Following midterm landslide, Democrats pressed by supporters to deliver on promises

WASHINGTON — As the monumental midterm victories set in, Democrats began to talk strategy Wednesday on how to deliver what voters want: lower prices, attainable health care and an end to a stagnant and expensive conflict in the Middle East.

Starting in January, the party will control both chambers of Congress, giving them the upper hand over much of President Donald Trump’s agenda, including his judicial nominees, and the power to investigate the first two years of Trump’s second term, including his business ventures, war decisions and mass deportation campaign.

Democrats had gained 237 seats — well past the 218 needed — in the U.S. House as of Wednesday afternoon, according to The Associated Press, which also showed Democrats flipped 29 GOP House seats.

The party trounced conventional expectations in the Senate by flipping seven seats, giving Democrats and independents who caucus with them a total of 54 in the upper chamber, according to the AP, as of 4 p.m. Eastern.

Climbing inflation and record fuel prices followed Republicans on the campaign trail, fueling the groundswell for Democrats. Voters blamed Trump for higher prices in stores and at the pump as his war in Iran entered its ninth month, and as sweeping tariffs remained on imports.

Shawn Fain, leader of the United Auto Workers union, said “it's not a massive win for anybody until these people go to work and deliver results.”

The union, which endorsed Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed in early June, has roughly 1 million active and retired members — 350,000 of them in Michigan alone, according to Fain.

El-Sayed won the Senate race in Michigan on Wednesday.

“I believe this election is a mandate for change, but it is up to the Democratic Party now to deliver. And if they don't deliver, we'll be the first ones to call them out on it,” Fain said.   

‘Legislative razor wire’

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said voters delivered “a generational remake of the Senate map that has huge consequences for history.”

The New York Democrat, who is poised to lead the upper chamber once again, told reporters Wednesday morning that Senate Democrats have three priorities: lower the cost of living, “clean up” corruption in government and “check on Trump's chaos at home and abroad,” including the war with Iran.

“Whenever Trump defies the will of the American people or the law, we will launch investigations, take him to court, and entangle him in legislative razor wire,” Schumer said.

Giving brief answers to a barrage of questions, Schumer hinted that Democrats could end the war in Iran with the “power of the purse” and sidestepped a question about “nuking” the filibuster.

“I'll have more to say in the coming days about how Democrats pulled off this victory, how our majority plans to deliver for the American people,“ Schumer said.

When asked if Senate Democrats will work with Trump, Schumer said, “We are going to work hard to drive costs down with the president or without him. Period.”

‘A dramatic change in direction’

House Democratic leaders celebrated the blue tsunami across the country while vowing to fight for an “affordable America” in the next Congress. 

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said “the American people have chosen House Democrats because they want to see a dramatic change in direction, and that’s exactly what House Democrats will deliver beginning on Day One,” during a press conference Wednesday afternoon. 

Jeffries got a step closer to becoming the next speaker of the House following Democrats’ dramatic win Tuesday night. If elected by a majority of House members, Jeffries would make history as the first Black person to hold the gavel. 

Jeffries was joined by Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Suzan DelBene of Washington state, House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, and the chair and vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus, Reps. Pete Aguilar and Ted Lieu, respectively, both from California. 

Meanwhile, the GOP’s mid-decade redistricting blitz to shore up several seats flopped Tuesday night following Democratic victories in several districts Republicans redrew. 

DelBene, who leads the Democratic Party’s campaign apparatus for House races, said “every single redistricted Frontliner will return to Congress,” using the committee’s term for its most endangered incumbents. 

“Simply put, their gerrymandering scheme absolutely backfired, and it should send a strong message to any Republican thinking of pursuing any more gerrymanders next year,” she said. 

Agenda items on tap

As Democrats plan to center their agenda on affordability, Lieu spelled out some of the party’s legislative priorities in the new Congress. 

For starters, Lieu said Democrats would pass a bill to reverse the GOP’s mega tax and spending cut law’s sweeping Medicaid cuts, which axe roughly $1 trillion in Medicaid spending over 10 years. 

He also said they would pass legislation to “restore” the enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits, which expired in December 2025 and were used by individuals who buy their own health insurance through the Affordable Care Act Marketplace. 

“We will pass a bill to stop the stupid Trump tariffs jacking up prices on Americans, and we will pass a bill to stop the Iran war,” the California Democrat added. 

Congressional Progressive Caucus

Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus touted victories in the wave election.

Rep. Greg Casar, a Texas Democrat who chairs the caucus, said the group’s roughly 100 members will work with Jeffries on “a mandate for dramatic change” but warned that he and colleagues want significant transformation.

“Last night was not a sign that all of Democrats’ problems are solved,” Casar said on a virtual call with reporters. “The election is not an endorsement of returning to the status quo or tinkering around the edges. This is a message that people in this country are mad as hell, and are giving Democrats a shot to show them we can do something about it.”

Democrat Will Lawrence, who defeated incumbent GOP Rep. Tom Barrett in Michigan’s 7th Congressional District, said Congress needs “to set our foreign policy straight.”

“A huge cause for regret among Trump voters in this district is because he said he wasn't going to start any new wars, and look at what he got us into now in Iran. So we have a mandate to pass a war powers resolution to restrain further hostilities in Iran,” Lawrence said.

Lawrence co-founded the Sunrise Movement, a climate-focused political action group, and received backing from congressional progressives. 

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said despite the momentous wins, the Democratic Party is still “not particularly popular.”

“I think we've got a shot to show that we can deliver on the kind of bold populist change that people ran on and won on,” Jayapal said. “And I think that is going to be our task going forward for the next two years.”