Democrats won a historic victory Tuesday night, taking back the House and Senate in a Blue Wave that sent shock waves throughout traditionally Red States.
Democrats have so far won 232 seats — more than the majority of 218 — in the House, with soon-to-be House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., predicting a final total of 255 seats. In the Senate, Democrats are looking at potentially 56 seats, with races in Mississippi and Alaska trending toward the Democratic challenger.
While Democrats scored big wins in Tuesday's election, their ability to enact their agenda will be severely diminished with President Donald Trump in the White House. The Executive Branch has veto power, and Trump will likely use that power if Democrats pass radical legislation of which Trump disapproves. Trump said as much in The Wall Street Journal, but also said he didn't want to spend the next two years vetoing legislation, signaling a willingness to work with Democrats to improve the country.
Focusing on affordability or hatred of Trump ?
Jeffries has stressed that Democrats will focus on affordability issues, telling CNN's Wolf Blitzer that Democrats would "fight for an affordable America." When asked about investigating the Trump administration and Trump's family, Jeffries stayed on message, saying Democrats would focus on gas prices and health care. He echoed this agenda to CBS News, claiming that no one in his caucus has discussed impeaching Trump.
"We've been relentlessly focused on affordability and on accountability," he said.
Yet immediately after winning, many prominent Democrats posted on X about doing the exact opposite: Persecuting Trump and his administration.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York vowed to keep Trump mired in investigations, saying: "Whenever Trump defies the will of the American people or the law, we will launch investigations, take him to court, entangle him in legislative razor wire."
The listmaking of lawfare begins
They are going to need to plant new forests for all of the subpoenas we’ll be printing. https://t.co/ZtoXHeeAQK
— Ed Markey (@EdMarkey) November 4, 2026
Democrats have already shown a willingness to stretch what the "law" means, as they did in New York when state Attorney General Letitia James filed a civil fraud lawsuit against Trump alleging he inflated the value of his assets to receive a loan even though the loan was repaid with interest, meaning there were no victims of any alleged crime.
Similarly, New York Democrats passed a temporary law to remove the statute of limitations on rape allegations to allow E. Jean Carroll to file a lawsuit against Trump alleging he raped her and defamed her when he denied her unprovable allegations. Trump was found not liable for rape by a New York Jury in that case, but was hit with defamation and sexual abuse findings and ordered to pay Carroll millions.
Democrats in the Biden administration also unleashed Special Counsel Jack Smith to gin up allegations against Trump and his allies following the 2020 election. And Democrats twice impeached Trump in the House when they were in control, only to have the Republican-controlled Senate acquit him.
Democrats talked about gas prices, but where do they stand?
Democrats hammered Trump and Republicans on high gas prices, even though prices aren't as high as they were the last time Democrats were in control during the Biden administration. Gas prices reached a historic peak of $5.02 per gallon in June 2022 under President Biden, while the highest price under Trump has been $4.56 per gallon.
When Democrats were in office under Biden, they passed the Inflation Reduction Act. That turned out to not reduce inflation but instead increased it, according to the GOP-led House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The committee also pointed out that it provided around $370 billion for renewable energy.
At the same time, Democrats had opposed pipelines until about a month ago, when they began allegedly shifting their stance to win the election.
So far, the only plan put forth by Democrats to lower gas prices is to end the conflict in Iran. Democrats have floated the use of a War Powers Resolution to end funding. Republicans took a similar tactic with President Obama, but the plan went nowhere.
One of the things the data analysts on our side obsessed over was "composition"—whether the electorate looked close enough to 2024 for Republicans to win. And despite polls that showed a Democrat blowout, the data kept on telling us the same story: in some states turnout was…
— JD Vance (@JDVance) November 4, 2026
Healthcare was a winning issue even without a plan
Democrats also ran on lowering the cost of healthcare, even though it was their super majorities under Obama that passed the Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and informally known as Obamacare. The New York Times reported that after its passage, there was a massive increase in healthcare prices.
Democrats may try to reenact the Obamacare subsidies from the COVID era, but such a move would almost certainly be vetoed by Trump after Republicans let the temporary subsidies expire in 2025.
The only plan some Democrats have put forth has been "Medicare for All," which would cost an estimated $447 trillion in federal spending over the next 10 years while eliminating private health insurance and drastically increasing the wait times to see doctors. At the same time, reimbursement rates would be lower than private insurance rates, leading providers to offer fewer services.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion a Democratic victory chant
Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., celebrated Democrats' midterm success by cheering, "DEI is back!" Yet, one of the major components of DEI and Democrats' "woke" agenda, transgenderism, took massive blows Tuesday night, with voters in Colorado and Washington State (both Blue States) voting on referendums that would keep boys out of girls' sports.
The Facts Inside Our Reporter's Notebook
Links
- predicting
- in the Wall Street Journal
- telling
- stated on X
Subpoenas.
— Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) November 4, 2026 ">a simpler statementRobert Garcia statement:
— Max Cohen (@maxpcohen) November 4, 2026 ">posted in all caps
"Lawyer up." pic.twitter.com/43lXowwaFgNoem, Markwayne, Miller, Homan, Bovino, what’s up?
— Congresswoman Delia C. Ramirez (@repdeliaramirez) November 4, 2026 ">was more specific
Clear your schedule.- passed a temporary law
- also unleashed
- but increased it
- Gas prices
- Inflation Reduction Act
- allegedly shifting their stance
- end
- but the plan went nowhere
- have acknowledged
- banning of gas stoves
- opposing pipelines
- massive increase
- cost an estimated $447 trillion
- DEI is back
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