For voters focused on household costs and healthcare, the Democratic victory has made delivery the central test of the next Congress.
Stacey Abrams, the founder of Fair Fight Action, said the party had been building towards this outcome since 2010. Vice President J.D. Vance said on Wednesday that much voter frustration centred on the Iran war, which began in late February, disrupted energy markets and sent fuel costs to record highs.
The average US household’s cost of living has risen by around $2,000 since the war began, according to economists at Moody’s Analytics. Inflation and pricing were the No. 1 concern for more than one-third of Americans in an Economist/YouGov poll published in September.
On Tuesday, Democrats won back the House of Representatives and the Senate from Republicans by considerable margins. The elections covered all 435 House seats and 35 of the Senate’s 100 seats, with the remaining seats held over because senators serve six-year terms.
They flipped Senate races in Texas, Kansas and Iowa for the first time in decades. In Kansas, a Democrat won a Senate seat for the first time in nearly 100 years.
Democrats also secured a convincing majority in House contests, including in several states where districts had been redrawn to favour Republicans. Eric Holder, chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, said Republican gerrymandering efforts had backfired.
The campaign was the most expensive ever, according to the brief. Republican candidates in the top five Senate races spent more than $280 million more than their Democratic opponents. Margie Omero, a pollster and Democratic strategist, said contested races consistently moved towards Democrats despite high Republican spending.
Democratic gubernatorial candidates also won in Republican strongholds including Georgia, Ohio and Texas. Heading into 2027, the party will hold at least 28 governorships as well as control of Congress.
Among the winners was Abdul El-Sayed, the first Muslim elected to the Senate. El-Sayed said his Republican opponent, Mike Rogers, had campaigned by weaponising his name and faith. He also agreed with Trump’s scheduled end to roughly $4 billion in annual military aid to Israel.
Keisha Lance Bottoms became the first Black woman elected governor in United States history. Oil prices fell below $100 a barrel, their lowest level in two months, after the Democratic victory.
Ken Martin, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, called the result his party’s biggest win in more than a century. He said voters had given Democrats a mandate to address affordability, health care and systems that exclusively benefit wealthy Americans.
House Democrats have set out a 100-day agenda that includes lowering grocery costs, reversing cuts to healthcare programmes and investigating some members of Trump’s cabinet. Rep. Robert Garcia, who will chair the House Oversight Committee in the next Congress, issued a terse warning on Tuesday: ‘Lawyer up’.
The new Congress will be sworn in on January 3. Until then, the current Republican Congress remains in place. Once Democrats take control, most bills will need 60 votes to overcome a Senate filibuster.
Trump has threatened to veto legislation, telling a podcast on Monday: ‘I’ll veto everything.’ He also said he was ‘not even a little bit’ worried about facing a third impeachment.
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