Midterm Elections 2018: Democrats Retake Control Of House Of Representatives

Democrats retook control of the House of Representatives in Tuesday’s midterm elections for the first time since 2010, thereby sending a strong message of rebuke to President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, which had previously held the majority in both houses of Congress.

The victory by Democrats — who had been hoping for a so-called “blue wave” that would entail them winning both the House and Senate — means Trump will likely face obstacles from a legislative standpoint for the remainder of his first four-year term in office, the same way Barack Obama met obstruction from a GOP-controlled Congress during his presidency.

Democrats needed to flip 23 seats in the House in order to regain control of Congress, and just two seats in the Senate. As of late Tuesday night, Democrats had won at least 26 Republican-held seats. Among the big Democratic winners were Pennsylvania Rep. Conor Lamb, who beat GOP Rep. Keith Rothfus, Kansas’s Sharice Davids, who beat Republican Rep. Kevin Yoder, and Oklahoma’s Kendra Horn, who beat GOP challenger Steve Russell. 

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Most of the victories by Democratic candidates on Tuesday came in suburban districts, especially in highly contested congressional races like those in Denver, Florida and Virginia.

According to Politico, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders dismissed the theory that a “blue wave” would happen in this year’s election.

“I think James Carville said it best when he said anybody that was anticipating a blue wave tonight’s not going to get it. Maybe you get a ripple but I certainty don’t think that there’s a blue wave.”

Democrats had said ahead of Election Day that voting rights and investigations into Trump’s ties to Russia and his tax returns would be among the first issues they would deal with should they regain majority in either house of Congress.