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Call it a tsunami, or a blue-nami, an earthquake, a generational defeat, a massacre, or, as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suggested, “close to an extinction level event for Republicans.” However you want to characterize Republicans’ 2026 midterm defeat, it was a holistic drubbing of the Party and a rebuke of the man who leads it.
And that man, not surprisingly, has somehow absolved himself of any responsibility for the rout, a repudiation that could cripple his party long after he’s gone. In the meantime, let’s remind ourselves that Trump is still president and will be for another two years. He remains dangerous, wielding many of the immense powers of a president.
But he will no longer have at his back a pliant Congress. Democrats have wrested control of both houses of Congress from Republicans. As of this writing, Democrats have picked up seven seats in the Senate, while in the House they will have a huge majority, with several races still to be called.
In one night, our divided country came together saying enough war, enough high gas prices, enough corruption, but especially, enough Donald Trump.
We are still trying to wrap our heads around what happened in America Tuesday night. The genuine joy of Democrats wasn’t just a celebration of a win; it was also about realizing that democracy, the voice of the people, worked. Everyday Americans demonstrated their power with their votes, and thus their capacity to send packing those in Congress who refused to stand up to a crooked president.
First, let’s take a close look at what happened. The American electorate flipped seats and shunned Republicans in almost every state from South Carolina to Iowa, from Texas to Nevada. The reprimand was most stinging in the South.
Beginning in the 1960s and with the advent of the Civil Rights Act, Republicans rolled out their racist “Southern Strategy,” to change the monolithically Democratic region. Within 20 years, they successfully shifted the South to Republican. Last night, for the first time in decades, the once reliable red swath at the bottom of the U.S. map turned decidedly blue.
It is eye-popping to see Democrats elected in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Texas. And, as of this writing, Mississippi, yes, Mississippi, is too close to call.
The night was also an organic rejection of Trump’s war on diversity, equality, and inclusion. The Democrats’ historically big tent got bigger. More people of color were elected to the House, Senate, and governorships than ever before, while more than 100 Democratic women were elected to the House, a record.
Georgia chose America’s first Black female governor, Keisha Lance Bottoms. The first Native American woman, Deb Haaland, was elected governor of New Mexico. Gina Hinojosa was elected the first-ever Hispanic governor of Texas.
The Senate will welcome its first openly gay man, Chris Pappas of New Hampshire, and its first Muslim, Michigan’s Dr. Abdul El-Sayed.
The incoming class of elected officials not only brings diversity, it also brings youth. James Talarico, the Senator-elect from Texas, is 37. Melat Kiros, an Ethiopian immigrant, is Colorado’s newest congressperson. The 29-year-old is the first Gen Z woman in the House.
The blue wave also hit state houses across the country. At least 28 governorships are now in Democrats’ hands. Two races, Kansas and Alaska, have yet to be called. Seven state houses and/or state senates flipped, five of which are now Democratic trifectas, meaning the governor and both legislative houses are under Democratic control. Democrats also broke Republican trifectas in four states.
Now as to why. The short answer is Trump. So is the long one.
As election night unfolded, it reminded me of the prescient Senator Lindsey Graham quote from 2016. “If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed… and we will deserve it.”
Just about everything Trump has done during his second term hurt Republicans’ chances in the midterms. He pardoned every January 6 insurrectionist on Day One. He didn’t release the Epstein files. He suddenly started a war with Iran. He pushed millions off health insurance and cut food assistance for millions more. He rewarded his billionaire friends with huge tax cuts. He rekindled his close relationship with Russia’s Vladimir Putin while rebuffing NATO. He imposed tariffs, which raised prices. And he has engaged in so much head-spinning corruption it is hard to keep track.
Trump also made some irrevocably bad political decisions that tipped the scales solidly in favor of the Democrats.
He demanded Republican-led state legislatures engage in unprecedented mid-decade redistricting. Though not all the races have been called, Trump’s “dummy-mandering” has yielded just one net positive seat for Republicans. The Texas delegation, where the gerrymandering push began, actually lost a seat.
And then there are the candidates he backed, who lost in once-reliably red states. In a fit of pique, Trump decided to endorse Ken Paxton, Texas’s scandal-plagued attorney general, over stalwart Senator John Cornyn. Not only did Talarico take Paxton to the cleaners, but Republicans also spent more than half a billion, yes, billion, dollars on the losing race — money that could have supported other races.
Trump installed Darline Graham, with no experience in government, in her brother’s Senate seat when he died unexpectedly in July. He then chose her to run for a full term. Dr. Annie Andrews, who was running far behind Senator Lindsey Graham before his death, won the South Carolina seat by four points.
Trump is unrepentant, pointing fingers everywhere but at himself. “I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!” he wrote on social media.
His vice president, in a rare moment of introspection, said that “Iran was a piece of it,” a notable break with his boss.
Democrats have been handed a rare and decisive win. What they do with it will be the next chapter in this stunning political turn of events. “Americans voted for change, and now Democrats must deliver,” Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, said last night.
Two of the night’s biggest winners had thoughts on that very tall order.
“Our task is not just to contain one president’s wickedness but to heal the brokenness beneath. That this moment is an opening not for restoration but for reformation. The underlying crisis gripping our republic remains, and that therefore our most vital work lies ahead,” Senator Jon Ossoff said in his reelection acceptance speech on Tuesday.
“We have to build bridges in this country. We have to repair the ties that bind us together. That is the new form of politics that we pioneered in Texas. It’s how we won by double digits in the largest red state in the country. And I think it can be a blueprint for our nation going forward,” Talarico said on Fox on Wednesday.
Since Trump took office for the second time, many folks have asked: “What can I do?” Unequivocally, the best and only answer was: Vote. And you, the American people, did. And it worked. So the next question is “What can I do now?” Part of the answer is to do anything and everything you can to reunite the country. Hold your newly elected officials to account. Reach out through community service. Help your neighbors. Help your friends.
America as a whole needs to rededicate itself to the ideals found in the Pledge of Allegiance, “… one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
We have just given ourselves a chance for a fresh start. Now is the hour to seize it.
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Stay Steady,
Dan
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