Democrats won control of the US Senate in the midterm elections on Tuesday, a result that Straits Times reported was driven by voter anger over the cost of living and the Iran war. According to the same outlet, the outcome handed President Donald Trump a sharp rebuke.
Democrats flipped Senate seats in South Carolina, Texas and Kansas, places some strategists had dismissed as out of reach for at least a generation, according to Straits Times. In Texas, Democrat James Talarico beat Republican Attorney-General Ken Paxton, the party’s first statewide win in more than 30 years.
In Michigan, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed won a Senate seat and will be the first Muslim US senator when he is sworn in next January, DW reported.
Straits Times also reported that Democrats won House races in Pennsylvania, Kentucky and New Jersey, and gained ground in governors’ races and state legislatures. The results snapped full Republican rule in Washington, leaving Trump more hemmed in than he was during the first two years of his second term, the outlet said.
Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said, "Americans voted for change, and now Democrats must deliver," describing a "generational remake of the Senate map." His remarks appear in a PBS NewsHour headline and short excerpt.
Trump told The New York Times he was "absolutely willing to accept those results" and was prepared to work with Democrats, according to Straits Times. Speaking from the White House, he said "we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE" if he had been on the ballot.
Reaction from abroad has been sharp. DW reported that Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Qalibaf, said "Americans said NO TO WAR." Iran’s supreme leader, in a written statement, said hopes of a policy shift were "seriously mistaken," DW reported. Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Sergei Ryabkov, planned to wait for final results before commenting, DW said.
Looking ahead, Straits Times reported that Democrats’ strategy is divided between oversight of Trump and policymaking on affordability. The outlet did not say how the Senate caucus will resolve that question, and it is also unclear how the party will keep its members united. Unnamed analysts quoted by Straits Times have claimed that a Democratic Congress will tighten tech export controls, but no named source makes that case in the reporting.
El-Sayed is due to be sworn in next January. Trump’s response to the defeat remains open.
The main gaps are that the sources are election-night reports and excerpts, with no official final vote counts or total Senate seat numbers. Most of the key facts rest on Straits Times, and apart from Trump’s remarks, no Republican leader’s response is included.
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This article was written with AI assistance from the published reporting listed above. It is part of the World Brief daily news podcast.