Democrats surge to power in Congress

Hi, I'm Kim Vannell in Wonganui, New Zealand. And I'm Jonah Green in Washington, D.C., Democrats surge to power in Congress after winning both the House and the Senate. Stunning upsets across the United States catapulting them to a strong position to challenge President Donald Trump's agenda. After key gains in the House early, the Democrats rested Senate seats from Republicans in Texas, Ohio, Kansas, Iowa, and North and South Carolina, according to media projections. Deeply red states, rust belt counties and rural districts now blew in a rebuke of Trump's policies. It's Wednesday, November 4th. This is a special episode of Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from after the United States midterm elections. For the special episode, I'm joined by my colleague in Washington, D.C., Jonah Green. Hey, Jonah. Kim, hello. Good to see you. A huge night for Democrats. I mean, huge is an understatement, honestly, at this point. And while the size and the breadth of the victory is still coming into focus, what is clear is that this Democratic wave underscores voters' deep frustration with Trump's handling of the economy and his war in Iran. Democrats cemented control of the Senate on Tuesday with an upset victory in Iowa. And it was the latest in a succession of victories in Republican bastions like Kansas, Texas, and South Carolina that gained Democrats seats in the chamber. In sweeping and decisive victories. The American people have rebuked the depravity, corruption, and incompetence of the failed lame duck president Donald J. Trump. incumbent Georgia Senator John Assoff summed up the night early after he was projected to winner. And his was probably the least surprising victory. Yeah. One of the most surprising wins in a night of shocks was any Andrews defeating incumbent Republican Darlene Graham in South Carolina. And that flip makes Andrews the first Democrat to win state office in South Carolina since 1998. You have shown the nation that in this era of partisan divides of vitriol and name calling in a politics dominated by billionaires and special interest groups and insiders in Washington DC that we will not bow down. Andrews joined a number of winning Democratic Senate candidates who used their victory speeches to criticize what they described as the outsized influence of corporations and wealthy executives on Congress and the Trump administration. A second to the Senate flip for the Democrats coming from their neighbors in North Carolina, where Roy Cooper comfortably beat Republican Michael Watley. Tonight, guys, we told Washington loud and clear that North Carolina's will always better more than the billionaires and the insiders. Tonight we show the country that when everyday people come together, we can make change. Democrat James Talleriko winning in Texas was another monumental flip. We just proved that all the money in the world is no match for the people of Texas. But it didn't stop there. Gina Hinoosa, a Texas state representative, will become the first Democratic governor of Texas in about 30 years. So I think the Democrats have outperformed even their wildest dreams tonight. You know, they flipped the Senate. They flipped the House. That was called relatively early in the evening. They've expanded their map into the farm belt, the Midwest, into the rust belt where they used to be extremely strong, but where Maga fever sort of took hold a decade ago and made those areas very red. Now the Democrats feel like more of a national party. What were the biggest surprises for you and where are the biggest shifts? The biggest surprise for me is South Carolina. I mean, this is the reddest, one of the reddest states in America, eased the Trump victory. He, any Republican should win easily there. And the fact that Lindsey Graham's sister, Darling Graham, hand picked by Trump to take his place after he died, was defeated. It's just a shocker to me and I think to most people who watched that state. I think the Democrats finally winning two national offices in Texas for the first time in a generation. You know, they won the Senate with James Tallerico and they won the governorship with Gina Hinoosa, which is just a remarkable performance for Democrats. We haven't seen that in, since the 80s, it's really been a long time and, you know, it's a, it's just incredible performance by them. And then you go into the farm belt, you know, they won a Senate seat in Kansas. That was on nobody's bingo card, you know, they won a Senate seat in Iowa as well. It's just remarkable performance around the country. You mentioned Darling Graham, they're losing despite Trump's very clear endorsement. There are other cases where that happened to I'm thinking of Ken Paxton. What does that tell us about, you know, the Trump fact to hear in the way that people voted? Yeah, I think this is just a, it can't be seen any other than just a big reprudeiation of Trump. You know, you know, he said, vote as if I was on the ballot and I actually think people did. You know, they, they were experts, you know, the exit polls were saying that people were voting. They, they wanted more congressional oversight of Trump. They wanted more, you know, built in opposition to him to put checks and balances on him. And Democrats, at least were, were voting to, to put a stop to him. So, you know, I see, I think you see that reflected around the country. And, you know, that's, that to me is the theme of the evening. Let's talk about congressional oversight. Just explain to us what it actually means that Democrats now control Congress. Yeah. So I want to read you a little quote that I have here on my phone. This is U.S. representative Robert Garcia, the incoming Democratic chair of the House Oversight Committee. He released a statement and it had two words, lawyer up. And that is the theme. So Democrats now have the gable in both the House and the Senate. They can call hearings. They can issue subpoenas. You should expect Trump cabinet officials, you know, to, to be, to be called in front of Congress to, to answer for things that the Democrats want them to answer for. You could see a reopening of Epstein hearings. You know, I just think it will be, you know, any, any business leader that has done business with, with, with the administration or donated in certain ways, the administration could find themselves called before Congress. You know, this will be a major theme of the next two years. Trump was quick to post on truth social, saying Republicans would have won if he was on the ballot. But the president told Fox News he would accept the results, and he congratulated the Democrats. Our colleagues, Bo Erickson and Mandita Bose have been monitoring the mood inside the White House. Mr. elections are often a referendum on the president and Trump inserted himself even more in this election by campaigning almost every day in October and a total of 19 states forward Republicans. What are you hearing from your sources right now about the mood inside the White House? The mood is not great. Moral is very, though, a lot of the staff just don't want to deal with the upcoming Democratic investigations. And so I'm being told that there will be a significant amount of turnover after the midterms. I'm also told that the president still remains in denial. And he was most heard by the results in South Carolina, because he thought it was insulting to Lindsey Graham and his sister lost. And he ultimately just did not care about the midterms as much. You know, Iran is the hill he wants to die on and he's going to continue with that war. And yeah, that's where that's what things are. He even said that he thought the price of gas was going to be higher than it was in the last few weeks on the campaign trail. So we'll keep monitoring these very critical races all throughout the country throughout the rest of the night. And that is where things stand in the midterm elections right now. As more results come in, like we said, keepacrosserroiders.com, and the Reuters app. There is a link in the description to download it to start getting pure news straight from the source. And don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player. And if you're listening on a smart speaker, just ask for the latest news from Reuters seven days a week. We'll be back later with an update. (upbeat music)