Barack Obama spent the final weeks of the midterm campaign on the road for Democrats, and many of the candidates he stumped for won on Nov. 3.
The 44th president applauded a Democratic sweep in a post on the social platform X early Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, hours after Democrats took control of both the House and the Senate in the Nov. 3 midterm elections. He thanked election officials and volunteers from both major parties for helping run the vote smoothly.
“Tonight, the American people sent a clear message — they want a politics that brings people together rather than divides them, and leaders who offer concrete solutions to the challenges they face,” Obama wrote.
“These results were only possible because outstanding candidates stepped forward in every region of the country — including in areas once considered long shots,” he added in the post.
The numbers behind the message were lopsided. Democrats flipped Senate seats in Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Kansas, Iowa and Maine. The party picked up seven Senate seats and 25 House seats, with some races still to be called.
Paxton Falls as Firsts Pile Up
In Texas, Democrat James Talarico defeated Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and will be the first Democratic senator from the state in more than three decades. Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa unseated Gov. Greg Abbott in the governor’s race.
Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed beat Republican Mike Rogers to become the first Muslim American elected to the U.S. Senate. Democrat Adam Hamilton flipped a Kansas Senate seat and will be the first Democrat elected to the Senate from Kansas since 1932. In Maine, Troy Jackson defeated five-term Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
Ohio delivered twice. Former Sen. Sherrod Brown unseated Republican Sen. Jon Husted, and Amy Acton won the governor’s race over Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, who had been backed by Trump and Vice President JD Vance. In Georgia, former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms became the first Black woman elected governor in American history, and Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff won reelection. Jocelyn Benson won the Michigan governor’s race, and Josh Turek took an Iowa Senate seat. Obama-endorsed candidates Peggy Flanagan and David Crowley also made history in their races.
Saddam Hussein Opened a Cheesecake Factory
Obama spent the final stretch of the campaign on stage for those candidates. He traveled to Cleveland on Oct. 24 for Acton and Brown, telling the crowd the midterms gave voters a way to restrain the administration through the ballot box. He also went after a Ramaswamy campaign advertisement that featured Acton’s estranged mother, questioning the standards expected of candidates for public office.
Later that day he was in Detroit for El-Sayed and Benson. There he acknowledged that El-Sayed, a progressive, had broken with some of his own administration’s policies, and he defended the candidate against attacks involving his name and his Muslim identity, drawing a line back to the attacks on his own background.
The line that traveled furthest came earlier that day in Cleveland. Obama said Trump’s renovation projects, including the controversial White House ballroom and the paved-over Rose Garden, made the place look “like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory,” he told supporters. Republicans seized on the remark as proof of elitism. Trump called Obama “a lousy president.” Obama later said the chain had been his jam for about a decade.
At an Oct. 28 rally in Morrow, Ga., for Ossoff and Bottoms, he accused the Trump administration of mishandling economic policy, imposing tariffs that drove up consumer costs and pursuing an unnecessary war with Iran. He also brought up the furor over the tan suit he wore as president. Record early voting in Georgia had already topped two million ballots before Election Day.
He had a warning for his own side, too: Democrats could not run on criticism of Trump alone, and needed concrete proposals on health care, housing, utilities and the cost of living.
Jeffries Could Become the First Black Speaker
The House result puts Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., in line to become the country’s first Black speaker.
The new Congress convenes in January 2027, and control of both chambers hands Democrats far greater say over legislation, spending and oversight, including on trade, immigration and foreign policy. Counting continues in several contests; in Mississippi, Democrat Scott Colom holds a narrow lead over Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in a Senate race that remains too close to call.
Obama closed his statement with instructions for the two years ahead. “While this administration has another two years in office, our job now is to roll up our sleeves, make changes wherever we have the power to do so, prevent further damage, and lay the groundwork for the future,” he wrote.