Democrats are projected to win back control of the U.S. House of Representatives in Tuesday’s midterm elections, CBS News projects — an outcome that would stall President Trump’s legislative agenda and give the opposition the power to launch investigations into his administration during the second half of his term.
The projection, reported by CBS News and CNN, would end four years of a narrow Republican majority.
CBS said the full size of the Democratic margin remains unclear, with votes in several competitive races still being counted. But the practical consequence of the shift is already coming into focus: beginning in January, a Democratic House would control committee gavels, subpoena power, and a share of authority over federal spending.
What flipped the chamber
CBS attributed the result primarily to economic discontent, reporting that frustration over the cost of living helped Democrats overturn a Republican majority that had, over the past four years, ceded much of its legislative initiative to the Trump administration. The network cited several headwinds for the governing party: an unpopular war with Iran now in its ninth month, trade conflicts that it said have pushed up inflation, and the optics of costly construction projects in Washington — including a large ballroom at the White House — set against voters’ affordability concerns. CBS reported that the president largely brushed aside those concerns and blamed his predecessor for high prices.
History also worked against the party in power. Since 1934, the sitting president’s party has gained House seats in a non-presidential election year only three times, according to the American Presidency Project cited by CBS.
Republicans had framed the contest differently, casting it as a choice between “common sense” and “crazy” and pointing to the rise of democratic socialist candidates. At the president’s urging, Republicans in several states, including Texas and Florida, redrew House maps to create more favorable seats — 15 additional seats across seven states — but CBS reported the move had minimal effect on preserving the majority. Democrats countered by redrawing districts in California to make five seats less favorable to Republicans.
House Democrats are preparing an aggressive oversight push once they hold subpoena power, CBS reported.
They are expected to examine the president’s and his family’s business dealings, the administration’s immigration enforcement, the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, Mr. Trump’s pardons, and the rushed construction projects around the capital.
The effort is expected to be led by Representative Robert Garcia of California and Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrats on the Oversight and Judiciary committees. CBS reported it is likely to set up a confrontation with the administration over oversight requests — a clash that could end up in court. Democrats could also use their authority over federal spending as leverage, withholding money from administration priorities to press officials to testify or comply.
Whether Democrats attempt a third impeachment of Mr. Trump is an open question.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries has said the party has not “ruled anything out” or “ruled anything in,” CBS reported, and while the president has said he expects to be impeached, few Democrats appear eager to pursue it.
Jeffries has said the Democratic program will center on affordability, CBS reported, laying out early priorities that include reversing the Medicaid cuts enacted under Mr. Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, extending the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits that lapsed last year, ending the war with Iran, and rolling back the president’s tariffs.
Those items point to a likely standoff. A Democratic House can pass bills and block parts of the administration’s agenda, but control of a single chamber does not give the party the votes to enact its priorities over the president’s objections — a dynamic that will shape the next two years.
The outgoing Republican majority had been slim and fractious. The breakdown in the 119th Congress — 218 Republicans, 214 Democrats, one independent and two vacancies — shifted repeatedly as the president drew members into his administration and as deaths, early retirements and resignations took their toll, CBS reported. Speaker Mike Johnson, who once joked that he was more therapist than speaker, often had to lean on Mr. Trump to bring holdouts into line, and at times a single Republican could stall the party’s plans.
Jeffries may face a version of the same challenge from the other direction.
CBS reported that he will have to manage a bloc of democratic socialists — some of whom defeated longtime incumbents in primaries — alongside Democrats who represent districts Mr. Trump carried in 2024. The strains are already visible: in September, two moderates, Representative Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington and the retiring Representative Jared Golden of Maine, broke from their party to help Republicans advance a procedural vote, saying the underlying measures — Russia sanctions and protections for Maine’s lobstermen — were too important to delay.
Some newly elected progressives have not committed to backing Jeffries for speaker. Representative-elect Melat Kiros of Colorado told CBS she had had “wonderful conversations” with him but declined to say whether she would support him, adding, “I’m going to support anybody who ensures that the agenda is in line with the priorities of the American people.” Representative-elect Chris Rabb of Pennsylvania also would not commit, telling CBS, “I don’t know who’s running, and I’ll sit down with anybody who wants to earn my vote.”
https://ctninfo.com/democrats-projec…d-to-check-trump/
Source: CBS News
AI Use Policy:
Some of CTN’s journalists are not native English speakers and draft their work in French or Haitian Creole. We then use AI-assisted translation software to produce the English versions, and traces of machine-generated phrasing may occasionally remain. Every article — in any language — is written, reviewed, and edited by CTN’s staff writers and editors, who remain responsible for its accuracy. CTN also uses AI to convert text into audio.
