By Stephen Dinan (The Washington Times)
Voters across the country pulled the lever for blue on Tuesday, ousting Republicans and delivering even longtime GOP stronghold seats to Democrats.
The tsunami swept Republicans from Senate seats in Texas and South Carolina that the GOP had held for decades. It delivered a Democratic senator from Kansas for the first time since the New Deal.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was dumped after three terms, and Republicans also ceded governorships in Nevada, Iowa, Ohio and Georgia — which elected the country’s first Black woman, Keisha Lance Bottoms, to the top post.
And in the House, Democrats were projected winners in 230 seats, and they held leads in dozens of other races as ballots were being counted.
The final tally may not be known for weeks, given the slow counting in some mail-ballot election states out west, but NBC’s projection said Democrats would end up with 258 seats.
The pummeling was nationwide. In Iowa, Democrats went from zero of the state’s four House seats to three, reducing the GOP to a single stronghold in the state’s west.
Pennsylvania and New Jersey saw multiple GOP losses. Two seats in Virginia appeared to have flipped from red to blue. And in Texas, Democrats seemed poised to regain control of the state’s border.
Republican hopes of building a buffer through an unprecedented mid-decade redistricting also failed to help. Incumbents fended off challenges in newly drawn, tougher districts from Alabama to Florida to Ohio.
In North Carolina, Republicans drew lines they hoped would reduce Democrats to just three of the state’s 14 House seats. As of Wednesday morning, Democrats were projected to have won nine seats and the GOP two, with three seats still to go.
Even in places where Republicans prevailed, they ran well behind their — and President Trump’s — performance from 2024.
Republicans went into the night with 218 seats to Democrats’ 214, with one independent and two vacancies.
Projections suggest Democrats will grow by more than 40 seats.
In the Senate, Democrats were projected to have flipped seven seats, giving them at least 54, with several races still too early to call.
Exit polling signaled a large part of the GOP’s problem was Mr. Trump.
His approval rating was below 40%, the lowest of any president heading into a midterm election in 20 years. His own approval had stood at 45% in 2018, during his first term’s midterm election.
Voters weren’t sold on Democrats. Some 53% held an unfavorable view of them. But they were worse on the GOP, with 59% down on Republicans.
On the issues, Democrats generally came out on top, with voters giving them an edge in handling the economy, foreign policy and healthcare. Republicans still prevailed on immigration, and the parties were about even on tax policy.
Asked specifically about Mr. Trump’s actions, though, voters were dismayed.
Some 57% said he’d gone “too far” on immigration enforcement, 62% said it was the “wrong decision” to attack Iran, and 62% said the higher prices they are paying are “because of Trump’s policies.”
The White House said Mr. Trump wasn’t the problem — indeed, he was the solution that was lacking.
“President Trump was not on the ballot, and it’s proven that Trump voters show up when he is on the ballot,” a White House official told reporters. “Also, candidate quality matters, and President Trump did a better job promoting many of the candidates on the ballot than the candidates did themselves.”
Democrats, though, said the results were a resounding rejection of Mr. Trump’s last two years.
“Today begins the great American comeback,” said Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the New York Democrat who has led his party in the House and is in line to become the first Black speaker.
He said he saw Tuesday’s results as a mandate for “dramatic change.”
Control of Congress will put fierce Trump critics at the helm of committees, with the power to pry into administration actions — and authority to subpoena where they believe they are being stonewalled.
Control of the House also means the power to impeach — and there has been no shortage of suggestions of Trump administration figures who could be targets.
This article was made available to WMAL via The Washington Times.
