Yale students across political parties reacted with surprise after the Democrats took control over both the House of Representatives and the Senate in Tuesday’s midterm elections.
The Yale Democrats watch party celebrates as James Talarico wins the Texas Senate race. (Credit: Conor Webb)
Emily Akbar
Campus News Editor, The Buckley Beacon
In Tuesday’s midterm elections, Democrats swept both chambers of Congress, flipping at least seven Republican-held Senate seats and more than two dozen House seats. The results will bring an end to Republican control of the Congress, giving Democrats the power to block much of President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda during the final two years of his presidency.
On Yale’s campus, students gathered throughout Election Day to vote and follow the results. In the Morse College Dining Hall, the Yale College Democrats hosted an election-night watch party for students to follow the race. The Yale Democracy Project organized several walks to the polls on Election Day, encouraging students to cast their ballot regardless of political affiliations. Yale College Dean Pericles Lewis and Professor Gregory Huber also hosted an off-the-record conversation about the election results on Wednesday.
After the results, students from a diverse array of political backgrounds shared their reflections with the Beacon on the midterms as well as the road ahead.
“I was not expecting it, and to see the kind of mandate that we saw last night was gratifying, and I’m just overjoyed,” said Conor Webb, vice president of Yale Democrats. “Strangers in that room, in that watch party that we had, hugged each other.”
“And I think it shows that people are frustrated about the direction of our country. They want something different, and that was a collective feeling, from the South to Northeast to all the way, hopefully, in Alaska, I know that’s still pending… I’m just excited for what’s up, what’s coming.”
Webb’s surprise comes in reaction to Democratic victories in several traditionally Republican stronghold states. In Texas, for example, Democrat James Talarico defeated Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, becoming the state’s first Democratic U.S. senator elected since 1988. Democrats also flipped Senate seats in Kansas, which had not elected a Democratic senator since 1932, and South Carolina, where Democrat Annie Andrews defeated Republican Darline Graham. Other Democratic Senate gains came in Iowa, Ohio, North Carolina, and Maine.
“Yeah, honestly, I was very surprised. I mean, I don’t think anyone expected this result. It was very unfortunate what happened in Texas, and as in California,” said Diego Victoria, vice president of Yale’s Turning Point USA chapter.
Victoria, a Southern Californian, voted for Republican candidates, including Steve Hilton for governor and Jenny Rae Le Roux for California’s 47th congressional district representative. He attributed much of the Republican flip to Democratic Californian voters moving to and voting in Republican states.
“I kind of blame how back during COVID there were so many Californians that left to move to states like Texas and others. And so, quite honestly, a lot of those people are to blame for Texas flipping blue,” Victoria said.
“And, you know, they’re leaving California for these Democratic policies, but they’re going to a new place and voting for the same thing. So I think it’s kind of insane.”
As Victoria attributed, the Democratic victories raised questions about whether migration from liberal states contributed to the political shift in traditionally Republican strongholds. A New York Post survey of 53 California transplants in Texas found that 42 identified as Democrats. However, a January 2025 analysis by the San Francisco Chronicle found that Californians who moved to Texas between 2020 and 2024 had a 17-percentage-point Republican voter-registration advantage, suggesting that newcomers were more conservative than their state of origin.
Webb explained that his vote for Democratic candidates came primarily from frustrations with the cost of living and the Iran war. He explained that he is now “hopeful” for what is to come after the midterms.
“One of the things that I was most frustrated by, and I think the American people were most frustrated by in the second term of Trump, was the extraordinary tax break for the rich, the cuts to Medicaid, the Big Beautiful Bill, and also the hike of the university endowment tax, which we’re struggling with as a university here. And so, I think our first priority should be addressing that in addition to making sure that we get out of our needless war in Iran. My sense is that that’s why so many Democrats were elected last night,” Webb explained.
The Democratic gains in traditionally Republican states reflected widespread dissatisfaction with the Trump administration, including concerns that Webb listed such as the rising cost of living and the war with Iran. According to a Reuters analysis, the Republican share of the vote declined in 99 percent of counties counted compared with Trump’s 2024 performance, falling by an average of eight percentage points. In Iowa, approximately one in ten voters who supported Trump in 2024 crossed party lines to support Democratic Senate candidate Josh Turek, according to ABC News voter polling.
Beyond student leaders of political groups, non-partisan groups like the YDP used the midterms as an opportunity to increase voter turnout and student civic engagement. YDP leaders Sofia Beck and Dayne Neff shared how they led 14 student walks to the polls on election day, which they estimated to have around 10 people per poll walk.
“There was a great interest, I would say, in our poll walks. We always find that more students turn out on election day itself. So they were pretty packed,” Beck said.
YDP also hosted a non-partisan watch party for students to follow election results.
“I will say at our watch party, it was a really nice moment to see people self-reflecting and engaging with one another. I think that when you talk to other people, you get a better sense of why you believe the things that you do,” Beck said. “I think elections are a great way to engage with others who are specifically minded.”
The newly elected Congress will convene on January 3, 2027.