10 hot takes from last night's Midterm Election
AUSTIN, TEXAS - NOVEMBER 03: Supporters of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate, Texas state Rep. James Talarico cheer as they watch midterm election returns during a watch party at the Long Center for the Performing Arts November 03, 2026 in Austin, Tex
OAKLAND, Calif. - The 2026 midterm election was one for the books, having resulted in a blue wave that many polls predicted, but even Democrats are left dazed calculating their gains in this clean sweep. The election is being called a blowout, landslide victory and a repudiation of President Donald Trump.
As it stands on Wednesday, Democrats have seized control of the House of Representatives with at least 240 seats to Republicans' 147. And in the Senate, Democrats have taken 54 seats with the GOP standing at 44. Still, the votes haven't all been tabulated.
These wins include some deep red states that have been flipped blue. The new Congress begins on January 3, 2027.
Like many of you, we stayed up late and watched the results as they came in, but we also noticed everyone's reactions on social media.
Here's 10 hot takes on the midterm election in case you didn't catch them.
Space lasers
Former head of DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) Elon Musk quipped on X, the social media platform he owns, "Guess my election-interfering space lasers didn't work this time." While the wealthiest person in the world may not have tried to use laser-beam technology to blow up the election results, he did spend heavily on this campaign, and it didn't pay off – big time. Musk is reported to have pumped nearly half a billion dollars into this election with the wealth going to his super PAC (political action committee), America PAC. Last night's results just goes to show not every election can be bought.
Reflecting on the reflecting pool
Speaking of space lasers … before she was in office, Marjorie Taylor Greene, the former ‘America First’ congressional representative, came up with a wacky-sounding Jewish space laser conspiracy theory, which she was widely condemned for, among other things. Last night, she actually sounded reasonable in calling out President Trump, and the Republican Party at large, for what went wrong for them on Election Night.
She echoed what so many have said in that what resonates most with voters is the economy.
"Americans can barely afford groceries, gas and life as it is," Greene posted. "America deserves answers. Instead, President Trump is talking about water pipes at the reflecting pool." She was referring to Trump's last pitch to voters before the election where he talked about the repairs of the Reflecting Pool, following its botched renovation.
Vote like Trump's on the ballot
On the other side of the aisle, the senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders, poked fun at the president, using his own words against him.
On the midterm campaign trail, President Trump would regularly say to voters to act like he's on the ballot. Since it was a midterm and Trump was not on the ballot and he won't be eligible to serve another term.
"Trump asked the people to vote as if he were on the ballot. THEY DID. Thank you Americans from coast to coast," Sanders posted.
Well played.
'Organized people > Organized money
Sometimes a visual aid helps.
Professor Robert Reich, former US Secretary of Labor during the Clinton administration, clapped back at Elon Musk's efforts to pour exorbitant amounts of money into the midterms to get GOP candidates reelected.
One of his posts on social media was simply text that read "Organized people > Organized money."
He elaborated in a separate post: "The richest man in the world spent more money than most people will see in a lifetime, only to lose a Senate race and a governor's race in Texas by double digits." He continued to comment that it's important to overturn Citizens United – the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision that essentially reversed longstanding campaign finance restrictions.
"It's also a reminder that organized people can still defeat organized money," Reich said.
'Woke is so back'
He was closely associated with the campaign for Abdul El-Sayed, the progressive Michigan senatorial candidate, who ended up victorious, and his cameo at the unusual GOP Midterm convention went viral for its "thirst-trap" qualities. Political commentator and Twitch streamer Hasan Piker called it early on – "Woke is so back." This was his post on X when he reposted a screenshot that showed Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's X account had been suspended after his historic loss to Gina Hinojosa.
This will mark Texas' first woman governor for the Lone Star State since the 1990s when Ann Richards was in office.
‘Money in your pocket. Medicare for All’
Speaking of the Michigan candidate, who was incorrectly branded a Democratic Socialist by many, his soon-to-be colleague in the Senate, the equally progressive Elizabeth Warren, congratulated him:
"WOO-HOO @AbdulElSayed! What an incredible night. What an incredible win," Warren posted. "Money out of politics. Money in your pocket. Medicare for All. That's what Abdul is bringing to the U.S. Senate."
With Democrats soon to be in control of both chambers of Congress, it is apparent that healthcare and affordability will be top of mind in 2027.
‘Post-Trump era’
"The post-Trump era begins now," wrote Hillary Clinton, the former Secretary of State and one time political foe of the president, who went head-to-head with him and lost in 2016.
The former First Lady pointed to the Trump administration sharply when she said, "crimes against our people and our Constitution must be answered for. The historic abuses of the last two years must be prevented from happening again."
Republican anger and ‘A disgrace’
If we are heading into the post-Trump era, the GOP will have to look for their 2028 candidate. Many assume this will be Vice President JD Vance. In his lengthy post-midterm election statement, Vance concluded that voter turnout was not the problem. "The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026."
He acknowledged there would be infighting and blame to go around within the Republican Party as to why things went so wrong on Election Night.
"The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night," Vance said in reference to the conflict with Iran that Trump initiated with Israel in February.
Other political analysts have tapped into this so-called Republican anger in this election cycle.
Vance, perhaps in an attempt to distance himself from Trump-era politics and looking forward to his own political future, wrote, "To the people who are pissed off and want to say, "I told you so": you’re right, you did tell us so." He encouraged those voters to take that anger and to channel it into electing Republicans who share their worldview in future elections.
But former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a fellow Republican, is already calling out Vance, saying he will be remembered for standing on the wrong side of history for the infamous Vivek Ramaswamy ad that was a controversy in the Ohio governor's race. Vance criticized Republican pushback against the ad that featured the estranged mother of Ramaswamy's Democratic opponent, Dr. Amy Acton. Acton's mother struggled with homelessness and lost custody of her children after their stepfather was indicted for raping Acton, according to the Associated Press.
Acton defeated Ramaswamy by nearly 10 percentage points.
Christie's hot take? "JD Vance will be remembered for standing behind Vivek and his ad. A man who wrote a book about Catholicism. It's a disgrace."
‘Hallelujah’
Former Vice President and 2024 presidential candidate Kamala Harris simply posted a three-second video clip of her at a Jon Ossoff event where she exclaims, "Hallelujah," followed by her trademark laugh. In some ways, less is more. But she does elaborate on her exclamation of praise in another post, saying that the American people have spoken. By voting in droves, they have shown that, in her mind, they are done with "corruption, incompetence and callousness coming from the White House."
‘Good job’, Democrats
An almost morose-sounding President Donald Trump weighed in by way of a phone call to Fox News network on Election Night. Rather than fuming, he struck an uncharacteristic conciliatory tone. He congratulated Democrats on their big win, saying they did a "good job." President Trump said Democrats have been looking for this for 11 years and "finally got it."
He has since said he would work with Democrats going forward, would accept the results of the election, but it's noteworthy that he was also quick to post a graphic on Truth Social of a red MAGA-style hate that reads ‘VETO’ on it.