President Donald Trump has said he is ready to reach for his veto pen. Democrats gave him cause on Tuesday, when they won control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
NBC News projected the House result after Democrats flipped enough Republican-held districts to clear the 218 seats needed for a majority.
Trump has already coined a title for the role he may play. He jokingly described the possibility of becoming “Mr. Veto,” though he has also said he remains open to negotiating with Democrats.
“I don’t want to be just sitting there for two years vetoing everything,” Trump said after the election.
A veto carries limits. Congress can override one only with two-thirds support in both chambers, a margin Democrats do not hold on their own.
The new majority still gives Democrats the power to block legislation Trump backs. It also ends Republicans’ ability to push another party-line package through Congress.
Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader, is positioned to become speaker when the new Congress convenes January 3.
In that job, he and his caucus will decide which bills reach the floor and will control committees, hearings and subpoenas.
On NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Jeffries took up the question of a third impeachment of Trump. He said Democrats “haven’t ruled anything in and we haven’t ruled anything out.”
Jeffries described the party’s oversight plans in different terms before the election, speaking with reporters at Democratic campaign headquarters.
“I wouldn’t characterize it as investigating them like crazy. We’re going to follow the facts, apply the law, be guided by the Constitution, and let the chips fall where they may,” he said.
Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, used just two words to describe the approach.
His message to Trump: “Lawyer up.”
House Democrats have signaled plans for aggressive investigations of the administration. Their opening legislative agenda centers on affordability, including gasoline, groceries and health care.
The scale of the win is still growing.
Republicans began the night with a narrow House majority, and NBC News said Democrats could enter January with their largest House majority in nearly two decades.
Several races remained unresolved on Wednesday. Democrats could add more seats as election officials tally the remaining ballots.
Exit polling by NBC News offers a look at voter motivations. Forty-three percent of those surveyed said opposing Trump was one reason for their vote.
Seventy-one percent said Congress had not provided enough oversight of Trump. That group included 41 percent of the Republican voters surveyed.
NBC News reported that frustration with Trump, affordability, corruption and thin congressional oversight fed the Democratic gains.
AP polling likewise found widespread concern about living costs and the direction of the country.
Democrats won across battleground districts and also made gains in areas that had recently favored Republicans.
The results end two years of unified Republican government and set up divided government for the final half of Trump’s second term.
Questions have surfaced about the future of Speaker Mike Johnson in House leadership.
Before Election Day, Johnson acknowledged that Republicans faced historical headwinds, since the president’s party traditionally loses House seats in midterm elections.
Those losses proved large enough to erase the Republican majority and give Democrats significant breathing room.
Republicans keep control of Congress through the end of 2026, which sets up a lame-duck session before Democrats take over.
Lawmakers face unfinished government-funding business, and Republicans have only weeks to advance priorities that need congressional approval.
