Trump pairs conciliatory remarks with VETO hat as Democrats face governing test

Garcia lists oversight targets as Jeffries keeps impeachment options open

President Donald Trump struck a conciliatory tone with the New York Times on election night as his party lost Senate race after Senate race, saying: “We’ll work with the Democrats, and we’ll, you know, look forward to working with them. We’ll probably work something out.” Minutes later, he posted a picture on Truth Social of his red campaign hat with the word “VETO” emblazoned across the front, placing a presidential veto threat at the center of the incoming relationship. The BBC described the Jekyll-and-Hyde approach to a Democratic Congress as one that could become a theme.

The messages landed after Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress in Tuesday’s midterm elections, a victory that will give the party charge of the House and Senate in January. James Talarico’s win in Texas flipped that state’s US Senate seat to the Democrats and helped the party secure the upper chamber. Hakeem Jeffries, the presumptive next speaker of the House, greeted the result by declaring: “Today begins the great American comeback.” The BBC noted that election night was a fever dream for Democrats — and that reality will likely set in once January arrives.

The victory gives Democrats comfortable majorities in both chambers, so they can pass legislation through Congress with relative ease. But a shift in the balance of power in Washington does not mean Democrats will immediately get to start checking items off their legislative wish list. A president must sign most legislation for it to become law, and Congress can override a Trump veto only with supermajorities in both chambers — margins Democrats alone will not have. After months of campaign promises to investigate corruption, lower the costs of healthcare, groceries and petrol, and curtail the Iran war, the party now begins the much tougher process of putting those plans into action.

Senator Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, told the BBC the new majority needs to show it can govern. “We need to prove we can get stuff done, actually deliver answers to their concerns and questions about low wages and rising costs in particular,” he said. He added that the win does not change his party’s standing with voters: “The Democratic Party is still deeply unpopular — we are less unpopular than the Republican Party, much less unpopular than Donald Trump.”

Lawmakers acknowledged on election night that opposition to Trump drove Democrats’ success but might not be enough. “It is overwhelmingly a rejection of Donald Trump, and his agenda and policies,” Coons told the BBC. “But if we overreach, or if we fight too much internally, we could miss this moment.”

Congressman Robert Garcia of California, who will soon lead a powerful oversight committee in the House with the power to make Trump’s last two years in office quite difficult, said as results poured in: “Lawyer up.” Garcia rattled off a list of possible oversight targets: Trump’s family, “corporate corruption”, alleged abuses by the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the government’s handling of the Epstein files. Committees in both the US Senate and House have investigative powers they could use to delve into alleged conflicts of interest and other actions by the president and those close to him.

Democrats’ Senate majority also gives the party the power to confirm or block Trump’s cabinet and judicial nominations. If a US Supreme Court vacancy arises during Trump’s term, Senate Democrats could block a nomination — or force Trump to choose a more moderate candidate who garners bipartisan support.

Control of the House also opens the power to impeach a president, the first step of Congress’s process for removing an official from office. Democrats twice impeached Trump during his first term, though the Senate voted to acquit him both times. Conviction takes a two-thirds majority in the Senate, or 67 votes, so it likely will remain out of reach for Democrats.

An active debate among Democrats has developed over whether another impeachment effort would help or hurt the party. BBC reporting noted that the first impeachment, in 2019, unleashed partisan rancor and allowed Trump to cast himself later as a victim of political persecution, which helped build support for his second White House run. Jeffries, who would almost certainly have to greenlight any Democratic impeachment effort, has kept his plans vague. “Well, we’ve made clear: We haven’t ruled anything in,” he told CNN in August. “And we haven’t ruled anything out.”

Public frustration with Congress’s productivity was palpable before the election. An October Gallup poll suggested that only 14% of US registered voters approved of lawmakers’ performance. With a Republican in the White House and Democrats running Congress, Americans may face even more deadlock. “If you thought legislating was hard in the last Congress with unified Republican control, that will get much more complicated,” said Casey Burgat, a professor of legislative affairs at George Washington University.

Despite the veto threat, Jeffries has said his party wants to restore significant cuts Republicans made to healthcare programmes such as Medicaid, which is used by low-income groups, and the Obamacare marketplace. “We’re committed as a top priority as House democrats to reversing these Medicaid cuts and extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits,” Jeffries said at a September event for healthcare workers.

The BBC reported that talks could break down as lawmakers try to compromise on issues it described as typically bipartisan: policies affecting affordability, regulating the AI industry, re-evaluating military funding for Israel and reining in the Iran war. As Republicans become the opposition heading into the 2028 presidential cycle, they might not be in the mood to help Democrats achieve too many wins.

Fissures could also erupt among Democrats themselves, particularly on matters involving Israel, and may make party consensus difficult. A schism over continued US military funding for Israel emerged in the party during the midterms. Incoming senators like Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan, and some incoming members of the US House, said during the campaign that they would vote for legislation to curtail aid to Israel. Those Democrats could face a roadblock from their own leadership.

Reining in Trump’s foreign policy could prove difficult despite the majority. Even before the midterms, Congress saw bipartisan efforts to limit Trump’s ability to continue the war with Iran. Some of those measures passed one or both chambers, but Congress has not been able to enforce them. Notably, both the House and the Senate passed a resolution in June to halt hostilities with Iran, which Trump could not veto but has essentially ignored.

The White House has argued Trump has broad powers to continue the war. Congress’s authority to force his hand remains an “open legal question,” said Scott Anderson, a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution. “Congress can try to litigate this out, and force the courts to tell us.”