Democrats Inch Towards Historic House Majority Since 2008 Amid Trump's Rout

The 2026 midterm elections have clearly been history for President Donald Trump, but not in a good way. Latest trends show Democrats are inching toward their largest House majority since 2008, when they won 257 seats. So far, all districts that Trump won in 2024 when he took back the presidency have moved toward Democrats. 

The blue wave has taken over 52 of the 234 districts that Trump won in 2024, according to a New York Times report. Data show that all districts that Democrats have unseated at least 40 incumbents so far, including seats in states like Iowa and Missouri, that Trump won by double digits in 2024. 

Democrats have already won 253 seats to Republicans' 155, and they could hit or even exceed 260 total seats as more districts report results (27 races have not yet been called).

If this happens, it would give Democrats around an 85-seat majority in the House -- a whopping 60 per cent of the available House seats -- the biggest for the party since the early 1990s when they had 267. The party had 258 seats in the following Congress and 257 after former President Barack Obama's big win in 2008 swept Democrats into power.

The incumbent president's party often loses seats in a midterm election, but this would be the largest victory by either party in half a century, signalling a tail end of decades of Democratic domination of the House.

It will also be the first time that Trump, a Republican who also held the White House from 2017 to 2021, has had to contend with Democrats controlling both chambers of Congress.

Extremely close Senate races in Alaska and Mississippi remained uncalled, leaving open the possibility that the Democrats' majority in the upper chamber could also increase by two more seats to 56-44.

A Blow To Trump

The midterm results are seen as a major blow to Trump, who had rallies nearly every day last month to energise his supporters but was still unable to stop a wipeout as most voters appear to blame his administration for high costs and want Congress to impose more checks on him.

Democrats have signalled they'll use their foothold in Congress to ensure that in the two years in office, Team Trump's top members face investigations, with a deeper scrutiny of how the President enriched his family. Trump's and his cabinet officials' impeachment is also not off the table.

The Republican president struck a conciliatory note despite his history of questioning election results. He told The New York Times, "I am absolutely willing to accept those results" and promised to "work with the Democrats." 

But minutes later on social media, the 80-year-old signalled how he intends to deal with Democratic attempts to pass laws, posting a picture of a red baseball cap emblazoned with "VETO".