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Democrats take both chambers of Congress in a sweeping rebuke of Trump

4 November 2026 · Algeria Now

WASHINGTON — American voters handed the Democratic Party control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate in Tuesday’s midterm elections, according to projections by major US news organisations, dealing a heavy blow to President Donald Trump and reshaping the balance of power in Washington for the final two years of his term.

Dozens of House races were still being counted on Wednesday morning, but the scale of the shift was already clear. In the Senate, where Democrats needed a net gain of four seats, they took at least seven from Republicans: Texas, Ohio, North Carolina, Iowa, Kansas, South Carolina and Maine, where five-term senator Susan Collins was defeated. Kansas elected its first Democratic senator since 1932. Democrats also won the governorships of Texas, Ohio, Georgia and Iowa.

A vote on prices and war

Exit polls pointed to an electorate driven by the cost of living. Nine in ten voters called it a major factor, and the president’s approval rating stood at about 38 per cent, on course to be the lowest for any president at a midterm. Fuel prices, which have climbed sharply since the United States and Israel launched their war on Iran in February, weighed heavily on Republican candidates. Mr Trump congratulated the Democrats, said he would accept the results and promised to use his veto “liberally”.

In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed, a physician of Egyptian descent who has called for an end to US funding for Israel’s war in Gaza, won a Senate seat. In the Democratic primary, he had beaten a pro-Israel rival despite some 30 million dollars spent against him by a group linked to the pro-Israel lobby. He is set to become the first Muslim to serve in the US Senate.

What changes, at home and abroad

From January, Democrats will control legislation, the budget and congressional investigations. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries is expected to become Speaker, and his party has promised close oversight of the administration. A Democratic Congress cannot dictate foreign policy, which remains largely in the president’s hands, and overriding a veto requires a two-thirds majority in both chambers. But it can hold hearings on the cost of the Iran war, scrutinise military aid to Israel, examine arms and nuclear deals with Gulf states, and push back on tariffs.

For the Arab world and Africa, the result opens a period of divided government in Washington. Algeria, which has consistently called for an end to the war in Gaza, for de-escalation in the Gulf and for the settlement of conflicts under international law and UN resolutions, will be watching whether the new Congress turns the voters’ rejection of war into concrete limits on American policy.

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