All of the final results of the 2026 midterm elections are not in and will not be in for several days or even weeks. But the undecided elections will not alter the fact that Democrats have achieved a remarkable victory by regaining control of both the House and the Senate. (I do not consider in this blog the many governorships, legislatures, and other state offices which have gone Democratic.) The enormous Democratic vote, with its wide winning margins in many races and narrow winning margins in races in which Republicans had long prevailed or Trump had won by large percentages, was only one of many surprises.
Three are notable, though niggling by comparison to that really big surprise. One was the absence of claims of voter fraud or election rigging. The number of elections were so many, and the size of the votes which saw Democrats prevail across the country, even in traditional red states, were so large, that they made it impossible for Trump to make his usual mendacious claims about stolen elections. A second was the absence of any attempts to obstruct voting or intimidate voters. Again, the size of the turnout everywhere and precautionary efforts by pro-democracy organizations deterred perverted federal law enforcement agencies from intervening. The third was the ineffectuality of large sums of money deployed by trillionaire Elon Musk and assorted billionaires. He, the most odious man in America, contributed nearly $500 million to Republican campaigns, including about $180 million, to support Ken Paxton, one of Trump’s chosen candidates; Paxton lost by double digits and other Trump-selected candidates also lost.
One really big message is the repudiation of the Republican Party with its MAGA cult. The Party will continue to survive because it has one trillionaire and many billionaires to prop it up. Although the Supreme Court has ruled that money is speech, it has not ruled that money is votes. It appears that the more money which Republican moguls spent on campaigns, the less return on their investment they got. They might invest more diversely by spending more on Democrats to redeem themselves or deflect their wrath, or spending less altogether as a poor investment. Just as Democrats were pleased that Trump inserted himself into the campaign, they might be pleased if these titans of industry continue to spend lavishly on Republican candidates because much of the electorate hates them for trying to buy elections. It is even possible that these 21st-century robber barons have changed the polarity of elections, from Republican versus Democrat to the rich versus the rest of us. Or, as Texas Senator-elect James Talarico puts it, “The real fight in this country is not left versus right. It is top versus bottom.”
Another really big message of the vote is the repudiation of Trump himself. His big mistake, one which he cannot admit to himself, was to invite voters to think of him as being on the ballot. He cannot imagine that most of the country loathes him as a malignant—autocratic, avaricious, bigoted, cruel, erratic, incurious, indecent, ignorant, impetuous, vulgar—narcissist. People will support the undoing of Trump’s vanity projects. They will approve the return to pre-Trump terminology—no Gulf of America, no Lake America—and the restoration of the architectural status quo—reconstruction of the East Wing, renovation of the Kennedy Center, revitalization of the East Potomac Golf Links on Haines Point, and repair of the Reflecting Pool. I believe that the courts will prevent construction of the Triumphal Arch. However, the complete repudiation of Trump will take years, perhaps decades, in America’s recovery from the moral and political damage which Trump has done to America, its people, and its reputation.
And to Congress, the Constitution’s Article I branch of government. Democratic control of the House and the Senate presents Democrats with a unique opportunity to restore the authority of Congress by redressing the electorate’s grievances and reforming the defects in government, many of which have been identified by Trump’s, and, more generally, Republicans’, abuses of government purposes, policies, programs, and power. This control must be focused and guided by leaders with the grit to get the job done without fear or favor, and without the fact or the appearance of ties to the establishment. Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer are not those leaders. They lack the temperament to marshal the Democrats’ energy to advance legislation to address these objectives. The new leaders elected by their peers should be clear about how to proceed to revitalize Congress with proposed legislation to serve the peoples’ and the country’s needs.
First, Congressional Democrats should regard both Trump and Congressional Republicans as resolute foes. Republicans have worked to control government by gerrymandering and imposing election restrictions mainly affecting Democratic-leaning demographics, especially minorities and students. They have demonized and smeared the Left—liberals, Democrats, Progressives—as extremists, socialists, communists, terrorists, and the like (or worse). They will have no more a change of heart after this election defeat than white Southerners had after their defeat in the Civil War. They might disguise their hostility and purport to work on a bipartisan basis, but they should not be trusted. Their record of silence throughout Trump’s second reign is evidence more of consent and complicity than cowardice.
Second, Democrats should act uncompromisingly to legislate what they believe is right. They should eschew bipartisanship except in the direst circumstances because Republicans will use the leverage which bipartisanship provides to dilute the impact of Democratic bills. They should eliminate the undemocratic filibuster in the Senate; the majority should be able to pass its legislation and take the consequences for doing so in elections, not allow the minority to reject it with impunity. Otherwise, they should let Trump and Republicans decide whether to support legislation which serves peoples’ needs or, if they reject it, take the political consequences, which Democrats should stress at the time and repeat in continuing political advertising.
Third, Congressional Democrats should realize that they can do two things at once: propose legislation to redress the electorate’s grievances and pursue accountability of officials who have broken their oaths of office, broken laws, or abused power in their performance of their duties. In the political context defined by the 2028 presidential election, they should show that Congress is responsive and responsible.
· Democrats should immediately revoke tariffs and pass legislation to restore federal funding to assistance programs for food, healthcare, health insurance, and education, among other social or economic welfare programs.
· They should act to end the war in Iran and use the House’s power of the purse to defund it. They should increase military assistance to Ukraine and re-impose sanctions on Russia. They should limit military assistance to Israel to defensive weaponry only.
· They should pass legislation for a sensible immigration policy and a pathway to citizenship for immigrants, legal and long-resident illegal; they should curtail abusive efforts to control immigration, apprehend illegal immigrants, and imprison detainees.
· Democrats should act to bring the Department of Justice, the jugular vein of American democracy, into compliance with the law, long-established standards of enforcement, and norms of justice.
· They should establish a uniform system of requirements for conducting and voting in federal elections and pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
· They should investigate Trump, members of his family, their friends, and administration officials for corruption and abuse of power. Democrats should investigate not only well-known figures like Jared Kushner, Elon Musk, Todd Blanche, Pete Hegseth, Robert Kennedy, Kristi Noem, and Kash Patel, but also lesser-known administration officials like OMB Director Russell Vought, primary author of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, and Brendon Carr, Chair of the Federal Communications Commission.
In all of their efforts to deal with the administration, Democrats should make use of the House of Representatives’ power of the purse by targeting specific budget items for defunding for non-compliance with Congressional directives and subpoenas during the budget year.
Finally, given the diversity of newly elected Democrats to state and federal government offices—not to mention the diversity of the population—, Democrats should make the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusiveness the policy of the federal government. As El-Sayed said, “They [Republicans] want an America that is too small for some of us. We know that America is big enough for all of us.” It is and should be recognized as such.
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