Democrats claim House and Senate majorities

Democratic leaders say they have won majorities in the U.S. House and Senate after Tuesday’s midterm elections, as James Talarico leads the Texas Senate count.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chair Kirsten Gillibrand announced their party had regained the Senate majority. Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi declared a Democratic House victory in a separate statement.

The Texas secretary of state’s latest posted count gave Talarico 4,519,243 votes to Republican Ken Paxton’s 3,537,865, a lead of 981,378 votes. The state reported 46 per cent of polling locations reporting, which does not represent the share of all ballots counted.

Party leaders congratulated Talarico on his victory. A Talarico victory would make him the first Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from Texas since Lloyd Bentsen’s 1988 re-election.

Democratic leaders also announced Senate victories for Sherrod Brown in Ohio, Roy Cooper in North Carolina, Annie Andrews in South Carolina, Adam Hamilton in Kansas and Josh Turek in Iowa.

Official returns from four key Senate races showed:

State returns are preliminary and await certification. 

“Senate Democrats are in the majority, and we are ready to get to work,” Schumer and Gillibrand said in their joint statement.

Trump argued Republicans would have won if he had been a candidate.

“I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!” he wrote in a Truth Social post.

In a separate post, Trump blamed Fox News for the Republican losses, saying it gave airtime to Democratic opponents.

In her House victory statement, Pelosi backed Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries to become speaker. The new House must elect its speaker.

New congressional terms begin Jan. 3, 2027. Democratic majorities would give the party control of congressional committees, including those overseeing trade policy, and the power to block legislation. In the Senate, Democrats could also reject presidential nominees requiring the chamber’s approval.

Time will tell on tariffs and a trade deal

For Canada, it is too early to project what impact the results might have on U.S. tariffs or whether they may help resolve the review of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, known as CUSMA.

The White House’s Oct. 23 tariff announcement says its Canada-specific tariffs apply to covered products even when they qualify under CUSMA. Those duties can also apply on top of sector-specific tariffs.

The administration changed the list of affected products effective Oct. 30. It describes the measures as a response to what it calls discriminatory treatment of U.S. commerce by Canada.

In July, U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, the senior Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, introduced legislation that would require congressional approval for tariffs and increase oversight of trade policy.

Any bill changing tariff powers would have to pass both chambers, and Trump could still veto it. Under the U.S. Constitution, overriding a presidential veto requires two-thirds of members voting in each chamber.

CUSMA also has its own review process. The U.S. trade representative announced July 1 that Washington had declined to extend the agreement in its current form, while confirming the pact was in force.

Under CUSMA’s review provisions, the three countries move to annual reviews when they do not all agree to an extension. Extending the agreement requires written confirmation from all three heads of government.

At the July review, Dominic LeBlanc reaffirmed Canada’s support for renewal and called for discussions on U.S. tariffs affecting Canadian steel, aluminum, autos and lumber. Global Affairs Canada says goods and services crossing the Canada-U.S. border averaged $3.5 billion a day in 2025.

Democratic trade leaders have also stressed their own domestic priorities. Richard Neal, the senior Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, said in July that changes to the agreement should strengthen outcomes for American workers and manufacturers.