After walking to the edge of a precipice two years ago, America’s body politic recoiled Tuesday. Amid a surge in Hispanic, Black and young voter turnout, Democrats flipped the House and the Senate and won seats they haven’t won in decades. But whether the victory is short-lived or long-lasting depends on what comes next.
From the beginning of this election cycle, history leaned toward Republicans losing their narrow House majority. But the size of the Democratic victory was far from preordained. “This is shaping up to be the biggest House popular vote victory for any party since 1974,” MS NOW contributor G. Elliott Morris wrote. MS NOW projects Democrats will have at least 245 House seats come January.
The bigger question entering Tuesday was control of the Senate. After Trump’s inauguration, the Senate GOP’s campaign arm set a goal of 55 seats, and at that time, Democrats, who have 47 seats, likely would have been happy with merely adding one or two seats more. But as of early Wednesday morning, Senate Democrats had already won at least 54 seats, including Texas, Kansas and South Carolina.
For the first time in either Trump presidency, then, Democrats hold both chambers of Congress. They have the power not only to pass laws but also to investigate and hold to account those inside and outside the White House who have aided and abetted the corruption of the past two years. And they can — they must — begin tearing down the political project that gave rise to President Donald Trump, while laying the foundations of a new project to take its place.
The House’s power over spending means Democrats can demand a say in everything from ending the Iran war to halting Trump’s many vanity projects.
First, though, Democrats must fight efforts to corrupt the results — efforts that are already underway. The Justice Department’s attempts to sue California and Alaska over their election administration have fallen flat, but the aftermath of the 2020 election reminds us that MAGA’s games do not cease after Election Day. Trump could continue to sow doubt, and his lackeys — all of them committed election deniers — are ready to act as if he and they are unbounded by law. Meanwhile, congressional Democrats will have to be vigilant during the lame duck and try to stymie any last-minute attempts by Republicans to push through laws.
Once the new Congress is sworn in, voters will expect Democrats to address affordability: by reversing the tariffs and the cuts to SNAP and Medicaid, raising the minimum wage and restoring the Biden-era child tax credit. And with Medicare for All as popular with voters as ever, the next two years are a chance for Democrats to move from slogan to policy. (One recent Yale study found that a single-payer universal system would save Americans $1 trillion per year in healthcare spending — and save 114,000 lives.)
These bills are unlikely to become law; Trump has already said he will “become Mr. Veto” should Democrats control the next Congress, and his inclination toward compromise, to the extent it ever existed, has declined precipitously since his first term. But simply passing these bills can help Democratic lawmakers establish trust with voters who may not have been as open to, or enthusiastic about, the party in the past.
And the president’s foes are not without leverage, thanks to the “power of the purse.” The House’s power over spending means Democrats can demand a say in everything from ending the Iran war to halting Trump’s many vanity projects.
Hearings can also rebut Trump’s attempts to shield his underlings and allies from accountability.
“Because Trump is so lawless,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., told The New Republic’s Greg Sargent, “We have got to use the appropriations power as carefully as we can to prevent violations of people’s constitutional rights.” Democrats can use this power to limit the administration’s politically motivated prosecutions, levy new restrictions on Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other parts of Stephen Miller’s white nationalist project, and end the National Guard deployments to Washington, D.C.; Memphis; and elsewhere.
And with House and Senate majorities come new investigative and oversight powers. The White House will no doubt resist, but Democrats can investigate the Trump family’s business dealings, the administration’s stonewalling on the Epstein files, corporate corruption and profiteering, and the conduct of the Iran war. Congressional hearings could also buttress the case for impeachment, whether of the president or Cabinet members, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, though the odds of conviction and removal remain low, if not nil.
The hearings can also rebut Trump’s attempts to shield his underlings and allies from accountability. The president has long warned of issuing pre-emptive pardons to members of his staff, before Democrats even launch any investigations. This week he suggested he would look at pardoning GOP megadonor Elon Musk as well — another likely target of Democratic probes.
But as The New York Times’ Jamelle Bouie has argued, “A Constitution that would allow the president to break the law and then pardon the perpetrators is one that becomes the author of its own demise” — a self-evidently “absurd” outcome. Establishing not only that criminal behavior took place but that pardons were issued to stop prosecutions will help Democrats make the case that these pardons should be treated as null and void.
Above all, Democrats must remember. Remember who came out Tuesday, and who came out every day the last two years: to vote, to protest and to do the hard work of democracy.
The last item is Senate-specific and simple: no more judges. Tuesday’s results do not change the fact that the judicial branch, led by the conservative Supreme Court, has enabled Trump, opened the floodgates for billionaire donors and gutted the Voting Rights Act. Whether the vacancies are on the Supreme Court or lower courts, Democrats must hold the line on these lifetime appointments (while demanding a new and binding ethics code for the Supreme Court).
Should the president stop nominating people who won’t even say who won the 2020 election, perhaps Democrats can reconsider those nominees’ other merits. But until then, no more judges.
Above all, Democrats must remember. Remember who came out Tuesday, and who came out every day the last two years: to vote, to protest and to do the hard work of democracy. Remember the millions of everyday Americans who stood up and spoke out while the wealthy and powerful bowed and cowered. Remember Kilmar Abrego Garcia and Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero. Remember Renée Good and Alex Pretti.
And then remember: The damage done by this president will not be undone overnight. How Democrats act will determine whether Tuesday was but a flicker of light, or the dawn of a new era.
The post A blue tsunami drowned the GOP Congress. Here’s what comes next. appeared first on MS NOW.
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