Democrats have won majorities in both the House and the Senate in the 2026 midterm elections, giving them control of the entire Congress, according to RaiNews. The outlet reports that Democrats will hold 228 House seats against 139 for the Republicans, a result CNN described as a "blue tsunami," and 54 Senate seats, above the 51-seat majority threshold.
President Donald Trump, speaking during a short phone call with CNBC, said he believes he can work with the Democratic majorities in the next Congress on "far more issues than people imagine," RaiNews reports. He expressed confidence about the final two years of his term despite the scale of his party's defeat.
Why it matters
The result hands the opposition party control of both chambers for the remainder of Trump's term, reshaping the legislative landscape in Washington. RaiNews reports that Trump and several of his allies have acknowledged that the war in Iran and the rising cost of living weighed on the Republican Party's inability to hold Congress. The outlet notes that higher gasoline prices, one of the conflict's most punishing effects for American consumers, were cited as a source of voter frustration.
The outcome also drew reactions beyond the United States. Ukraine's chargé d'affaires in Washington, Denys Sienik, told Ukrinform that the elections may have shifted political balances but not Kyiv's priorities, and he called on both parties to strengthen aid and increase pressure on Russia. He pointed to a recent Russian strike on a school in the Zaporizhzhia region, reported to have killed 40 civilians, and attacks on power infrastructure as evidence that Moscow does not intend to end the war.
Bannon presses for an Iran war commission
Steve Bannon, a former adviser to Trump, used his podcast "Bannon's War Room" to call for a presidential commission to formally investigate the war with Iran, according to RaiNews. Bannon said the panel should be made up of American citizens and institutions and should examine what happened on October 7. He argued that if the Israelis choose not to pursue such an inquiry for political reasons, that is their decision, but that the United States was involved in events that shaped what he called a historic night for American politics.
Bannon also said the commission should look into how the United States became involved years later in Operation Midnight Hammer and the phase that followed, which he described as regime change.
The White House, meanwhile, projected calm. In a post on X, it said, "We are not going anywhere. Stand down, patriots. We have only just begun," RaiNews reports, while Republican leaders around the country continued to examine the reasons for the heavy midterm losses.
A president focused on clocks and cooperation
In the same CNBC call, Trump projected optimism about governing alongside the new Democratic majorities. Separately, on his Truth Social platform, he complained that the Senate has still not passed the Sunshine Protection Act, the bill that would end the seasonal changing of clocks, RaiNews reports.
Trump wrote that darkness now falls early, noting the sun set at 17:06 and that by 17:31 it was fully dark, and asked whether that seemed absurd. He said he had deliberately not raised the issue before the elections to avoid costing certain senators their races, but called it a shame that nothing can get done. According to RaiNews, the House has sent the measure to the Senate with broad bipartisan support on several occasions, most recently by 308 votes to 117, but the Senate has never taken it up. Trump said there are more important priorities but that he will keep fighting for the bill.
Religious figures in the United States also commented on the results. Cardinal Blase Joseph Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, told LaPresse that, as Pope Leo's example has shown, taking part in democracy is both a duty and a privilege, and that what stands out is not so much the outcome as the number of Americans who voted. Father James Martin, a Jesuit and consultant to the Vatican's Dicastery for Communication, told LaPresse that the decisive victories of many Democratic candidates appeared to signal a rejection of much of the current administration's policies, citing voter disappointment over a struggling economy, the costly military engagement in Iran and aggressive policies toward migrants.
Abroad, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez wrote on X that American society had voted against policies that impoverish people, against hatred, sexism, climate denial and elite privilege, adding that the same happened in Brazil and would soon happen in Spain, RaiNews reports.
What to watch next is how quickly the new Democratic majorities organize and whether Trump's stated willingness to cooperate survives contact with a Congress his party no longer controls.
