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Democrats rode a wave of voter enthusiasm across the country and California to win back control of the House of Representatives Tuesday night, handing the party a major check on President Trump’s power and positioning San Francisco’s Nancy Pelosi as the likely next Speaker of the House.
The House victory, a sign of widespread anger with the president in key suburban districts, will give Democrats the ability to block Trump’s legislative agenda, investigate his administration and push progressive policy on issues from immigration to gun control.
“Tomorrow will be a new day in America,” Pelosi declared in Washington, D.C., vowing to “find common ground where we can, and stand our ground where we can.”
But Republicans held onto the U.S. Senate, winning at least three Democratic-held seats in Indiana, Missouri and North Dakota as red states rejected left-leaning incumbents.
In the heart of the resistance, however, California voters elected progressive Democrat Gavin Newsom as governor, backing his calls to fight the Trump administration and move the Golden State even further to the left.
“The sun is rising in the West and the arc of history is bending in our direction,” Newsom told supporters at his victory party in Los Angeles.
Newsom, the lieutenant governor and former San Francisco mayor who won national attention in 2004 by violating state law to marry same-sex couples, was on track to defeat Republican businessman John Cox and succeed Gov. Jerry Brown, California’s longest-serving governor. His victory marks the first time that California has seen a Democratic governor succeeded by another Democrat since Washington Bartlett followed George Stoneman in 1887.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein was headed to re-election over fellow Democrat Kevin de León, the former leader of the State Senate, who challenged her from the left and argued she hadn’t been a strong enough voice opposing Trump.
In California, Democrats were optimistic about their chances to pick off several of the state’s Republican members of Congress, potentially bolstering a narrow national majority. The party’s top Golden State targets are a half-dozen GOP-held districts that Hillary Clinton won in 2016, a mix of Orange County seats full of highly educated voters, quickly diversifying Los Angeles exurbs, and Central Valley farm country with large Latino populations.
Democratic environmental lawyer Mike Levin was headed to a likely victory in a district spanning Orange and San Diego counties, while GOP Rep. Mimi Walters and Republican candidate Young Kim led their Orange County races late Tuesday night. Reps. Dana Rohrabacher, Jeff Denham, and Steve Knight were locked in extremely close races with their Democratic challengers.
“California is in the odd position of being pivotal,” said Thad Kousser, a politics professor at UC San Diego.
Trump declared this midterm campaign “a referendum about me,” and for many of California’s races, that may well have been true.
Many of the Democratic House candidates — nearly all of whom are making their first-ever bid for elected office — cited Trump’s election and policies as the inspiration for their run. Newsom spent much of his time on the campaign trail focusing his fire on the president, while Cox — who won Trump’s endorsement in the primary — tried to avoid mentioning the president. And Feinstein faced her most vigorous challenge in years largely because of worries among some Democrats that she hasn’t done enough to oppose Trump.
Nationally, an Associated Press exit poll found that nearly two-thirds of voters said their votes were decided in part due to their views on Trump. And in California, a strong majority of voters who were influenced by Trump said they backed Newsom for governor.
Despite Democrats’ House victory, Trump focused on GOP Senate wins and projected positivity. “Tremendous success tonight,” he tweeted. “Thank you to all!”
Tremendous success tonight. Thank you to all!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2018
A Pelosi spokesperson said Trump called to congratulate her and acknowledged her call for bipartisanship.
While it’s too early to determine turnout in the state, political observers were noting remarkably high early voting numbers within the competitive House districts, as well as a broader jump in engagement and volunteering on both sides. Several campaigns in the Central Valley and Southern California reported recruiting more than 1,000 volunteers flooding into their districts to knock on doors and get out their voters over the course of the campaign’s final weekend.
“It’s as if the entire country has just awoken from this slumber and said, I have to go participate,’” said Katie Merrill, a Democratic strategist in Oakland working on the House races. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Nationally, a record number of women appeared headed to Congress. Voters also elected the first openly gay man to a governorship, Jared Polis in Colorado, and the first two Native American women ever elected to Congress, Sharice Davids in Kansas and Deb Haaland in New Mexico.
If California Democratic candidates pull off victories, their wins would elevate a host of political newcomers — none of the party’s congressional candidates in Tuesday’s hottest races had ever even run for political office before, let alone served in any elected position.
Republicans currently hold 14 of California’s 53 seats in the House. If the results go their way, Democrats could whittle the GOP caucus down to single digits for the first time since 1947 — back when the state had only 23 seats.
With Congress divided, both parties will be forced to work together in order to pass major policy. Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, said Democrats would work to reform election laws, pass immigration reform, and increase health care availability if they win in the House — not just resist Trump.
“The country wants results, they don’t want a debating society,” she said in an interview. “There are things we need to stop and things we need to try and accomplish.”
Compared to the nail-bitingly close races for Congress elsewhere in the state, the Bay Area’s contests are snoozes. But voters around the region said Tuesday that they were anxious over the national results. Some said they were especially committed to voting after regretting skipping the 2016 election.
“This year, I’m so incensed about everything,” said Tim Froehlich, a 31-year-old software engineer who cast his ballot in Palo Alto, rattling off the list: Trump’s handling of white nationalist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, the Supreme Court confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh, the president’s divisive rhetoric.
Down the line, Susan Worley showed up to vote wearing a pink pussy cap and a “Resist Trump” T-shirt.
“I’m actually an independent,” said the 66-year-old artist. “But look how I’m dressed today.”
Staff writers Kaitlyn Bartley, Rex Crum, Lou Hansen, and Julia Prodis Sulek contributed reporting.
