US elections 2026 live: Democrats flip four more House seats as Republicans trade blame for brutal midterms losses

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer told a gathering at the Democratic leaning Center for American Progress, that in spite of the Democratic party’s victories on election day, voters were still wary of the party.

“Milions of americans voted for us because of frustration with Trump, not out of love for the Democratic Party. Many Americans across the political spectrum are still skeptical of our party and that’s OK. We are fortunate to have the opportunity to earn back their trust,” he said.

The 75-year-old lawmaker – widely seen as a centrist – warned about what he called the “false choice” in the Democratic party. “Populism and moderation are not mutually exclusive,” he said.

Schumer said messaging before the election was intentional and disciplined. He said Democratic leadership in Congress made the decision to embrace a core message while campaigning against Republicans: “Cost, chaos and corruption.”

And following up on this, Harmett Dhillon has told Fox News today that she actually resigned three weeks ago.

“And Susie [Wiles] asked me to please wait until after the midterms,” she said, referring to the White House chief of staff.

According to Fox, Dhillon said she told Wiles she believed she had “accomplished everything” she came to Washington to do and wanted to return to private practice.

Dhillon also stressed that was “not asked to resign”.

When it comes to a potential pardon from the president to shield her from congressional oversight when Democrats take control in the new year, Dhillon told Fox: “I have no idea. I haven’t ever discussed that with him, asked for it.”

She added: “And I have done nothing, in my opinion, that would require that, but, you know, that’s up to the president.”

Attorney general Todd Blanche has now confirmed that Harmeet Dhillon, an ally of Donald Trump, has resigned from her position leading the justice department’s Civil Rights division. In a statement, Blanche said that today he accepted her notice.

“She has defended the civil liberties of every American and enforced the law without fear or favor. The Department is grateful for her dedicated public service, and we wish her every success in her future endeavors,” Blanche said.

As I noted earlier, Bloomberg reported that Dhillon was planning to leave her post.

Democrats have picked-up four more House seats, adding to their new majority. As things stand, the party has 247 seats in the lower chamber, with 35 races left to be called. Here are some of the Democrats’ latest pick-ups.

• Montana’s first congressional district: Here Democrat Sam Forstag, a 32-year-old smoke jumper, beat Republican Aaron Flint, a conservative radio host. The seat is currently held by the two-term GOP representative Ryan Zinke.

• Arizona’s first congressional district: Amish Shah, a Democrat and emergency room doctor, won a district held by Republican David Schweikert, who launched an unsuccessful bid for Arizona governor. Shah won the seat, which includes parts of Phoenix and Scottsdale, against GOP nominee Jay Freely, a former NFL player.

• North Carolina’s sixth congressional district: Democratic state representative Cyril Jefferson beat Republican incumbent Addison McDowell – who won the seat by nearly 40 points in 2024, after it was successfully gerrymandered to benefit the GOP.

• North Carolina’s 13th congressional district: Here, Democrat Paul Barringer, an attorney, defeated the first-term Republican incumbent Brad Knott. The district was also redrawn ahead of the 2024 to boost Republicans, after Democrats flipped the seat in 2022.

Harmeet Dhillon, the justice department lawyer who leads the Civil Rights division, is planning to resign, according to Bloomberg.

Citing four people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reports that Dhillon has told allies that she would leave the DoJ after the midterm elections.

The justice department did not immediately respond to the Guardian’s request for comment on the matter.

As my colleague Sam Levine reports, Dhillon – who once worked as Donald Trump’s personal lawyer – oversees the justice department division responsible for enforcing America’s federal civil rights laws. Since arriving at the justice department in April 2025, Dhillon has dropped dozens of anti-discrimination cases seeking relief for minorities in voting, housing, policing and employment and instead reorienting the division around preventing discrimination against white Americans. Hundreds of attorneys have left the division.

Dhillon made her name in Maga circles by taking on culture-war cases as a San Francisco lawyer and became a fixture in rightwing media, appearing often on Fox shows. She has filed various lawsuits over election “integrity” issues and supported Trump’s quests to overturn results in 2020.

Voters in Washington state have passed a ballot measure banning transgender girls from playing on girls’ sports teams, a major loss for LGBTQ+ rights in a solidly Democratic state.

The measure says students in elementary, middle and high school who want to join girls’ athletics must first submit statements from their healthcare providers verifying their “biological sex”. Opponents have raised alarms the measure may force girls to endure “invasive and extreme” genital exams to participate in school sports.

Initiative 638 passed with support from nearly 57% of voters as of Thursday morning, though votes were still being counted.

More than 25 states across the US have adopted similar bans on trans youth athletes, mostly through legislation pushed by Republican lawmakers. Voters in Arizona and Nebraska approved similar ballot measures this week, and a ban proposed in Colorado was leading in early results, but that race has not yet been called.

Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senator-elect in Michigan, said that the new majority in the upper chamber needs “action” from their leader, in an interview in CNN.

On the campaign trail, El-Sayed refused to back Senator Chuck Schumer, who currently serves as the minority leader. Schumer initially backed El-Sayed’s opponent, Congresswoman Haley Stevens in the Democratic primary, before supporting El-Sayed in the general election and blasting Stevens for her “despicable betrayal” in endorsing Republican Mike Rogers.

Speaking to CNN, El-Sayed reiterated that Senator Chris Van Hollen, the Maryland Democrat, would be an “amazing Senate majority leader”, but didn’t completely rule out supporting Schumer.

“It seems like [Van Hollen] is quite interested in another goal politically, which, you know, would mean that would be very difficult for him to do that,” El-Sayed said, referring to reports about the Senator’s presidential ambitions. “A vote is a choice between two or more options. I don’t know what those options are. But here’s what I’ll say. We need action.”

He added:

I don’t know who’s stepping up and saying, I want to be Senate majority leader … if we have another option, I’m going to look at that and say, who is best placed to get us action, to get money out of politics, put money in pockets, pass Medicare for All.

The tech industry spent big on the midterms, but it turned out to be a poor investment. Elon Musk poured a staggering $446m dollars into Republican-aligned political action committees (Pacs) and groups since last year, but his efforts didn’t pay off. Democrats won every one of the five Senate races where Musk’s America Pac spent the most money backing Republican candidates.

In today’s episode our Stateside podcast Carter Sherman and Kai Wright are joined by the Guardian’s US tech editor, Blake Montgomery, to ask what the “blue tsunami” will mean for Musk and the wider tech industry. Will this spell the end of AI datacenters? And if so, what could this mean for the US economy?

There are “knives out” at the Pentagon as Trump administration officials reel from the thrashing dealt to the GOP in this week’s midterms – and Trump is looking for someone to blame after his unpopular war on Iran sealed the party’s fate, according to the Washington Post (paywall) this morning.

According to the Post’s sources, rather than place blame with his defense secretary Pete Hegseth, Trump could be more likely to instead sack General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, or Admiral Brad Cooper, who has overseen the war.

Hegseth has survived many a controversy in his short tenure, a number of which – from Signal-gate to alleged potential war crimes – many thought should’ve been career-ending. But he has held Trump’s confidence time and time again, including after reports that he misled the president over the course of the war.

I’m at the US Capitol, where there’s not a lot going on, since lawmakers are not scheduled to reconvene until next week.

But the good vibes Democrats are feeling after their dramatic victories in Tuesday’s midterm elections are real, particularly in deep-blue Washington DC.

A shirtless man just jogged by, pointing at the Capitol and yelling, “we got it back!” A group of what looked like visiting students cheered with him.

Joining the chorus of Republicans – who have blasted their party’s poor performance in the midterms – is sitting senator Ted Cruz, of Texas, who said the GOP were handed an “ass-kicking” this cycle, losing control of Congress.

“It was not simply a bad 2006 midterm election, it was a Watergate-level repudiation,” he said on an episode of his podcast, ‘The Verdict’.

He noted, like vice-president JD Vance, that there wasn’t a turnout issue. “Instead, our voters Republicans, Libertarians, Independents, showed up and voted and rejected our candidates, voting Democrat,” Cruz said, noting that economic anxiety appeared to be top of mind this cycle.

“Food is too high, gas is too high, diesel is too high, insurance is too high, life is too high,” he added. “Too many Republican politicians seem like they didn’t understand or they didn’t care.”

Cruz, who is up for re-election in 2030 is also a contender as a Republican candidate for president.

“We need to listen and respond. We need to champion economic policies that make a real difference in working people’s lives, and we need to deal with the consequences,” Cruz added, noting that he called Democratic senator-elect James Talarico to congratulate him on his victory.