Speaker Mike Johnson won’t seek reelection as House GOP leader and other national midterm election news

Speaker Mike Johnson won't seek.

Key points

• Democrats Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia, Amy Acton in Ohio, Rob Sand in Iowa and Gina Hinojosa in Texas won races for governor, flipping GOP-held offices.
• House Speaker Mike Johnson will not seek election as House Republican leader after the Democrats' win.
• Black voters, particularly Black men, were another group where Trump's 2024 gains didn't stick.
• Regarding 9 in 10 Black women backed Bottoms, roughly the same share that backed Harris.
• Other Palestinians remarked they hoped a new Congress could assist restore the diplomatic standing of the Palestine Liberation Organization, the internationally recognized representative of the Palestinian individuals.

Speaker Mike Johnson won't seek reelection as House GOP leader and other national midterm election news. By: Associated Press – November 4, 2026.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., gavels out the 118th Congress as the House of Representatives meets to elect a speaker and convene the new 119th Congress at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Jan. 3, 2025.(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein).

As voters rejected the president's party for the promise of something different, in a nationwide romp, Democrats ousted Republicans from coast to coast, with plenty of surprising places in between. Democrats' majorities will be padded by wide margins in both the House and the Senate.

Democrats have won control of Congress in Tuesday's 2026 midterm elections in a widespread repudiation of President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, a drubbing that reached deep into reliable GOP territory.

Democrats flipped at least seven Senate seats in ruby-red states and battlegrounds alike: Kansas. It hasn't elected a Democratic senator in almost a century, Iowa, Texas, Ohio, Maine, North Carolina and South Carolina. They held on to battleground seats in Georgia and Michigan. In the House, Democrats flipped more than two dozen districts, some that voted for Trump by double digits in 2024.

Trump faces a profoundly reshaped Washington for the last two years of his presidency. Democrats will have the power to block his legislative agenda, reject his appointees and investigate his administration.

After telling voters repeatedly to "pretend I'm on the ballot, " Trump tried to shift the blame away from himself, saying Democrats "did a good job" in their campaigns and blaming GOP candidates for losses. Most voters appear to blame his administration for high costs and want Congress to impose more checks on him, according to The AP Voter Poll.

Johnson won't seek reelection as House Republican leader after Democratic takeover, an AP source notes.

House Speaker Mike Johnson will not seek election as House Republican leader after the Democrats' win. That's according to a person who spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose the intends.

Democrats are riding their sweep of Congress into a new era. They're eager to meet voter demands for change with intends to tackle high costs of living and confront President Donald Trump's final years in the White House.

In practice, the results of Tuesday's midterm elections set up a moment of divided administration. Democrats ousted Republicans from coast to coast and in plenty of surprising places in between. Voters rejected the president's party for the promise of something different. The AP Voter Poll: Democrats rose their backing with moderate voters.

Democrats rose their backing with moderate voters, particularly in key Senate races where Democrats flipped Republican-held seats.

Roughly two-thirds of moderates backed the Democratic candidate in their local U.S. House race, an uptick from the approximately 6 in 10 moderate voters who backed Harris.

In practice, a sizeable majority of moderate voters, concerning 8 in 10, noted Congress was not doing enough to provide checks and balances on the presidency, and a similarly high share remarked they had experienced at least a "moderate" hardship previously year since of inflation.

Plenty of Democratic candidates benefited from significant moderate backing. In Kansas, Democrat Adam Hamilton won regarding 7 in 10 moderate voters, a substantial rise from the roughly half that Harris won in 2024. There was a similar pattern in Iowa as Democrat Josh Turek won regarding two-thirds of moderates, up from concerning half for Harris.

Democrats usher in a new era with their resounding sweep of the House and the Senate.

Notably, the results set up a divided administration, with Congress poised to reassert itself as a coequal branch ready to challenge Trump and reverse course after two years of unified GOP control.

"We hear you, " remarked House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York. This person would produce history as the first Black speaker of the House if his colleagues elect him to the job when the new Congress begins on Jan. 3, 2027. The AP Voter Poll: Republican inroads with Black voters appear fleeting.

Only regarding 1 in 10 Black male voters nationally backed the Republican candidate in their local U.S. House race, down from the roughly one-quarter who backed Trump in the last presidential election. Regarding 9 in 10 Black voters backed the Democratic House candidate, up from roughly 8 in 10 who cast their ballots for Harris in 2024.

These shifts were particularly significant in some major races. Black men shifted significantly in the governor's race in Georgia, where Keisha Lance Bottoms became the first Black woman elected as a governor. Regarding 9 in 10 Black men voted for Bottoms, according to The AP Voter Poll. Only regarding three-quarters backed Harris in 2024.

Regarding 9 in 10 Black women backed Bottoms, roughly the same share that backed Harris. Iranian diplomat calls US midterm result a 'significant shift'.

Mojtaba Ferdousi Pour, head of Iran's diplomatic mission in Cairo, remarked the Trump administration has sought to change leadership in Iran through war but instead witnessed a "significant transformation and shift" at home. "Those who sow the wind, reap the whirlwind, " he remarked.

Some Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank are hopeful after the midterms.

Hani Lahroub, 71, from Ramallah, remarked U.S. Policy toward Israel under Trump has been "Israel first, not America first" and he hopes it will change.

"The Palestinian issue has become one of the main topics influencing elections, " he remarked.

Roughly 7 in 10 voters who backed the Democratic candidate in their U.S. House race remarked U.S. Backing for Israel is "too strong, " according to the AP Voter Poll, a survey of the electorate. That compares to regarding half of voters overall.

In practice, the Trump administration has imposed visa restrictions on Palestinian diplomats and closed its Washington office.

Suleiman Maali, 80, from Ramallah, remarked he hoped PLO diplomats would be able to return to the United States. "We are a people who want to live, " he remarked.

Trump has no public events set for Wednesday as Democrats celebrate rout in midterms.

After Democrats' resounding midterm election wins that will provide them control of the House and the Senate for his final two years in office, trump has no public events scheduled for Wednesday, according to the White House.

In practice, the Republican president spoke to Fox News Channel for an interview that aired early Wednesday, saying Democrats "did a good job" and faulting GOP candidates for their losses. "I don't view it as a hit on me, " he remarked.

Trump had all but guaranteed the results would be seen as a referendum on him by repeatedly urging voters to "pretend I'm on the ballot." But the results indicated how voters rejected his handpicked candidates while airing widespread worries regarding high costs after the Iran war and his punishing tariff policy.

For context, the results leave Trump – who watched returns at the White House with his advisers and members of his Cabinet – with dramatically diminished political capital at home and abroad.

UK leader Burnham notes cost of living was key to midterm results.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham notes the midterm results show the importance of ending the Iran war. It has sent fuel costs soaring.

For now, speaker Mike Johnson won’ t seek reelection as House GOP leader and other remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.