J.D. Tuccille: Americans punish Trump, Democrats now control the Senate and House - National Post

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Copy URL Facebook Linked In X (Twitter) Loading account options Sign In Manage Account Close account menu Sign Out Supporters react to early election results in favor of US Senator Jon Ossoff at an election night watch party hosted by the Democratic Party of Georgia after the midterms election in Atlanta, Georgia on November 3, 2026. (ERIK S. LESSER / AFP via Getty Images) By J.D. Tuccille November 4, 2026 at 12:36 a.m. The tone for the 2026 midterm elections might have been set when the South Carolina U.S. Senate race was called for Democrat Annie Andrews. Andrews is the first member of her party from the Palmetto State to hold a seat in the upper chamber since Fritz Hollings left office in 2005. As went South Carolina, which has been reliably Republican in recent years, so went most of the rest of the country.

Every race has its own quirks, of course. In South Carolina, voters were disappointed in the performance of the Republican Trump administration, with Civiqs polling putting approval of the president’s handling of his job at 40 per cent, well below disapproval at 52 per cent. President Trump asked Americans to “pretend I’m on the ballot” and he may live to eat those words as many results around the country seem to reflect approval ratings which were often worse elsewhere than in South Carolina.

Republican Darline Graham’s weak presence after she stepped in for her late brother, Lindsey Graham, also played a role. During an August debate, she fumbled a basic question about Taiwan; foreign policy had been an area of expertise for her brother. Her name wasn’t strong enough to offset the Trump pick’s unpreparedness for the campaign trail, especially in a midterm year that was destined to be tough for Republicans. That it was tough even in South Carolina shows how big a challenge it was.

The news wasn’t all bad for Republicans. Byron Donalds kept the governor’s office for his party in Florida and incumbent Ashley Moody held the up-for-grabs Senate seat in Florida. But they prevailed in relative squeakers despite the Sunshine State’s increasingly ruby-red status as of late. Moody’s close victory came against Angie Nixon, an avowed socialist and member of the hard-left DSA party within a party.

Socialist victors included Brad Lander, Claire Valdez, and Darializa Avila Chevalier, all congressional candidates in New York. Their wins weren’t exactly surprises, since they ran in districts where the Democratic nomination is the real battle and the general election little more than a formality. But the growing ranks of avowed socialists among Democratic officeholders (and the unexpectedly strong performance of Nixon in Florida) may well indicate the future direction of the party. Chevalier, tellingly, is among the radicals who flirt with totalitarian ideas, including speaking positively of Lenin and Stalin and talking of her desire to “seize the means of production.”

DSA members Melat Kiros of Colorado and Chris Rabb of Pennsylvania also won seats in the House.

Not formally a DSA member, but sharing much of the group’s views, including hostility to Israel and (often) Jews, is Michigan Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed. While his race has yet to be called as I write, he leads even after his main primary challenger flipped her endorsement to Republican Mike Rogers.

Less radical but still shocking was the Democrats’ sweep of major offices, including senator and governor, in long-red Texas. If that’s not a sign of unhappiness with the GOP, nothing is.

The deck was stacked against Republicans as it always is against the party that holds the White House. According to Robert A. Strong, a senior fellow at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, “(s)ince 1946, there have been 20 midterm elections. In 18 of them, the president’s party lost seats in the House of Representatives. That’s 90 per cent of the midterm elections in the past 80 years.”

That 2026 threatened to be worse, though, was signaled by the disaffection of some voter blocs that have shifted behind the GOP in recent years as the Republican Party, like its counterpart, has transformed its ideology and identity.

In 2024, “Trump won 47 per cent of votes among Latino men,” according to the Americas Society/Council of the Americas. “He also produced double digit gains in majority-Hispanic counties along the Mexico border in Texas and in Southern Florida.”

Democrats still pulled a majority of Hispanic votes that year, but there was definite movement towards the Republican Party. That was before dissatisfaction with the economy and brutal images of immigration enforcement, often against people from Spanish-speaking countries.

Last month, NBC News/Telemundo polling reported only 27 per cent approval for Trump among Hispanic voters and that a “greater share of Latino voters hold negative views of the Republican Party than at any time since 2016.”

It’s possible for a political party to grow and thrive if it sheds voters, but only if it pulls in new supporters to take their place. Alienating more people than you attract is a losing strategy.

Democrats also went into the midterm election with an advantage on issues at a time when prices are major public concerns — as they were in 2024 when Democrats were punished for inflation caused by heavy government spending. Having campaigned on making life affordable, Republicans instead imposed tariffs and engaged in Middle Eastern conflict that choked fuel supplies and made life more expensive.

Maybe victorious Democrats will do a better job of addressing what matters to Americans than Republicans did after their own win. Or maybe not.

The Democrats will certainly have an opportunity to try. The House of Representatives now has a Democratic majority, as does the U.S. Senate. President Trump and legislative leaders now may be able to find a way to work with each other — the sort of cross-aisle cooperation that has proven elusive for years in a violently polarized country. They could find common ground on a few matters if they try.

But there’s a good chance such cooperation is a lost cause.

As the size of the Democrat wave became apparent, California Rep. Robert Garcia, the likely chair of the powerful House Oversight Committee under the new majority, posted “LAWYER UP” on X. Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden likewise posted, “Subpoenas.” After the presidential impeachment drama of Trump’s first term and repeated threats of follow-up lawfare once Democrats are in power, that’s widely taken as a guarantee of legal combat to come.

Going into this election, voters made it clear that economic concerns are their major issue. Democrats were turfed out in 2024 over dollars and cents worries and Republicans appear to have taken a drubbing this year for much the same reason. If Democrats really plan to turn D.C. into a hearing- and subpoena-fuelled battleground rather than address what matters to the public, chances are we’ll be back in two years to watch the voters repeat this year’s punishment, but with the parties’ roles reversed.

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