Democrats take Congress—and crypto’s oversight queue just got a lot longer

Democrats won control of both chambers of the US Congress in the midterm elections, strengthening the party’s influence over legislation and oversight of President Donald Trump’s administration. Democrats secured House seats in districts where Trump beat their Democratic opponents by as much as 18 percentage points in 2024.

The party also flipped at least seven Senate seats in Kansas, Iowa, Texas, Ohio, Maine, North Carolina and South Carolina, according to the Associated Press. Democratic committee leaders will have greater influence over which bills advance and which industry activities face investigation, bringing increased congressional scrutiny to Trump-linked digital asset businesses.

Democrats are scheduled to take control of House committees in January 2027, when they will be able to issue subpoenas and investigate the Trump administration, the president’s family and their business interests, according to NBC News.

Affordability emerged as the defining election issue, with The Kobeissi Letter citing high energy costs and renewed interest rate increases. Gokhshtein Media founder David Gokhshtein blamed Republican candidates for failing to connect with voters. “Well, Republicans got their asses handed to them. I thought they’d do better. I was wrong,” he wrote on X Wednesday.

Prediction markets had anticipated the Democratic sweep. Traders on Kalshi and Polymarket assigned roughly 75% probability to Democrats winning both chambers on Tuesday, before the results were announced.