The Party of European Socialists congratulates the U.S. Democratic Party on its decisive victory in the 3rd November midterm elections. The result returns both chambers of Congress to Democratic control. It is only the fifth time since the Second World War that a party has won back the Senate and the House in a midterm election.
American voters have sent a clear message: in a democracy, power must answer to the people and to the institutions they elect. Since 2024, Trump’s administration has governed increasingly by executive order, bypassing Congress and testing the limits of the courts. Today’s election result restores the counterweight the US Constitution was designed to provide.
Voters rejected the two years of chaos, corruption and incompetence. They rebuke the ICE immigration crackdown that many believe has gone too far, with masked agents, mass arrests and raids that have cost lives.
The midterm election results show that voters said “no” to Donald Trump and punished the Republicans for abandoning their 2024 promises to improve the lives of ordinary Americans, for putting billionaires first, for widening the gap between the rich and the middle class, and for turning their backs on the poorest.
PES President Stefan Löfven said:
“This result is a chance to return American democracy to normal. Congress now has a mandate to do its job: to scrutinise, legislate and hold the President to account. Checks and balances are what have made the United States a strong democracy, and American voters have chosen to defend them.
But this is not only a vote for checks and balances. It is a vote for change. Americans have rejected an agenda that has done little to ease the pressure on their household budgets. The voters are asking for new policies that bring down the cost of living and put working families first, not as in MAGA speeches, but in practice.”
The PES remains concerned that President Trump may try to continue ruling by decree and sidelining the democratic institutions that stand in his way. The new Congress will have both the authority and the responsibility to hold him to account.
The transatlantic relationship has been tested in the last two years, and the US midterm election results give it a chance to recover. Europe’s progressives stand ready to work with a Congress committed to democratic norms, multilateralism and the people on both sides of the Atlantic.
