Daniel Wolfram
Historic upsets in Texas, North Carolina, and Ohio seal a 51-seat Senate majority as voters hand Capitol Hill back to the Democrats.
Breaking news: The blue wave is now complete
The Democratic Party has done what was unthinkable just a year ago.
This time last year, it was impossible to find a way for the Democrats to win enough seats to control both houses of Congress. But they found a way.
A blue wave sweeps in
Democrats are projected to win control of the United States Senate, according to election-night projections reported by Reuters and NBC News.
The historic turnaround delivers a sharp rebuke to President Donald Trump, handing the legislative gavel back to Democrats after a fiercely contested midterm cycle.
The sweep shattered traditional Republican strongholds. In a series of stunning upsets, Democratic challengers flipped seats across North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, and deep-red battlegrounds in Texas and Kansas, giving the party at least 51 seats and securing the majority outright, even with late counts still trickling in from Michigan.
Gambles that backfired
As Reuters reported, candidate selection proved equally decisive. Throughout the primary season, Trump actively intervened to replace veteran lawmakers with hardline loyalists.
In Texas, his endorsement propelled Attorney General Ken Paxton past veteran Senator John Cornyn in a bitter primary battle. He pushed Senator Thom Tillis aside in North Carolina for party loyalist Michael Whatley, while controversial Congressman Mike Collins took the nomination in Georgia.
Democrats capitalized on the internal chaos by recruiting seasoned heavyweights. Former North Carolina governor Roy Cooper and former Ohio senator Sherrod Brown instantly turned reliably red states into dead heats. They relentlessly hammered kitchen-table costs.
Republicans tried to counter with the influence of billionaires. Megadonor Elon Musk poured more than $200 million into Texas alone, while conservative groups flooded the airwaves with attacks on immigration. It was not enough. Big spending could not overcome public frustration with the Trump administration.
