The world woke up on Wednesday morning to control of the U.S. Congress shifting to Democrats in a clear rejection of U.S. President Donald Trump’s turbulent second term.
In a rebuke of the second Trump administration, Democrats flipped long-held Republican Senate seats in Texas, Maine and South Carolina. A blue wave also washed over House seats and down-ballot votes in an unprecedented Democratic tsunami set to send shock waves through the Republican party.
Polling showed that Americans were frustrated with the president and his policies. Trump’s approval was plummeting due to rising gas and diesel prices, high inflation and the unpopular war with Iran.
The trade war with Canada became a ballot box issue in close contests in Maine and Michigan.
Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed — a constant target of Trump and the Republicans — beat GOP candidate Mike Rogers while Democrat Troy Jackson ended the nearly 30-year run of Republican Susan Collins in Maine.
Trump’s attacks on Canada were so unpopular in Michigan that it forced Rogers to distance himself from Trump over the duties. El-Sayed has long called the trade war nonsensical.
Collins publicly opposed Trump’s tariffs on Canada and lobbied for some exemptions, though Jackson said she hadn’t done enough to fight the president’s broader tariff regime.
Trump took a call live on air with Politico late Tuesday, where he said he’s willing to work with the Democrats because he “has a right to veto everything. But (he) doesn’t want to sit there for two years vetoing everything.”
The president then posted a photo of a red baseball cap on his social media platform, Truth Social, with the word “VETO” in bold white letters, reminiscent of the MAGA hat.
Despite Trump telling supporters before Tuesday to vote like he was on the ballot, he walked that comment back in his Politico interview.
“I wasn’t on the ballot. We didn’t get the people out, but I wasn’t on the ballot. If I was on the ballot, we would have won it all very easily,” Trump said when asked about the results.
Republicans and Democrats casting votes in Michigan on Tuesday said they wanted to see the trade war end. Mark Pospisil, 43, said it’s not good for Canada or the United States to have trade tensions.
“We should be friendly with our neighbours,” Pospisil said after voting for Republicans in White Lake, Mich.
The Michigan race was contentious and achieved national attention from Trump and Republicans, who made derogatory comments about El-Sayed linked to his religion and heritage.
In his victory speech, El-Sayed called out Trump and members of his administration for repeatedly mispronouncing his name.
“So after JD (Vance) swears me in in January, you can just go on and call me senator,” El-Sayed said to applause.
In Maine, the president had tried to give Collins a boost in the tough contest by making changes to 50 per cent tariffs on a range of Canadian goods to offer a reprieve to industries hit hard in Maine. The move was not enough to stop the blue wave from sweeping the state in response to high energy prices and a plummet in Canadian tourism.
Maine, a Northeastern state that borders New Brunswick and Quebec, imports billions of dollars in products from Canada, such as electricity, seafood and plastics.
Many Maine voters who spoke to The Canadian Press on Tuesday hoped for an end to the tariff skirmish between the two countries that Trump started after coming into office last year.
Voters in some of the most Republican-safe areas showed their frustration with the president and the GOP. In Texas, James Talarico broke a decades-long Democrat losing streak by trouncing Trump-aligned Ken Paxton.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2026.
By: Kelly Geraldine Malone
-- with files from Eli Ridder
