Democrats captured both chambers of the United States Congress in Tuesday’s midterm elections, scoring surprise victories in Republican-leaning states and delivering a heavy political blow to President Donald Trump.

The scale of the victory, confirmed by projections from major US media outlets, exceeded the Democratic Party’s own expectations. The party reclaimed control of both the Senate and the House of Representatives, which had until now been dominated by Republicans.

The results represent a profound shift in the balance of power in Washington and will force Trump to contend with an opposition-controlled Congress for the final two years of his presidential term.

According to provisional data released in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Democrats had secured at least 54 seats in the Senate and 225 in the House of Representatives, surpassing the majorities required in both chambers, though several races remained undecided.

The capture of the Senate proved to be the biggest surprise of election night, after Democrats flipped at least seven Republican-held seats, including in traditionally conservative states such as Texas, Kansas, South Carolina, Ohio, and Iowa.

In the House of Representatives, Democrats won more than two dozen previously Republican districts, including some where Trump had won the 2024 presidential election by margins of more than ten percentage points, according to the Associated Press.

The new majority will allow Democrats to control congressional committees, investigate the presidential administration, and block Republican legislative initiatives, while control of the Senate will give them the power to block presidential nominations.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer hailed what he called an extraordinary victory and promised a change in political priorities in Washington.

“Against all odds, we Democrats have won the Senate,” Schumer declared, adding that “relief is on the way” for American families.

The New York senator said the results represent a generational transformation of the Senate’s political map and warned that Democrats must now live up to voters’ expectations.

Trump Blames Defeat on Iran War and Cost of Living

Donald Trump congratulated Democrats but sought to distance himself from the Republican defeat, attributing part of the responsibility to the war in Iran and the performance of his party’s candidates. “I think part of it was Iran,” he said in an interview with Fox News, while defending the importance of the decisions he made regarding the conflict.

The President also acknowledged that voters were unwilling to bear the immediate consequences of rising fuel prices caused by the war.

Trump said Democrats “did a good job” but rejected the notion that the results represented a personal indictment of his presidency. “I was not on the ballot and, if I were, we would have won by a landslide,” he wrote on the Truth Social network.

The President said he was willing to work with Democrats, though he warned he would use his presidential veto to block the passage of legislation he considers unacceptable.

The Democratic wave extended to state gubernatorial races, with particularly significant results in Texas, where Gina Hinojosa defeated Republican Greg Abbott, and in Georgia, where Keisha Lance Bottoms became the first Black woman elected governor of a US state.

Discontent Over Cost of Living

Dissatisfaction with the cost of living, the war in Iran, and concerns over government corruption were among the main factors cited for the election outcome.

According to exit polls cited by multiple media outlets, nearly nine in ten voters said the cost of living was important to their voting decision, and around 70% said Congress should exercise greater oversight over the President.

The new Congress will be sworn in in January, marking the beginning of a period of divided government in Washington, in which Trump will be forced to negotiate with an opposition that now controls the federal legislature.