Democrats won both chambers of Congress in the Tuesday 3 November midterms, taking seven Republican-held Senate seats. At 5:34pm Eastern time on Wednesday, on unofficial counts, NBC News projected 54 Senate seats for Democrats and 44 for Republicans, with Mississippi and Alaska still uncalled1. The seven flips came in Iowa, Kansas, Maine, North Carolina, the Ohio special election, South Carolina and Texas. Republicans went in holding 53 seats; if the Democratic leads in Mississippi and Alaska survive their counts, the chamber ends 56-44.
The House moved further. NBC's tally at 5:37pm stood at 242 Democrats to 151 Republicans with 42 seats uncalled, after 35 seats flipped to Democrats and one to Republicans2. The Cook Political Report, a non-partisan newsletter that rates every race, had put the likeliest Democratic gain at 12 to 22 seats on 23 October; the net gain of 34 already runs 12 seats past the top of that range. Sabato's Crystal Ball, the University of Virginia's ratings newsletter, listed five Republican-held Senate seats as Toss Ups in mid-October. Democrats took seven, South Carolina among them, a race both raters had called only Lean Republican. Democrats also took governorships from Republicans in Georgia, with Keisha Lance Bottoms, and Nevada, with Aaron Ford3.
CBS News exit polls found Donald Trump's job approval underwater, with more voters disapproving than approving, in nearly all Senate battlegrounds4. Trump told CNBC that fuel prices cost his party ("Not the war, the price") and that he would veto Democratic bills5. John Thune, the Senate Majority Leader, wrote at 1:06am: "Thankfully, we still have President Trump in The White House"6. Chuck Schumer said on Wednesday morning that Democrats would "entangle him in legislative razor wire" whenever Trump defies the will of the people or the law, CBS reported7.
Every count here is unofficial, taken from election-night feeds and network tallies as of Wednesday 4 November. The 42 uncalled House seats and two uncalled Senate seats can still move the final margins, though not control of either chamber.
