Donald Trump has admitted the Democrats’ landslide victory in the US midterms and at the same time announced that he will block bills from the new congressional majority with his veto power. “Congratulations to the Democrats. They did a good job,” the US president told Fox News, as reported by Tagesspiegel among others. In the night to Wednesday, 4 November, the Democrats had, according to projections by the US broadcasters, won both chambers of Congress.
“I will probably become ‘Mr. Veto’,” Trump told CBS News, as reported by Der Spiegel. “I know many Democrats, I have the unrestricted veto right, and I am sure we will find a solution.” He explained to Fox News that the Democrats would present him with “crazy” bills: “They will present me with things that are crazy, and I will veto them.” After a few months full of vetoes, they would call and ask how they could get something through – “and then we will work together”. On Truth Social, Trump posted an image of a red cap on which, instead of “Make America Great Again”, according to Der Spiegel in a “highly likely AI-generated version”, it simply says “VETO”.
“I was not on the ballot”
Trump does not see the result as a personal defeat. “I was not on the ballot,” he said, according to Fox News. “I really believe that the fact that I was not on the ballot was the biggest problem.” Already on election night he had written on Truth Social: “I was not up for election, and if I had been on the ballot, we would have achieved a LANDSLIDE VICTORY.”
Trump named the Iran war as one reason for the Republicans’ losses. “I think part of it was Iran, but at the same time people understood how important what I did in Iran was,” he told Fox News. Previously he had told the “New York Times” that he would accept the result: “We will work with the Democrats and look forward to working with them.”
What the Democrats can do with the majority
According to the projections of the US broadcasters, the Democrats achieved a landslide victory. On Tuesday, all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate were up for vote. According to CNN and Fox News, the Democrats reach at least 218 seats in the House of Representatives, projections see chances of up to 263, as reported by WirtschaftsWoche. In the Senate, the Democrat Josh Turek secured the seat in Iowa and thereby brought the Democrats to the required 51 seats; most recently 53 seats were considered safe. Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries thus has the best chances of becoming Speaker of the House of Representatives – after Trump and Vice President JD Vance the third in the order of precedence of US politics.
With their majority in both chambers, the Democrats can significantly limit the president’s room for action, for example by blocking new funding or setting up investigative committees against controversial cabinet members. The new Congress convenes in January, as the press reports. Before the election, Trump had announced that he would act as “Mister Veto” in the event of the Democrats taking over Congress.
The victory extended far beyond the Republicans’ previous strongholds. In Texas, the Democrat James Talarico prevailed against the Trump candidate Ken Paxton; in the gubernatorial election, Gina Hinojosa defeated incumbent Greg Abbott. In Kansas, the clergyman Adam Hamilton was elected as the first Democratic senator in nine decades; in South Carolina, Annie Andrews won against Darline Graham. In Ohio, Sherrod Brown defeated the Republican senator Jon Husted.
The defeat came amid a tense economic situation. According to the price comparison service GasBuddy, fuel prices on election day were as high as never before on an election day: petrol cost 0.97 euros per litre (4.12 dollars per gallon), diesel 1.48 euros per litre (6.28 dollars per gallon). An exit poll by the SSRS institute commissioned by a media consortium found that half of the voters saw the vote as an opportunity to give Trump a lesson; three quarters described themselves as “angry” or “dissatisfied”, and 70 per cent want stronger control of the president by Congress.
Editor’s note: Whether and to what extent Trump will actually use his veto right is open. The majority ratios in the Senate are based on projections by the US broadcasters; according to WirtschaftsWoche, the counting of all votes is still ongoing.
Earlier coverage: US midterms: what a Democratic win would mean for Ukraine
