MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Democrats won races up and down the ballot and in states that have not elected members of their party to statewide office in decades. They will have at least 54 Senate seats, including independents who caucus with them, and at least 222 seats in the House.
The results are a rebuke to President Trump and Republicans over the war in Iran that has pushed up prices. NPR senior political correspondent Mara Liasson and congressional correspondent Barbara Sprunt are with us. Good morning to you both.
BARBARA SPRUNT AND MARA LIASSON: Good morning.
MARTIN: Mara, I'm going to start with you. What races stood out to you?
MARA LIASSON, BYLINE: Well, the Senate race has really stood out to me. Most of the predictions were the Democrats would get two and six seats. They needed four net pickups to take the majority back. They got seven. And that's Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Maine, Iowa and Kansas. And we're still waiting for the results in Alaska and Mississippi. And that is quite extraordinary. Those states are red states. Donald Trump won most of them in 2024 by double digits. And - but these are states where Democrats have to be able to win - in rural, red places - if they're going to be able to contend to be a true majority party. And just to show you how red these places are, Kansas hasn't elected a Democratic senator since 1932.
MARTIN: Well, the fact that - in Mississippi, the fact that it's even close is...
LIASSON: And really close.
MARTIN: ...Remarkable.
LIASSON: Separated by just a...
MARTIN: Dozens.
LIASSON: ...Handful of votes.
MARTIN: Handful of votes. OK, Barbara Sprunt, Democrats are outperforming. I know we say outperforming, but we mean by historical...
BARBARA SPRUNT, BYLINE: Yes.
MARTIN: ...Standards and by current expectations in the House, too.
SPRUNT: Yeah. I mean, not all races are called yet, but they have secured a very comfortable majority, which is going to make life a heck of a lot easier for the presumptive speaker, Hakeem Jeffries.
MARTIN: And you traveled a lot this cycle to talk to voters about their top issues. What did they tell you, and how do these results track with what you heard?
SPRUNT: You know, the thing that stood out to me the most is the conversations with Republicans and with independents, many of whom had supported the president in the past, and some who even said they were looking for a way to support Republicans on the ticket this cycle, but just felt so unheard from the administration when it came to their concerns about the cost of living. And, of course, the president said to voters to pretend that he was on the ballot. But in a cycle like this, with his very low approval ratings and voters directly tying their economic frustration to his policies like tariffs and his pursuit of the war in Iran, it may have actually hurt Republicans rather than helped it.
MARTIN: And, Mara, let's talk about the Democrats. Democrats do not exactly have the best reputation as a group - I mean, as a brand. I hate that word, but just we'll use it for now as - with voters, either. So what challenges await them now?
LIASSON: Well, they have a lot of challenges. First, they have to figure out how they're going to interpret this incredible win that they just got. It was very broad and very deep, but they have to decide - is it a mandate or is it an opportunity? Their brand, the reputation of the Democratic Party, is still underwater. At the end of the race, it wasn't as unpopular as Republicans, but they've got a long way to go. And what they have to decide is - they say they're going to have a lot of investigations. They're going to focus on corruption. And then they hope to have a bunch of bills of legislation that would address that corruption to prevent it, and also somehow to explain to voters, if they had control of all three branches of government, what specific things would they do to make cost of living go down. In other words, how would they make it easier to pay for gas and housing and healthcare?
MARTIN: So, Barbara, talk about that. I mean, investigations, right? I think it's been - the voters made it very clear that investigations of Republicans, even if - or the president, his family, for that matter - even if warranted, are not sufficient. So how can we expect Democrats to use this legislative power come January?
SPRUNT: Well, I mean, this is the area where they can flex their muscles the most, right? I mean, they have subpoena power. They can compel witness testimony, and they have a very long to-do list already. You know, they've talked about investigations that would look into the pay-for-play for pardons for Trump allies, for example, probing further the Epstein case, demanding answers on the Iran war, which, of course, we talked about how important that is to voters.
What I think is important for Democrats politically when it comes to this is to make sure that they are able to tie the investigations to the direct concerns of Americans because if it's all Trump all the time, it does play into the handbook that Republicans have that Democrats are just obsessed with the president, and it makes it harder for them to be defined by anything other than the president, which certainly offers some challenges in '28.
MARTIN: Mara.
LIASSON: You know, and also, we have to remember that sometimes divided government produces results. Not all the time. Sometimes they're just at war with each other. But sometimes deals get made. Criminal justice reform was an example of that. And Donald Trump, of course, he says many contradictory things in one paragraph, but he said that he will veto a lot of things, but he's also said that maybe he can work with Democrats and make some deals. So we'll see.
MARTIN: Are those goals at odds? Like, maybe, Mara, you want to take this. Are those goals at odds? Because on the one hand, you know, we were all out canvassing voters, and a lot of the voters we talked to made it clear that they do believe there is a corruption problem.
LIASSON: Yeah.
MARTIN: They do believe that.
LIASSON: Absolutely.
MARTIN: And I do believe that there's an authoritarian impulse that they think needs to be placed in check. But can they pursue those goals while pursuing substantive changes that voters also say they want and need?
LIASSON: Yeah. I think they have. I think the answer is yes, 'cause they have to do both those things.
MARTIN: And, Barbara, what do you think?
SPRUNT: Yeah. I don't think that they're necessarily - I mean, if there's - it would be a strategy, and it would have to be carefully done, but I don't think that they're necessarily at odds with each other. I think that they can aggressively pursue an investigative agenda while also taking some big swings on issues that they'll have to present to voters when they ask for their votes again in two years.
MARTIN: That is congressional correspondent Barbara Sprunt and NPR senior political correspondent Mara Liasson. Thank you both.
SPRUNT AND LIASSON: Thank you.
LIASSON: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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