Key facts
- Democrats will control the House, Senate and key committees when the new Congress convenes on January 1.
- Jon Rosenthal becomes the first Democrat on the Texas Railroad Commission since 1990, in the minority.
- Senator Ed Markey said Democrats would print subpoenas, speaking on election night.
- TD Cowen lowered its odds of a bipartisan permitting bill passing Congress to about 25% from 40%.
- A procedural vote on a bipartisan permitting bill is scheduled in the Senate for November 9.
- Rystad Energy said restoring flows through the Strait of Hormuz is a prerequisite for normalizing Middle East crude supply.
Democrats won control of the House and Senate in the November 2026 midterm elections, according to a report published November 8, 2026. The party will take charge of both chambers and their key committees, and Democratic governors were elected in data-center development states including Ohio, Georgia and Texas, the report said.
In Texas, oil and gas engineer Jon Rosenthal won an open seat on the three-member Texas Railroad Commission, becoming the first Democrat on the commission since 1990. Rosenthal will be in the minority but could influence issues including data center permitting and wastewater disposal from oil and gas production, the report said.
Democratic Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts said on election night that investigations were coming. "They are going to need to plant new forests for all of the subpoenas we'll be printing," said Markey, who is on the environment and public works committee.
President Donald Trump has vowed to become "Mr Veto" and veto legislation he does not like, the report said. Because a Democratic-majority Congress would need Republican support to overcome a veto, changes to energy policy are unlikely to be radical and would more likely be a compromise, according to the report.
The report said the war in Iran is the biggest international issue Congress will face and will influence international oil prices and US fuel prices. Analysts at Rystad Energy said the day after the elections that the administration faces greater institutional pressure to pursue a Hormuz deal rather than a further round of strikes. "A restoration of flows through the Strait of Hormuz is the prerequisite for Middle East crude supply and refined product inventories to normalize," they said.
A procedural vote on a proposed bipartisan permitting bill is scheduled in the Senate for November 9, the report said. Analysts at TD Cowen lowered the odds of the bill passing Congress to about 25% from 40% before the election, while Wood Mackenzie analysts said permitting reform has a path that other Democratic priorities do not.