Good morning. I’m Corinne Straight, and this is AlterNet America. Please take a moment to click the ❤️ and restack this post. The oligarchs’ platforms are trying to keep stories like the ones below from hitting your feeds, and this helps us break through.
We have just one thing to say about last night: HELL YES!
Our stories for you this morning are, of course, all positive. Democrats won control of both the House and Senate Tuesday in a sweeping rejection of Trump. Elon Musk blew nearly half a billion dollars on Republican candidates who lost, including Ken Paxton in Texas. And Republicans are publicly melting down over the losses, with MAGA commentators blaming the party for running on nothing.
Before we get started, the billionaires are squeezing independent media and we need your help. Our stories are being suppressed on Facebook, where many of you first discovered us, after we called out Mark Zuckerberg for being a Trump lackey. Elon Musk, the GOP’s top donor, is also censoring AlterNet America’s stories on his social media platform. We’re clearly getting under their skin, but we can’t keep this work going without you.
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Pete Hegseth is going to need a drink. Oh wait.
Democrats took control of the U.S. House Tuesday, opening the door for investigations into Trump and his allies. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is expected to become Speaker on January 3, has promised that those investigations will start on his first day in power.
The Democrats have promised to investigate Jeffrey Epstein, ICE, and the president’s personal finances, which have grown exponentially since his return to office. The majority grants them subpoena power and the ability to force testimony from Trump’s Cabinet and family.
Democrats are also working on legislation to restore ObamaCare subsidies that expired in January, and undo the Medicaid cuts Republicans enacted last year. Both are part of the party’s platform of affordability, which will address the cost of groceries, gas, housing, and health care.
The Democrat who will soon chair the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Robert Garcia, has spent months quietly building cases against the administration. He had two words for Republicans Tuesday evening: “Lawyer up.”
And this majority is Fetterman-proof.
Democrats also gained control of the U.S. Senate on Tuesday night, flipping at least seven Republican-held seats. The victory gives Democrats the power to control judicial nominations and call administration officials to Senate hearings.
Democrats won North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Ohio, Iowa, Kansas, and Maine, far surpassing the four needed to capture a majority. Former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley lost to former Gov. Roy Cooper in North Carolina, while in South Carolina, pediatrician Annie Andrews defeated Darline Graham, who was appointed to the seat after her brother Lindsey Graham died suddenly in July.
In Texas, James Talarico beat Ken Paxton to become the first Democrat to win a U.S. Senate seat in the state since 1988. Kansas reached even further back into its history books, with Rev. Adam Hamilton ousting Republican Sen. Roger Marshall in the state’s first Senate win for Democrats since 1932.
Two progressive candidates won races Republicans spent a combined $120 million to stop. In Michigan, physician Abdul El-Sayed won despite $65 million in outside spending against him. In Maine, fifth-generation logger Troy Jackson unseated Susan Collins after entering the race as a replacement nominee with just 101 days to campaign.
Everything’s bigger in Texas, including the L.
Elon Musk spent more than $445 million on Republican candidates in the 2026 midterms, far surpassing any other single donor. Nearly all of it was wasted.
Democrats took both houses of Congress, and the race Musk spent the most money on was a blowout. James Talarico beat Ken Paxton by 18 points in Texas after Musk poured more than $200 million into the campaign, funding attack ads through his super PAC.
He also gave $168 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, the main super PAC supporting Senate Republicans. Another $30 million went to the Congressional Leadership Fund to defend the House majority. Womp womp.
Musk had promised to dial back on his political spending after a costly defeat in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race last year, but had already outspent his 2024 total by October. No American donor has ever put more into a single election cycle.
The only thing Republicans flipped on Tuesday was their lids.
GOP officials and MAGA media figures publicly turned on each other Tuesday night, with some of the president’s closest allies blaming the party for its losses. The main objection was that Republicans had no message apart from their devotion to Trump, and they had nothing to show voters after two years in power.
Right-wing podcaster Tim Pool called the results “a blue great mud flood” and wrote that the GOP “campaigned on nothing and deserve to get blown out.” Former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn warned that “having an R next to your name does not get you a pass,” writing that the next two years “cannot be more speeches, more promises, and more excuses for why nothing gets done.”
Panic has already broken out among Republican House leadership, which is now facing an internal fight over who will lead the party in the minority. House Speaker Mike Johnson has indicated he wants to keep the job, but House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan are expected to challenge him.
Last night happened because millions of people refused to be told what to think by billionaires trying to buy an election. Independent media played a role in that. We told you about the Epstein coverup, the deportation abuses, and the corruption that the mainstream media tried to bury.
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Democrat Amy Acton Defeats Vivek Ramaswamy to Become Ohio’s Governor. Dr. Amy Acton, the former director of the Ohio Department of Health, defeated Republican Vivek Ramaswamy by about four points in the Ohio governor’s race, flipping a state Trump won in the last three presidential elections. Ramaswamy’s campaign imploded when he ran an ad featuring Acton’s estranged mother, who defended the man who was convicted of sexually abusing Acton as a child. Democrats also made history Tuesday by flipping governor’s mansions in Texas and Georgia. Gina Hinojosa defeated three-term incumbent Greg Abbott to become the first Latina governor of Texas while Keisha Lance Bottoms became the first Black woman ever elected governor in the United States.
** Virginia Enshrines Reproductive Rights, Marriage Equality, and Voting Restoration in Constitution.** On Tuesday, voters in Virginia enshrined abortion rights, same-sex marriage, and the restoration of voting rights for formerly incarcerated people into the state constitution. All three amendments passed with at least 55 percent support after a two-year effort by the Democratic-controlled General Assembly, which had to approve them in two separate sessions before putting them on the ballot. For 15 years, the measure was sponsored by Sen. Mamie Locke, a Hampton Democrat, before it finally passed. She said the amendments were about “giving people autonomy over what they do.”
** Missouri Voters Reject Gerrymandered Map and Anti-Abortion Amendment.** Missouri voters rejected two Republican ballot measures on Tuesday, turning down a gerrymandered congressional map and an effort to enshrine an abortion ban in the state constitution. Trump pushed for the redistricting map as part of a nationwide effort to redraw congressional lines before the midterms, but the state Supreme Court blocked it and sent it to voters, who rejected it along with the anti-abortion amendment. The measure lost by more than 200,000 votes despite the campaign downplaying abortion and instead focusing on banning gender-affirming care for minors.
Massachusetts Voters Overwhelmingly Reject Attempt to Recriminalize Marijuana. On Tuesday night, Massachusetts voters rejected a ballot initiative to recriminalize marijuana, with early returns showing the measure losing 72 to 28 percent. The bill would have banned recreational sales and home growing if it had passed. The proposal was funded almost exclusively by Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a national anti-cannabis group whose signature gatherers were caught on video telling voters who support legalization that signing the petition would help protect access to marijuana. The measure was opposed by Gov. Maura Healey, both U.S. senators, more than 50 state lawmakers, and a coalition of law enforcement officials who warned it would push consumers back to the unregulated market.