WASHINGTON, November 3 — Democrats are projected to win majority control of the US House of Representatives in Tuesday's midterm elections, US media projected on election night, putting them in position next year to challenge President Donald Trump's agenda, Reuters reported at 10:17 p.m. ET. CNN's Decision Desk, NBC News and CBS News each projected a Democratic House majority, and Decision Desk HQ projected the same outcome, according to TheWrap and other election-night coverage.

Source: Reuters

The calls came in stages through the evening. NewsNation's Decision Desk HQ projected Democrats would take the House at about 9:11 p.m. ET — J News Network put the Decision Desk HQ projection at 9:09 p.m. ET — nearly 50 minutes before MS NOW made its own call, TheWrap reported. CNN, NBC News and CBS News followed over the next 11 minutes. NBC News projected at about 10:08 p.m. ET that Democrats will win at least about 244 of the 435 House seats, an estimate that could still move by a few seats, and CBS News issued its projection at 10:16 p.m. ET, according to election trackers that record each network's call. CNBC's Election Desk separately projected at least 225 Democratic seats against at least 160 for Republicans.

All 435 voting seats in the House were on the ballot, as they are every two years. Going into the election the chamber stood at 218 Republicans and 214 Democrats, with one independent and two seats vacant, so Democrats needed to reach the 218-seat majority line to flip the chamber. The Associated Press had not called overall House control at the time the network projections were reported, and results are not official until states certify them, usually weeks after Election Day.

Democrats benefited from several early pickups in Republican-held districts, TheWrap reported. Decision Desk HQ's count through the evening included Democratic flips in North Carolina's 11th District and Pennsylvania's 8th District, according to J News Network, and CBS News projected that Democrat Manny Rutinel defeated Republican Representative Gabe Evans in Colorado's 8th District. Hundreds of individual races were still being counted when the control projections were made, so the final size of the Democratic majority remained unclear late on Tuesday.

Senate control still undecided

No network and not the Associated Press had projected control of the US Senate late on Tuesday. Republicans began election day with a 53–47 Senate advantage, including two independents who caucus with Democrats, and Democrats needed a net gain of four seats to reach a 51-seat majority. Democrats recorded major Senate wins during the evening — former governor Roy Cooper flipped North Carolina, Democrat Annie Andrews was projected to flip South Carolina in a major upset, Senator Jon Ossoff held Georgia and Chris Pappas won New Hampshire — while winners in several key Senate races, including Alaska, Iowa, Maine, Michigan and Ohio, had yet to be determined as of 11 p.m. ET, Northeastern University's election analysis reported. Those individual race results are reported separately by this newsroom.

Trump reacts: 'I wasn't on the Ballot'

President Trump reacted on his Truth Social platform at 10:37 p.m. ET, in his first post after US media projected Democrats would take the House: “I wasn't on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP.” The landslide line is the president's claim about a hypothetical race he was not in; it is not an election result. During the campaign Trump had repeatedly urged supporters to “vote like I'm on the ballot” and to “just pretend I'm on the ballot,” Northeastern and CTV News reported, and a White House official told Fox News the mood inside the White House was defiant, arguing Trump himself was not on the ballot despite urging voters to treat the midterms as a referendum on his presidency, according to 7Globe's report of that interview.

Source: Trump's Truth archive

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York is expected to become the next Speaker of the House — the first Black Speaker in US history — when the new Congress is sworn in on January 3, 2027, NBC News and J News Network reported.

What happens next

A Democratic House means the final two years of Trump's second term would run under divided government if the projection is borne out by certified results. A House majority controls which bills reach the floor, must agree to every spending law, and can open investigations and issue subpoenas — tools Democrats could use to challenge the Trump agenda, including over the war with Iran, where Congress holds the power of the purse and war oversight. Control of the Senate, still uncalled, will decide how much of that agenda can move and whether Trump's nominees face an easier or harder confirmation path. Counting continues in western states and in close districts, mail ballots can take days in states such as California, and the projected seat total can still shift before certification.