The Democrats won control of both houses of Congress on 3 November. CBS News called the House for them at about 10:15 pm Eastern and the Senate at about 11:35 pm (CBS). Some races were still uncalled on Wednesday morning, including the Senate seats in Alaska and Mississippi. The new Congress takes office in January.
The Iran question
Mooné Rahimi put it this way on X on 4 November:
This war began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February 2026. It has not ended; talks were held in Qatar on 31 October and 1 November (Al Jazeera).
| Preliminary exit polls and prices | Figure |
|---|---|
| Voters who said the Iran war was a crucial or major factor in their vote (CNN) | 74% |
| Voters concerned about gas prices (CNN) | 87% |
| Trump’s approval among voters surveyed (CBS) | 38% |
| US average, regular gasoline, 28 Feb 2026 (AAA) | $2.98 a gallon |
| US average, regular gasoline, 3 Nov 2026 (AAA) | $4.15 a gallon |
A strategic victory for Iran
Trump’s reply on Truth Social was that he was not on the ballot, and that if he had been, Republicans would have won.
Did Trump’s war with Iran help cost Republicans Congress? I think it did, and this is what Tehran was counting on: that the cost of the war would reach American voters, and that they would punish the government for it. They have. That is not support for Iran. It is support for a quick end to the war and a return to normal gas prices. But it looks like a strategic victory for Iran.
Seats that changed
Democrats won seven Senate seats that Republicans held:
| State | Winner | Defeated |
|---|---|---|
| Maine | Troy Jackson | Susan Collins |
| Texas | James Talarico | Ken Paxton |
| Ohio | Sherrod Brown | Jon Husted |
| Kansas | Adam Hamilton | Roger Marshall |
| Iowa | Josh Turek | Ashley Hinson |
| North Carolina | Roy Cooper | Michael Whatley |
| South Carolina | Annie Andrews | Darline Graham |
Darline Graham is Lindsey Graham’s sister. Governor Henry McMaster appointed her to the seat on 13 July 2026, after Lindsey Graham’s death.
Talarico is the first Democrat to win a Texas US Senate race since 1988 (AP).
El-Sayed and Sky News
In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed held the open seat for the Democrats, beating Mike Rogers. He becomes the first Muslim elected to the Senate (AP).
On Election Day, outside a polling site, he asked the Sky News correspondent James Matthews whether he was registered to vote in Michigan. Matthews said he was not. “Then why would I care to have a conversation with you?” El-Sayed replied (The Hill).
The desi ballot
| Candidate | Race | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Vivek Ramaswamy (R) | Governor of Ohio | Lost to Amy Acton |
| Pia Dandiya (D) | House, Florida 22nd | Won, first term |
| Suhas Subramanyam (D) | House, Virginia 10th | Re-elected |
| Ro Khanna (D) | House, California 17th | Re-elected, over Ritesh Tandon (R) |
| Pramila Jayapal (D) | House, Washington 7th | Re-elected |
| Ami Bera (D) | House, California 3rd | Re-elected, eighth term |
| Amish Shah (D) | House, Arizona 1st | Leading, not yet called |
| Aruna Miller (D) | Lieutenant Governor, Maryland | Re-elected with Wes Moore |
| Saritha Komatireddy (R) | Attorney General, New York | Lost to Letitia James |
| Nithya Raman | Mayor of Los Angeles | Too close to call against Karen Bass |
The five Indian-American House winners listed are all Democrats. Two familiar names were already out before November: Shri Thanedar lost his Democratic primary in August, and Raja Krishnamoorthi lost the Illinois Senate primary to Juliana Stratton.
Muslim voters and Pakistani Americans
In Britain, Pakistanis stand for both South Asian and Muslim politics. In the US they stand for neither. Every South Asian winner for Congress listed above is Indian American. The first Muslim senator, El-Sayed, is the son of Egyptian immigrants.
Pakistani Americans appear at state level. Saud Anwar (Connecticut Senate) and Salman Bhojani (Texas House) lead their races, as does the Bangladeshi American Md Masudur Rahman (Connecticut Senate). Nabeela Syed won Illinois Senate District 26.
More on Brown Pundits
Earlier: Inside Pakistan’s High-Stakes Gamble on Trump.
The current Open Thread is Open thread: Musk the sociopath?
What prevents trump from bombing Iran again?
it’s pretty clear there is little to no support for the Iran war among US voters
There was little support from the US voter for a 20 year occupation of Afghanistan. It takes a lot more than that to pull back from a conflict for the US.
Afghanistan didn’t cause pain at the pump..
Did the erratic tarrif changes have any effect on the market?
I think the republicans will rebel against it, they cannot survive another loss for Israel. Trump can get impeached if he overreaches.
Ballot box democracy works the way it is intended.
Realistically post-Iran war regardless of what happens the US will be strategically convergent with Israelis even further. They might act distant on the official channels and at the political level but the reality is the interests are aligned even more severely at this point. The war might escalate further or it might become a low intensity simmering conflict but it isn’t going to go away.
My answer was in the narrow context of what stops Trump from bombing.
It is political suicide here. He can count down days to impeachment from the first attacks.
Broader Israel-US collusion is too embedded to dis-entangle. The Dems are friends of Israel too.
Let’s not kid ourselves, historically the US has found rather creative ways to escalate conflicts while looking like the victim. Trump admin has been found to be lacking creativity and has preferred to instead lie bold facedly or to not try to justify their actions at all. All it would take to create a bipartisan consensus of bombing Iran would be a tug at the heartstrings using an incident involving American troops or equipment. Such incidents were fabricated by the US in the past as well to escalate conflicts like the Gulf of Tonkin Incident.
“US Vice President JD Vance says Iran war is ‘the reason we lost’ midterms”
https://www.dawn.com/news/2042118/us-vice-president-jd-vance-says-iran-war-is-the-reason-we-lost-midterms
he is pivoting towards the Presidency for sure
Meanwhile in India….
https://www.indiatoday.in/opinion/story/us-midterm-election-results-trump-no-lesson-for-narendra-modi-indian-voters-premature-joculation-3032149-2026-11-04
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The pattern is old. Every time a strongman somewhere stumbles, we break into bhangra. Brazil, France, Serbia, Bangladesh, Israel, now America. The tune never changes: lesson for Modi. Melodious. Hummable. Imported. Those leaders came and went. Modi has not lost an election he contested since his first, in 2002. Not that he can’t or won’t. His party can’t win some prized states in spite of repeated claims of a rise. The born leader, meanwhile, waits to inherit all these imported lessons, presumably with interest. This is one outsourcing contract India doesn’t sign up for.
Real voters here still decide on jobs, prices, freebies, caste arithmetic and whether the local candidate looks after the drain in their lane. Hate for Modi or for Rahul Gandhi does not decide their fortunes. Policy does.
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My take: Rahul’s congress is at 20% vote share and modi’s is at 40%.
For Rahul to have any chance, 10% of modi votes have to switch, which at this point looks difficult….
Haha, funnily enough, I wrote something very similar. The global news channel coverage of American elections is bad enough, but the Indian ones go overboard.
Makes sense..
###Speaking about the impact of the midterm results on US foreign policy and India-US ties, Tharoor said Trump would retain considerable freedom in determining the country’s foreign policy.
“Fundamentally, Trump remains pretty much a free bird on foreign policy, so India, I think, will just have to continue negotiating with the Donald Trump we know,” Tharoor told News18.
Tharoor added that the midterm results could, paradoxically, leave Trump with greater freedom to pursue his foreign policy agenda..
Read More:
https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/india/trump-remains-a-free-bird-shashi-tharoor-on-why-us-midterm-results-may-not-change-foreign-policy-14070918.html
There are reports coming out of an incident of shooting on protestors in Rawlakot, PoJK. At least 11 dead and more injured. Its been 150 days since internet was suspended.
There is also reported use of mortars against protestors.
https://x.com/sneheshphilip/status/2118293019116064994