US Congress turns blue, Trump keeps the veto—and Ukraine’s balance sheet in Washington gets both wins and losses

Democrats won control of both chambers of the US Congress in the 3 November midterm elections, NBC News projected, and will take over when the new Congress meets in January. The result ends Trump's Republican majority but leaves him the veto. For Ukraine, voters removed some of Kyiv's critics and several of its staunchest Republican allies.

Hours before Americans voted, Russia fired 59 cruise missiles at Ukraine's power grid. For two years, a Republican Congress left Ukraine policy largely to the White House, which struck a diesel deal with Moscow that senators of both parties said clashes with a 2022 jaban. Congress writes the budget and sanctions laws and can investigate the administration. That puts real levers over US help for Ukraine back in lawmakers' hands.

Texas and Kansas elect Democratic senators for the first time in decades

As of publication, Democrats hold 54 Senate seats to the Republicans' 43, with races in Alaska, Mississippi, and Nebraska still uncalled. They flipped seven, including Texas and Kansas. Kansas last sent a Democrat to the Senate in 1932, Le Monde noted. In the House, NBC News has called 231 races for Democrats and 144 for Republicans, and expects about 258 to 177 once counting ends.

Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries is poised to become Speaker when Democrats take control in January, NPR reported, ending Mike Johnson's speakership. Johnson kept the Ukraine Support Act, introduced in April 2025, off the House floor for more than a year. Lawmakers finally forced a vote with a discharge petition, and the bill passed in June with $8 billion in military loans.

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Trump answers with a "VETO" cap

Overnight, Trump posted a red cap reading "VETO" on Truth Social. Days earlier, he laid out the plan on the New York Post's Pod Force One podcast: “They'll be sending stuff up. You veto it. And eventually, after a month or two of getting all vetoed—they're just wasting time—they come over, and you make a deal,” Newsweek reported.

Majorities of 51 senators and 218 representatives let Democrats set the agenda, chair committees, and pass bills. They are not enough to beat a veto, which takes two-thirds of the members voting in each chamber to override, the Congressional Research Service says. With every seat filled and voting, that is 290 House votes and 67 in the Senate, so Democrats would still need about 32 House Republicans and 13 senators. Most Senate bills also need 60 votes to get past a filibuster.

Ukraine's critics and allies both lost seats

Ukrainian-born Victoria Spartz, who urged Ukraine to cede territory, lost Indiana's 5th District to Democrat J.D. Ford, Mirror Indy reported. Hardline Republican Scott Perry also lost. Republican Anna Paulina Luna, who backs closer dialogue with Moscow, narrowly kept her Florida seat. Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported her win, noting she met Putin's envoy Kirill Dmitriev and hosted Russian Duma deputies.

Ukraine's Republican friends fell too. Brian Fitzpatrick, a co-chair of the Congressional Ukraine Caucus, lost to Bob Harvie. Mike Lawler conceded. Both were among 18 Republicans who voted for the Ukraine Support Act. Senator Susan Collins lost Maine. In South Carolina, Annie Andrews beat Darline Graham, appointed after her brother Lindsey, author of a major Russia sanctions bill, died in July.

Moscow's window with Trump narrows, and Musk's money backed losers

Before the vote, Trump waived sanctions on Russian officials and banks and pursued deals with Moscow such as the diesel one. Richard Fontaine of the Center for a New American Security said the Kremlin was racing the calendar: “I think they see an opportunity here, one that may be relatively fleeting because the midterms are not too far away,” he told NPR.

Elon Musk, who backed Trump against Zelenskyy, spent at least $445.6 million on Republicans, Newsweek found. More than $200 million went to Texas, where his candidate lost.

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What the new Congress can push on Ukraine

The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America named oversight of Trump's Russia sanctions waiver and diesel deal, more security aid, and extended protected status for Ukrainian refugees as its priorities, RFE/RL reported. Two senior Republican Senate aides told the outlet that pressure for Russia sanctions could grow.