Democrats Will Organize Both Chambers in January; Alaska and Mississippi Still Uncalled

Democrats will hold majorities in both the House and the Senate when lawmakers take their seats in January, according to CBS News, Reuters and NBC News. CBS News estimates Democratic candidates will finish with between 251 and 268 seats. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said he expects the total to reach at least 255. Reuters reported a Democratic House gain of at least 30 seats.

In the Senate, CBS News and Reuters report that Democrats have secured at least 54 seats, to 44 for Republicans. Two races remain uncalled. Alaska’s contest between Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan and Democrat Mary Peltola is still a toss-up, CBS News said, and Reuters reported that the state’s ranked-choice count may take more than a week. Mississippi’s race between Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democrat Scott Colom is also uncalled, with thousands of absentee and affidavit ballots still to be checked. Reuters noted that Democratic wins in both would widen the margin to 56-44. Neither result would change which party runs the Senate.

CBS News projected Democratic Senate pickups in Texas, Kansas, South Carolina, Maine, Iowa, Ohio and North Carolina. James Talarico defeated Attorney General Ken Paxton in Texas, which Reuters said had not elected a Democratic senator since 1988. Adam Hamilton defeated Sen. Roger Marshall in Kansas for the first Democratic Senate win there since 1932, according to CBS News. Democrats also won battleground House districts in several states, CBS News said, including Kentucky, where the open 6th District seat changed parties.

Jeffries, whom Reuters said is positioned to become the first Black speaker of the House, told reporters the incoming majority would concentrate on affordability and accountability. “We don’t work for Donald Trump,” he said, according to Reuters. “We work for the American people.” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called Tuesday’s results a “generational remake of the Senate map.” He said, “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.” Hamilton told CBS News, “I do not want to spend the next two years in trials.”

Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana told aides Wednesday morning that he would not seek the House minority leader post next year, NBC News and CBS News reported. Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio have launched bids, with House Republicans scheduled to vote on Nov. 10. Asked about that contest, President Donald Trump said, “We’ll stay out of it,” and said he had not asked Johnson to step down, according to NBC News.

Trump spoke with reporters Wednesday at a White House ballroom construction site. “If I was on the ballot, we would have won,” he said. Vice President JD Vance had written that “The reason we lost is the war,” referring to the conflict with Iran. Trump said that account was “largely true because it drove the gasoline up a little bit short term,” NBC News reported, but added, “I’d have to do it again because long term it’s the only answer. You can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon.” He also said, Reuters reported, “I’ll get along probably with the Democrats, unless they want to be destructive, but I have the power of the veto.”

Analysis: Kentucky’s new lineup inside a Democratic Congress

Original context from the Kacee Allen Network News Desk: Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Barr won the Senate seat being vacated by Mitch McConnell, but he will arrive as a freshman in a chamber Democrats will organize. The House seat Barr is leaving, Kentucky’s 6th District, went to a Democrat the same night, CBS News reported. Watch the Alaska and Mississippi counts, the Nov. 10 leadership vote, and lame-duck funding past December, which Reuters said remains in Republican hands until January.

Editor’s note: Written by the Kacee Allen Network News Desk. Seat figures and the Alaska and Mississippi races were verified against CBS News pages updated the morning of Nov. 5. Reuters was read through a Yahoo News reprint dated Nov. 5. Johnson’s decision and Trump quotations were verified against NBC News. No original interviews were conducted; the analysis is the Network’s context.