and making it harder for families to get ahead.

That frustration was evident as voters streamed out of polling places Tuesday, including at St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church in Troy.

Bob Heery, a General Motors employee, said he voted a straight Democratic ticket for the first time in his life to send a message to Mr. Trump.

“He is a bully. You can’t trust him. He is a bad representative of our country. It has been a nightmare,” Mr. Heery said. “Trump is only in office to make himself more money.”

Others voiced a more complicated mix of disappointment and hope.

Ahad Ahmed, a 57-year-old electrical engineer who immigrated from Bangladesh, said he voted for Mr. El-Sayed after backing Mr. Trump in 2024 because he believed the president would keep the U.S. out of foreign conflicts.

“I regret, definitely I regret” that vote, Mr. Ahmed said.

Since then, he has lost the job he held for 25 years, along with his health insurance. His two children, both recent college graduates, have struggled to find work, and he now relies on contract jobs.

“Everything I hoped for has gone to trash,” he said.

Mr. Ahmed said the country needs a check on the Trump administration and that Mr. El-Sayed’s focus on reducing the influence of money in politics and tackling rising costs, from groceries to health care, gives him reason for optimism.

“I’m looking at the light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries celebrated his party’s sweep of competitive House races on Tuesday night, which will give Democrats a comfortable majority come January.

“Today begins the great American comeback,” the New York Democrat said, calling the midterm victory a “change election.”

“The American people have spoken and made clear they’ve had enough of the extremism, enough of the corruption,” he said. “They want a Congress that’s going to deliver for the American people, and that is exactly what House Democrats will do as soon as we get into office in January.”

Mr. Jeffries is poised to become the first Black House speaker, but will first need to be nominated by his caucus and elected by the full House.

He said Democrats understand that voters are giving them congressional majorities to “deliver dramatic change.”

“We need a Congress that puts the American people first,” Mr. Jeffries said. “The wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected tried to buy this election. The American people have responded in a resounding way and made clear that America is not for sale.”

He promised that Democrats would follow through on their affordability agenda and would work to lower costs of housing, groceries, gas and health care.

Mr. Jeffries also said Democrats would work to restore trust in Congress and “bring accountability to those who have visited unprecedented corruption on this country.”

He alluded to President Trump but did not call him out by name as he said, “if you have people in high office who are so focused on enriching themselves, their family members, their friends, or their donors, then they’re not focused on making life better for the American people.”

Mr. Jeffries said the election results are more “patriotic” than partisan.

“This is not a blue moment or a red moment,” he said. “It’s a red, white, and blue moment because America has won tonight.”

President Trump Tuesday night said if he was on the ballot, Republicans would have avoided the shellacking they suffered on Election Night.

“I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE! Thank you for your attention to this matter,” Mr. Trump said on social media.

Mr. Trump, who engaged in a monthlong campaign blitz across dozens of states for Republicans, routinely pleaded with voters at rallies to “pretend” he was on the ballot. Democrats, however, said that phrase also fired up their base to come out to the polls.

The president’s comment came not long after Democrats had flipped several Republican-held House seats on the East Coast in early returns and were poised to take control of the chamber.

Republicans’ apparent losses in North Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Kentucky, along with failures to take out vulnerable Democratic incumbents in Florida, had several television networks already projecting control would flip before the final polls closed at midnight.