Democrats scored a seismic victory in the midterm elections , flipping both chambers of Congress from Republican control and setting the stage to challenge President Donald Trump 's policy priorities from a position of strength.
The Democratic victories spanning a surprising number of House districts Senate seats means the party will be able to launch congressional investigations with subpoena power.
Democrats could eye the financial windfall Trump, his family members and his political allies have enjoyed since he regained the White House. They will likely examine the president's controversial heavy-handed enforcement of immigration, his use of the Department of Justice to target people he considers enemies and favorable business dealings.
As of early Wednesday morning, Democrats were projected to win at least 245 House seats, with Republicans winning a minimum of 160 seats, according to the CNBC Election Desk.
A number of Democratic candidates won in House districts that were redesigned by Republican-controlled state legislatures with the intention of easing the way for GOP candidates to win.
Democrats were on track to hold at least 54 seats in the Senate, with Republicans likely to hold at least 42 seats. The big Democratic winners on Tuesday night include James Talarico in the Texas Senate election. He overcame an unprecedented flurry of $212 million in spending by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to boost the candidacy of Republican nominee Ken Paxton, the state's scandal-plagued attorney general.
Projected wins for the Democrats in both the House and the Senate could intensify Trump's focus on foreign policy in his final two years in office, experts told CNBC.
Laurel Rapp, director of Chatham House's U.S. and North America Programme, said Trump would be "somewhat constrained" on matters of oversight and investigation, but on foreign policy "he does still retain a lot of latitude."
J.C. Lintzenich, visiting senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund, said that the president is not a "lame duck."
"The president of the United States still has lots of power, lots of authority," he said. "We still have pending action in Iran. We still have an unresolved situation with Russia and Ukraine."
Residents of several U.S. towns and cities voted against the development of data centers in their jurisdictions, as part of a broad AI backlash. The outcomes followed a Pew Research survey over the summer showing that Americans have soured on data centers due to the environmental and energy costs.
In Ashville, Ohio, residents rejected a resolution that would have approved terms for EdgeConneX to build two data center buildings on 195 acres. In Illinois' Joliet Township, southwest of Chicago, voters said no to a measure over whether the city council should approve construction of AI data centers.
"These are non-binding measures, but given the size of the Democrats' victory, adding Texas governorship, and a 29 to 1 lead to restrict data centers, politicians that want to remain employed as politicians are going to heed these messages," Jim Bianco of Bianco Research wrote in a post on X.
2026 Midterm election results: Democrats flip Senate after winning House
