‘Blue Wave’ sweeps Congress

By OC Tribune Staff on November 4, 2026 • ( Leave a comment )

CONGRESS meets in the U.S. Capitol.

In what many observers call a rebuke to the policies of President Donald Trump, voters formed a “blue wave” on Tuesday that swept Democrats into control of both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.

As of our deadline, Democrats had won 231 seats in the House and 54 seats in the Senate.

Democrats were able to “flip” 25 House seats from “red” to “blue” and seven Senate seats. Two Senate races were still up for grabs.

Democrats also did will in gubernatorial races and have 28 Democrats in state capitols to 20 Republicans.

Among the most prominent Democratic victories were in Texas, where James Talarico won a U.S. Senate seat and Gina Hinojosa won the governor’s post. In the latter case, the Democrat defeated four-term Republican incumbent Greg Abbott.

In Georgia, incumbent Democratic Senator Jonathan Ossoff was re-elected, and Democratic challenger Keisha Lance Bottoms won the governor’s seat, defeating Rick Jackson and becoming the first black female in that post.

Another closely-watched contest saw Abdul E-Sayed, a Democrat, winning a hotly-contested Senate seat to become the first Muslim U.S. Senator.

Although Democrats now control Congress with considerable power, they don’t have the numbers – a two-thirds majority – to overcome a presidential veto.

However, the Constitution gives the House the power to initiate all spending and the Senate to approve presidential appointments.

Democrats will all statewide offices

In a continuation of a trend, Democratic candidates swept all statewide offices in Tuesday’s mid-term elections.

STATEWIDE RACES all turned blue (Shutterstock).

Xavier Becerra won the governor’s post, defeating Republican Steve Hilton. As of our deadline, Becerra was leading by 64 percent to Hilton’s 36 percent.

He will become the Golden State’s first Latino governor since Romauldo Pacheco in 1875.

In a race of particular interest to Orange County voters, former Huntington Beach city attorney Michael Gates was defeated by incumbent Democrat Rob Bonta by 63.9 percent to 36.1 percent in the election for state attorney general.

Bonta and Gates engaged in legal battles over Huntington Beach’s resistance to housing mandates. Gates insisted that – as a charter city – Huntington Beach had the power the reject some state housing laws. Bonta won the legal battles and now their personal showdown.

$4 billion aid to Israel ending? 

President Donald Trump on Tuesday told Fox News Channel that the United States will cease sending $4 billion in aid to Israel beginning in 2027 but will sell that nation military arms and supplies.

The Associated Press is reporting that Trump said that Israel not longer needs the aid and can afford to purchase what it needs.

“You can consider it barter. You can consider military aid or cash,” said Trump, according to the AP. “Look, we give them $4 billion of things and money and they don’t need it. And I was approached by [Benjamin] Netanyahu, and we’ve been talking about it for a couple of years because it’s a lot of money.”

A leader in the opposition bloc in the Israeli parliament, Yair Golan, said the change could be a “severe blow to Israel’s security.” He added, “the burden of funding defense needs at such a critical juncture will fall entirely on the Israeli public.”

Weather: Warm weather returning

If we thought the coming of November meant the end of hot days for our West Orange County cities, we were wrong. Daytime temperatures will soon rise through the 70s into the high 90s. The forecast for Wednesday is for a daytime high of 76 and an overnight low of 57 under partly cloudy skies. Thursday will be similar but warmer at 80 (59). Friday will bump up to 85 (62) and sunny. Saturday is expected to reach 88 (63) and also sunny.