Democrats Win Senate and House in Midterms as Republicans Lose Seats in South Carolina, Texas, Kansas

Democrats won control of both the Senate and the House in Tuesday's midterm elections, with AP projecting Republican losses in South Carolina, Kansas and Texas and in House seats nationwide. HuffPost reported Democrats were projected to flip Senate seats in Maine, Iowa, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Kansas and Ohio, reaching the 51 seats needed even if Republicans take Michigan, where Democrat Abdul El-Sayed led Republican Mike Rogers. The Senate had been split 53 Republicans to 47 Democrats. In South Carolina, Democrat Annie Andrews defeated Sen. Darline Graham, who became the GOP nominee in August to succeed her late brother, Lindsey Graham. Democrats had not won a Senate race there since 1998. Andrews began spending more than $5 million on ads in August, and an Oct. 5 internal poll showed her up 3 points, strategist Chas Goldman said. State Republican committeeman Tyson Grinstead said 500,000 people who voted in 2024 skipped the midterm. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said relief was on the way. Mississippi was uncalled and Alaska's polls had not closed.

The Blaze, the right-leaning outlet here, calls the result a sweeping blue wave and a rebuke of the Trump administration. It leads with BlazeTV host John Doyle's argument that Democrats won through a different electorate, not better candidates, especially in Texas. The left-leaning Guardian and HuffPost also call it a rebuke of Trump, but explain it differently. The Guardian runs a South Carolina postmortem with a Republican-leaning voter swamped by ads and Grinstead's turnout figure. HuffPost cites Democrats' campaign on Trump's corruption and prices, plus Schumer's remarks. Semafor's distinct angle is Andrews' quiet strategy of withholding polls, while Axios notes Trump distancing himself from the outcome.