Democrats win control of US Congress in landslide as Trump branded ‘lame duck’

In a remarkable sweep, the Democrats won Senate seats in the former Republican strongholds of Texas, Kansas, South Carolina, Ohio, Maine and Iowa.

The Democrats have also regained control of the House of Representatives, which they last held in 2023, having flipped numerous seats in states including Kentucky, New Jersey, Indiana and North Carolina.

The midterm elections to Congress were seen as a referendum on the controversial Republican president.

The Democratic victories represent a major blow to Mr Trump, who had previously urged people to pretend he was on the voting slip.

In the face of the crushing losses, Mr Trump posted on his Truth Social platform: “I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!”

Democrats needed a net gain of four seats in the 100-member Senate to win a majority, while in the 435-member House, they needed three.

Speaking to Fox News, Mr Trump admitted the results had surprised him.

“I thought they’d do better, we had tremendous rallies,” he said.

He also congratulated the Democrats and said: “They did a good job. They worked very hard.”

But while offering to work with opponents, he had also posted a picture of a red baseball cap emblazoned with the word “Veto”, suggesting he would block legislation they sought to take through Congress.

“I thought that I could transfer those people into candidates.”

With the Democrats in the driving seat on Capitol Hill, Mr Trump does face having his domestic agenda frustrated as well as the threat of investigations into the conduct of his administration.

However, the president still has executive authority in key areas, including foreign policy.

The election outcome will also influence the debate and party strategies in the run-up to the 2028 presidential race, although there is likely to be dispute over which messages are adopted.

Democrat US senator Jon Ossoff, who won re-election in Georgia which had been a top Republican target, told supporters: “In sweeping and decisive victories the American people have rebuked the depravity, corruption, and incompetence of the failed lame duck president Donald J Trump.

“And if, at times these last two years, amidst the ceaseless onslaught of brutality and indecency, you doubted whether our republic would survive, let tonight’s results give you courage that the first light of dawn is on the horizon.”

The scale of the Democrat victory reflects the deep voter discontent over the cost of living, tariffs and high energy prices fuelled by the Iran war, which Mr Trump launched with Israel earlier this year.

In Kansas, church pastor Adam Hamilton, became the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in nearly a century.

He said: “I think the people in Kansas, Republicans, independents and Democrats are saying what’s happening in Washington is not OK.”

He added: “I got elected because Kansans were saying, ‘We’re tired of the bullies. We’re tired of the chaos.’”

James Talarico became the first Democrat to be elected a US senator for Texas in nearly four decades, defeating Republican Ken Paxton, who had been backed by Mr Trump.

Meanwhile, in Ohio, Democrat Sherrod Brown won a Senate seat in Ohio held by vice president JD Vance just two years ago.

Democrat Annie Andrews beat Mr Trump’s hand-picked candidate Darline Graham to take the South Carolina Senate seat.

Ms Graham was the sister of the late US senator Lindsey Graham, who had held the seat for more than 20 years, and was chosen by the president to fill his seat and contest it in the election.

Democrat Troy Jackson won election to the US Senate representing Maine, defeating Republican incumbent Susan Collins, who had held the seat for almost three decades.

The Democrats also flipped the Senate seat in North Carolina from Republicans when governor Roy Cooper defeated Michael Whatley, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, who was supported by Mr Trump.

Mr Cooper said: “I’m not going to Washington to be something, I’m going to Washington to do something.”

Democrat Abdul El-Sayed has become the the country’s first Muslim senator after defeating Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan, in a bitter campaign that saw a last-minute defection.

Democrats Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia, Amy Acton in Ohio, Rod Sand in Iowa, and Gina Hinojosa in Texas won races for governor, ousting Republicans from office.

In California, long-shot Republican candidate Steve Hilton, a former top aide to David Cameron, lost to former state attorney general Xavier Becerra.

The UK Government will continue to have an “excellent relationship” with Mr Trump’s administration despite the electoral drubbing, ministers insisted.

Health minister James Frith said: “It looks like an enormous night for American democracy and for the Democrats.

“We will see where the final numbers end up, but it looks like a seismic shift in domestic politics for the Americans.”

But he insisted it would not change Andy Burnham’s relations with the Trump White House.

He told Times Radio: “The change of emphasis of power in the States is frequent. But the mainstay of the relationship with the UK Government, as its closest ally, is unwavering and unchanging.

“So I don’t expect it to change the nature of the relationship at all, it remains very strong.”

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: “For anyone who believes in decency, respect and the rule of law, it feels good to see the American people so comprehensively reject Donald Trump’s politics of hate, division and economic harm.”