Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress on Tuesday, Nov. 3, as voters, in NBC News’ words, “resoundingly rejected both his policies and his Republican Party,” referring to President Donald Trump. NBC News projected that Democrats “have captured full control of Congress,” and CBS News projected that Democrats won the Senate and would also take control of the House. NBC News published its full-control projection at 11:24 p.m. Eastern (8:24 p.m. PT). According to NBC, not since 2006 has the minority party flipped control of both chambers on a single night.

The Senate result went further than many forecasts. CBS News projected that Democrats flipped seats in Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Kansas and Iowa while holding Georgia and New Hampshire, and it later projected, in a post on X, that Democrat Troy Jackson defeated Republican Sen. Susan Collins in Maine. Republicans entered the night with 53 seats, and Democrats needed to win four to take the majority, CBS News reported. At 12:56 a.m. Eastern (9:56 p.m. PT), the NBC News results page showed 53 Democratic seats, 41 Republican seats and a net gain of seven, with races in Mississippi, Michigan, Nebraska, Idaho, Montana and Alaska still uncalled. NBC’s main article said Democrats “flipped six Republican-held seats” but then listed seven states, Maine, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas; this desk reports seven, matching NBC’s results page and CBS’s Maine call.

Several of the wins came in states that Democrats had not carried in decades. James Talarico, 37, a former teacher and Presbyterian seminarian, defeated Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for the seat of Sen. John Cornyn, and Texas had not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1988, CBS News reported. “The people of Texas were my slingshot, and tonight we defeated Goliath,” Talarico told supporters in Austin, according to the Guardian. In a short concession speech, Paxton said he would pray for Talarico “if he will do good for Texas and this nation,” CBS News reported, and Cornyn wrote on X: “The voters have spoken, and I want to extend my congratulations to James Talarico on his election to the U.S. Senate.” In Kansas, the Rev. Adam Hamilton unseated Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, which CBS described as “the first time in nearly a century” that the state elected a Democrat to the Senate; the BBC reported that Kansas had not returned a Democratic senator since 1932.

South Carolina fell early. The BBC reported that Democrat Annie Andrews defeated Darline Graham, “who was handpicked by President Trump to take her brother's seat after his death,” and that the state last elected a Democratic senator in 1998. NBC News called the state “a state even many Democrats thought was out of reach.” In Ohio, former Sen. Sherrod Brown defeated Sen. Jon Husted, and in Iowa, state Rep. Josh Turek defeated Rep. Ashley Hinson, according to CBS News. In Maine, Collins said she called Jackson to concede: “It has been the honor of my life to serve the people of Maine in the United States Senate,” she said, according to CBS News. The Guardian noted at the time that the Associated Press had not yet made a projection in the Maine race.

The House flipped earlier in the evening. The BBC reported that CBS News projected a Democratic House just after 10 p.m. Eastern (7 p.m. PT). NBC News projects that Democrats will win approximately 255 House seats, “an estimate that could still tick up or down by a few seats but will be well beyond the 218 needed,” and noted that the party needed a net gain of only three. Among the Republican incumbents who lost, according to NBC: Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, Ryan Mackenzie, Rob Bresnahan and Scott Perry in Pennsylvania; Jen Kiggans and Rob Wittman in Virginia; Tom Kean Jr. in New Jersey; Victoria Spartz in Indiana; Gabe Evans in Colorado; and Richard Hudson in North Carolina, who chairs the House GOP campaign arm.

Jeffries spoke to supporters in Washington shortly before 11:30 p.m. Eastern (8:30 p.m. PT), CBS News reported. “Today begins the great American comeback,” he said, according to NBC News. “The American people have spoken and made clear they’ve had enough of the extremism, enough of the corruption.” “They want a Congress that’s going to deliver for the American people,” he said, “and that is exactly what House Democrats will do as soon as we get into office in January.” According to CBS News, he also said: “This is a change election, and we understand as House Democrats that we need to deliver dramatic change.”

Watch: Jeffries in Washington and the AP’s Senate explainer, posted on X

If an embed does not load, it shows as a plain link to the original post.

@CBSNews (CBS News) on X, Nov. 3 (9:38 p.m. PT): an 86-second clip of House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries speaking at a podium in Washington. This desk viewed frames from the clip before embedding · Credit: @CBSNews · original post
@AP (The Associated Press) on X, Nov. 3 (9:55 p.m. PT): a 59-second vertical clip in which AP Washington correspondent Sagar Meghani explains the Senate result. This desk viewed frames from the clip before embedding · Credit: @AP · original post

Republican leaders struck a defiant tone. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in Shreveport that he felt “disappointed,” according to CBS News, and warned: “If they make the next two years about retribution and lawfare and partisan games, every American will suffer by that.” He added, “Republicans will not be deterred by the outcome of one election.” Trump posted that he “wasn’t on the Ballot,” writing, according to NBC News: “I wasn't on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!” The Guardian reported that Trump also blamed Fox News, writing that the network “bears responsibility for these losses.” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer told reporters, “Five words for the American people: relief is on the way,” according to the Guardian.

Voters signaled deep unhappiness with the president, according to the NBC News Exit Poll. Thirty-eight percent said they approve of Trump’s performance, down from 45% in his first midterm in 2018. Seventy-five percent described the economy as in rough shape, and 65% said Trump’s policies have worsened it. Sixty-two percent said the U.S. made the wrong decision in taking military action against Iran, and 57% said Trump’s immigration enforcement has gone too far. NBC reported that 43% of voters said one reason for their vote involved expressing opposition to Trump, and that 71%, including 41% of Republicans, said Congress has not provided enough oversight of him.

The new majorities change what Trump can do in his final two years. With the Senate, Democrats “can block the president's nominees and control what measures receive votes on the floor,” CBS News reported. In the House, Democrats will gain subpoena power and control of committees, NBC News reported. Jeffries has said Democrats would focus on reversing Trump’s cuts to Medicaid, extending the Affordable Care Act credits, restoring congressional authority over tariffs and stopping the war with Iran, according to NBC. Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., in line to chair the Oversight Committee, plans to focus on what he calls “Trump family corruption,” NBC reported. On impeachment, Jeffries told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Democrats “haven’t ruled anything in and we haven’t ruled anything out.”

Next steps run through January. House Democrats expect to hold leadership elections the week of Nov. 16, and on Jan. 3 Jeffries must win 218 votes to take the speaker’s gavel, according to NBC News. NBC reported that Schumer stands poised to return as majority leader, while the futures of Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Johnson remain unclear. Counting continues in the uncalled races, including Mississippi, where the NBC results page showed Democrat Scott Colom and Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith each at 48.9%; Colom told supporters the race would not get called Tuesday night, the Guardian reported. This desk will follow the final seat counts as networks call the remaining races.