Democrats won control of the House on Tuesday night, NBC News and MS NOW projected. The win gives them limited power over President Donald Trump’s agenda and much broader power to investigate the businesses his family runs.
Democrats needed a net gain of just three seats, and they got there with wins in Republican-held suburban and swing districts.
In New Jersey’s 7th District, Democrat Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot, defeated Rep. Tom Kean Jr., CNN projected, and the AP also called the race. In Virginia’s 2nd, former Rep. Elaine Luria flipped the seat held by Rep. Jen Kiggans, Decision Desk HQ projected. In Colorado’s 8th, former state lawmaker Manny Rutinel flipped one of the toss-up seats after campaigning on lowering costs and opposing the administration’s immigration crackdown. And in North Carolina’s newly redrawn 11th, Democrat Jamie Ager defeated Republican Jennifer Balkcom.
Democrats also held three Florida seats that Republicans had redrawn to flip. With races still being called, NBC’s Decision Desk estimates Democrats will finish with about 248 seats, a 61-seat majority, while CNBC’s election desk projects at least 235.
Trump, who had urged supporters to treat the midterms as a referendum on his presidency, responded on Truth Social: “I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!”
Rep. Robert Garcia of California, who will chair the House Oversight Committee in the new Congress, marked the win with a two-word message in a statement and on X: “Lawyer up.” His office said he has vowed to take on what it called the “Trump Crime Family,” along with corporate corruption, abuses at the Department of Homeland Security and ICE, and the cover-up of the Epstein files.
What Democrats can’t do
Democrats can now pass bills with a simple majority, but passing a bill in the House doesn’t make it law. Trump has threatened to “veto everything” if Democrats win Congress, and overriding a veto takes two-thirds of both chambers. That’s a margin Democrats won’t have in either one.
That limits what House Speaker-in-waiting Hakeem Jeffries can deliver on his four stated priorities: reversing Trump’s Medicaid cuts, extending Affordable Care Act subsidies, restoring Congress’s authority over tariffs and ending the war with Iran, NBC reported. Each would need Trump’s signature or a veto-proof majority. What the House can do is refuse to pass Trump’s priorities, including spending bills. That gives Democrats leverage in every budget fight for the next two years.
What they can do
Subpoenas don’t need the president’s signature. Committee control comes with the power to compel documents and testimony from the administration, and from private companies and individuals too.
Garcia has said his panel will focus on “Trump family corruption,” including the president’s cryptocurrency ventures, which have earned him more than $1 billion. He told Punchbowl News the committee will look at the family’s crypto deals, Donald Trump Jr.’s business dealings, and Trump family members like Jared Kushner “sitting on boards and getting contracts.” He also promised “quick action” on alleged pay-to-play arrangements involving former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski. Garcia has said administration officials, including acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, could face subpoenas on “day one” of the Democratic majority.
The businesses in line
World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s crypto company, is likely to be first. Democrats have focused on an Emirati royal known as the “Spy Sheikh,” who bought a $500 million stake in the company last year, while it seeks a national bank charter that an arm of the Treasury Department must approve. House Democrats had already asked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to investigate the deal. Until now, all they could do was ask.
Democrats have also said they’ll look at Trump’s pardon of a Binance co-founder who helped the Trump family launch a stablecoin. Garcia has asked the Pentagon’s inspector general to investigate whether companies that brought Eric Trump or Donald Trump Jr. into their ownership or onto their payroll were rewarded with defense contracts. Those companies have collected more than $725 million in loans, grants and awards since Trump took office, according to Oversight Democrats.
The scrutiny could reach companies outside the Trump family. Corporate donors to Trump’s White House ballroom and companies that did deals with Trump family members are expected to be among the first targets, with inquiries starting as early as February. Democrats expect the White House to resist, and plan to subpoena private entities with ties to Trump directly to get around it. In Trump’s first term, the White House slow-walked document requests and claimed executive privilege, and that strategy could return.
The White House has dismissed the plans. Democrats’ “only agenda is to continue their decade long witch hunt against President Trump,” spokeswoman Lauren Bis told Newsweek before Election Day.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
