US Midterm Elections: Democrats win US Senate control as voters reject Donald Trump's Republicans

US President Donald Trump has been dealt a major blow

placeholder image — US President Donald Trump has been dealt a major blow

The Democrats have seized control of the US Senate after sweeping wins in once-reliable Republican territories, delivering a significant blow to Donald Trump’s party as the midterm elections reshaped the Congressional landscape.

Donald Trump has been attacked as a “failed lame duck president” after Democrats won a string of historic victories that handed them control of the US Senate.

The midterm elections, which decide which party runs Congress, were widely viewed as a verdict on the Republican president after he had urged supporters to act as though his name was on the ballot paper.

Democrats secured the Senate by gaining seats in a series of places long seen as Republican territory, including Texas, Kansas, South Carolina and Ohio.

They needed a net gain of four seats in the 100-member chamber to win a majority. In the 435-member House of Representatives, they needed three.

The party also picked up a number of House seats in states including Kentucky, New Jersey and North Carolina.

Among the standout results, Democrat James Talarico became the first Democrat to win a statewide office in Texas since 1994.

In Ohio, Democrat Sherrod Brown won the US Senate seat, defeating Republican incumbent Jon Husted.

North Carolina Democratic Senate candidate Roy Cooper, right, arrives to speak with his wife, Kristin Cooper, left, at an election night event, in Raleigh, N.C. | AP

The Democrats had been hoping to capitalise on voter anger over the cost of living, tariffs and high energy prices linked to the Iran war, which Mr Trump launched with Israel earlier this year.

As the losses mounted, Mr Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform: “I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!”

Democrat US senator Jon Ossoff, seen as a possible 2028 presidential contender, won re-election in Georgia, a state that had been among the Republicans’ top targets.

The 39-year-old has become one of the sharpest critics of the president and his administration, and the result further raises his national profile.

Mr Ossoff 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 Democrats also held New Hampshire, where Chris Pappas defeated Republican John Sununu.

Mr Pappas is set to succeed retiring senator Jeanne Shaheen, a three-term Democrat who defeated Mr Sununu in 2008.

He told supporters: “This has been a long campaign against the backdrop of chaos, corruption and costs coming out of Washington.

Elsewhere, several governorships were also up for grabs, including in California, where the long-shot Republican candidate is Steve Hilton, a former top aide to David Cameron.

Turnout was expected to be high in the closely fought congressional contests, which are the most expensive in US history.