Democrats have won control of both chambers of the United States Congress in the 2026 midterm elections, handing the party greater influence over legislation and stronger oversight powers over President Donald Trump's administration.

The party captured House seats in districts that Trump had carried by margins of up to 18 percentage points over his Democratic opponent in 2024. According to the Associated Press, Democrats also flipped at least seven Senate seats, in Kansas, Iowa, Texas, Ohio, Maine, North Carolina and South Carolina.

The result could reshape the outlook for crypto legislation in Washington and bring heightened congressional scrutiny of digital asset businesses linked to Trump. With committee leadership changing hands, Democratic chairs will hold greater influence over which bills advance and which industry activities face investigation. Committee chairs set hearing agendas and determine which bills receive markups and committee votes, a procedural lever that carries particular weight for market structure legislation such as the CLARITY bill.

Stefan Muehlbauer, head of US government affairs at security firm CertiK, said the results could derail the CLARITY crypto market structure bill. "The immediate read on this election result is that CLARITY bill is likely dead," he said in comments shared with Cointelegraph, referring to both the upcoming lame-duck session and the next Congress.

Muehlbauer added that he expected Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Maxine Waters, both outspoken critics of the crypto industry, to chair the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee, respectively. Both panels hold primary jurisdiction over financial market legislation, including digital asset market structure bills. He also noted that Democrats fell short of the Senate's 60-vote threshold for overcoming a filibuster, limiting their ability to advance legislation. Under Senate rules, most bills need 60 votes to proceed to a final vote, meaning any crypto measure would still require bipartisan support regardless of which party holds the majority.

According to NBC News, Democrats will take control of House committees in January 2027, giving them the authority to issue subpoenas and investigate the Trump administration, the president's family and their business interests. Until then, the upcoming lame-duck session represents the last stretch of the current Congress, with outgoing leadership still controlling the legislative calendar.

Election results draw early industry reactions

Financial markets commentary publication The Kobeissi Letter pointed to affordability as the defining issue of the election, citing high energy costs and renewed interest rate increases.

Gokhshtein Media founder David Gokhshtein said Republicans had performed worse than he anticipated. "Well, Republicans got their asses handed to them. I thought they'd do better. I was wrong," he wrote on X Wednesday.

Prediction markets, where traders buy and sell contracts tied to real-world event outcomes, had favored a Democratic sweep ahead of election day. Traders on Kalshi and Polymarket put the probability of Democrats winning both chambers at roughly 75% on Tuesday, before the results were announced.