Democrats win Congress: How they did it, and what it means | US Midterm Elections 2026 News | Al Jazeera

With control of Congress, Democrats can challenge Trump’s agenda through subpoenas, confirmation votes.
The Democratic Party has pulled off a stunning upset in the United States midterm elections, flipping multiple bellwether seats to win comfortable control of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The party’s total in the 100-seat Senate has now reached 54, with leads in two others. The Associated Press news agency also reported that the party had won the House of Representatives, marking the first time since Barack Obama’s second term that an incumbent president has had neither chamber of Congress with him.
With several races still too close to call, it could be several days before the final results are known, but several Democrats have already painted the outcome as a defeat for US President Donald Trump, who has himself conceded that his opponents bettered his party’s campaign.
We take a look at how the Democrats won control of the US Congress, and what they could do with that power.
The Democratic Party flipped several seats in the Senate, including many that it has not won in decades.
The Democrats have won the House, according to the AP, crossing the 218-seat mark needed for a majority in the 435-member chamber.
These wins include several seats that were previously held by the Republican Party.
With their victory in the House, hours after securing control of the Senate, the Democrats now control both chambers of Congress.
Democrats had promised to end the US-Israel war on Iran, bring down the cost of living and hold the Trump administration accountable for alleged abuses of power, if they won Congress. But following through on those promises may not be easy.
The House and the Senate help pass laws and approve government spending. But neither chamber can act alone, and each has powers the other does not.
For instance, the Senate is uniquely empowered to approve Trump’s nominations to top government posts. With a majority in the Senate, Democrats can block the president from appointing allies as ambassadors, cabinet members and federal judges, including on the Supreme Court.
The party that holds the majority in the Senate also gets to control committees that can launch investigations, demand documents and summon witnesses to testify.
Separately, if a president or top government official is successfully impeached by the House, the Senate is then tasked with overseeing a trial that could result in the defendant’s removal from office.
Trump was impeached twice during his first term as president, in 2019 and 2021, but the Senate acquitted him on both occasions.
Commanding a Senate majority will also give Democrats greater power over legislation. Both chambers of Congress must pass a bill before a president can sign it into law.
There is a significant hurdle to the Democrats advancing their legislative agenda, though.
Even measures that have bipartisan support – like raising the minimum wage – would have to get past Trump’s veto. Trump has already signalled he plans to use the power liberally, telling a podcast on Monday, “I’ll veto everything.”
To override a veto, Democrats would need to rally a two-thirds majority in both chambers, meaning they would need some Republicans on their side.
Laura Blessing, a senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Government Affairs Institute, expects a Democrat-led Congress to actively wield its constitutional power to investigate.
“In terms of time spent and newspaper ink spilled, this is where you’re going to see the most action from Dems, by a mile,” she told Al Jazeera in an email.
Senator Richard Blumenthal is currently the ranking Democrat on the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. He is expected to become its chair as a result of Tuesday’s vote.
In September, ahead of the elections, Blumenthal suggested to the Reuters news agency that Democrats would leverage their congressional majority to scrutinise Trump administration activities. “We will use our subpoena power, absolutely,” he said.
Congressional investigations, which do not require White House approval, could make life harder for Trump, whose family has spent the last two years expanding its business interests into everything from cryptocurrency and drones to artificial intelligence and prediction markets.
Trump’s personal wealth has soared by an estimated $2.2bn, according to financial disclosure forms released this year.
Democratic senators have already been laying the groundwork for such investigations. Some have sent letters to companies and government departments, demanding they preserve records.
Those requests have broached a range of subjects, including the private donations Trump solicited for his White House ballroom and accusations of partisan investigations.
Whether everyone will cooperate, however, is another question. Trump administration officials could challenge any future Senate subpoenas in court, potentially delaying investigations for months or years.
While Blessing does not expect “Trump’s nuclear family to show up to a subpoena”, she said there are many other witnesses Democrats could question, including government employees and people working for organisations linked to Trump’s inner circle.
That could help Democrats uncover potential wrongdoing involving Trump and his allies. But even if they do, there is no guarantee of legal consequences. Democrats could take evidence of a possible crime to prosecutors, but the Department of Justice under Trump would have to decide whether to pursue charges.
Impeachment is also a possibility if criminal action is uncovered, but no president has ever been removed from office as a result of such proceedings.
That has left some Democrats wondering how much time they should spend investigating Trump instead of focusing on issues that affect voters more directly.
“We just have to be thoughtful and strategic about where investigative work goes and not allow that to distract us from solving fairly immediate cost proble