Donald Trump has been branded a “failed lame duck president” after the Democrats inflicted a string of historic defeats against the Republicans to take control of the US Senate.
In a remarkable sweep, the Democrats won Senate seats in the former Republican strongholds of Texas, Kansas, South Carolina, Ohio, Maine and Iowa.
Several US major media outlets have reported the Democrats are also projected to regain control of the House of Representatives, which they last held in 2023, having flipped numerous seats in states including Kentucky, New Jersey and North Carolina.
Iran’s chief negotiator in talks with the United States, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, claimed that Americans had voted “no to war”.
“Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said no to war, and we endorse this message,” Ghalibaf posted on X.
The midterm elections determine which party controls Congress and were seen as a referendum on the controversial Republican president.
The Democrat victories represent a major blow to Trump, who had previously urged people to pretend he was on the voting slip.
In the face of the crushing losses, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform: “I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!”
Democrats needed a net gain of four seats in the 100-member Senate to win a majority, while in the 435-member House, they needed three.
Speaking to Fox News after Republicans lost control of the US Senate, Trump admitted the result surprised him.
“Well, I’m a little bit surprised. I thought they’d do better, we had tremendous rallies,” he said.
“I thought that I could transfer those people into candidates.”
He also congratulated the Democrats and said: “They did a good job. They worked very hard.”
But while offering to work with opponents, he had also posted a picture of a red baseball cap emblazoned with the word “Veto”, indicating he would block legislation they sought to take through Congress.
Democrat US senator Jon Ossoff, who won re-election in Georgia which had been a top Republican target, told supporters: “In sweeping and decisive victories the American people have rebuked the depravity, corruption, and incompetence of the failed lame duck president Donald J Trump.
“And if, at times these last two years, amidst the ceaseless onslaught of brutality and indecency, you doubted whether our republic would survive, let tonight’s results give you courage that the first light of dawn is on the horizon.”
The scale of the Democrat victory reflects the deep voter discontent over the cost of living, tariffs and high energy prices fuelled by the Iran war, which Trump launched with Israel earlier this year.
In Kansas, church pastor Adam Hamilton, became the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in nearly a century.
He said: “I think the people in Kansas, Republicans, independents and Democrats are saying what’s happening in Washington is not OK.”
He added: “I got elected because Kansans were saying, ‘We’re tired of the bullies. We’re tired of the chaos’.”
James Talarico became the first Democrat to be elected a US senator for Texas in nearly four decades, defeating Republican Ken Paxton, who had been backed by Mr Trump.
Meanwhile, in Ohio, Democrat Sherrod Brown won a Senate seat in Ohio held by vice president JD Vance just two years ago.
Democrat Annie Andrews beat Trump’s hand-picked candidate Darline Graham to take the South Carolina Senate seat.
Graham was the sister of the late US senator Lindsey Graham, who had held the seat for more than 20 years, and was chosen by the president to fill his seat and contest it in the election.
Democrat Troy Jackson won election to the US Senate representing Maine, defeating Republican incumbent Susan Collins, who had held the seat for almost three decades.
The Democrats also flipped the Senate seat in North Carolina from Republicans when governor Roy Cooper defeated Michael Whatley, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, who was supported by Mr Trump.
Cooper said: “I’m not going to Washington to be something, I’m going to Washington to do something.”
Democrats Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia, Amy Acton in Ohio, Rod Sand in Iowa, and Gina Hinojosa in Texas won races for governor, ousting Republicans from office.
In California, long-shot Republican candidate Steve Hilton, a former top aide to David Cameron, lost to former state attorney general Xavier Becerra.
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