Key facts
- Democrats are projected to hold at least 255 House seats to Republicans' 169, with 12 contests undecided, per the report.
- In the Senate the breakdown will be at least 55-44, with Democrats possibly gaining one more seat in Alaska.
- Senator Brian Schatz said the party caucus is still working with House Democrats on the order of business.
- Schatz named ending the Iran war and reversing Republican Medicaid cuts as his other priorities.
- Republican Senator Josh Hawley said a stock trading ban is his bill currently pending in the Senate.
- Hawley and Senator Elizabeth Warren have a bill targeting pharmacy benefit managers in the drug supply chain.
Democrats poised to take full control of the US Congress in January are aiming for a fast start in the opening weeks of the month, with what they say will be a response to voters' top concerns after the party's wins on November 3, Reuters reported on November 13, 2026.
In statements and interviews, prominent Democrats in the House of Representatives and Senate told Reuters their initial forays could address voter frustration over the Iran war, high consumer prices and affordable healthcare. They also plan to address what they see as widespread disgust over ethics breaches and corruption, which are thought to have contributed to the rejection of Republicans across the United States.
"I can confidently say that we want to do a congressional stock trading ban," Democratic Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii told Reuters on Thursday when asked what might be his top three legislative moves in early January. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is expected to become the next House speaker, told reporters that prohibiting members of Congress from trading stocks should begin the agenda.
Schatz, in line to become the No. 2 Democrat in the new Congress that begins the first week of January, said the party's caucus was still working on reaching a consensus with House Democrats over the order of business. Besides the trading ban, he named ending the Iran war and reversing Republican cuts to Medicaid, the federally backed healthcare program for the poor and disabled. "How exactly we reverse the Medicaid cuts, that's yet to be settled on in terms of our techniques and our tactics," he said.
Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri said in an interview that he supports bipartisan initiatives, including raising the federal minimum wage, reversing his party's rural hospital cuts and banning stock trading. "Absolutely. It's my bill that's currently pending" in the Senate, he said of the trading ban. He and progressive Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren have a bill targeting pharmacy benefit managers acting as middlemen in the drug supply chain.
Democrats are projected to hold at least 255 seats to Republicans' 169 in the House, with 12 contests still undecided. In the Senate, the breakdown will be at least 55-44, with Democrats possibly gaining one more seat in Alaska when vote-counting is completed. Most legislation in the Senate needs the backing of at least a 60-vote supermajority to advance, which would mean luring at least four Republicans, potentially those currently holding seats in Alaska, Indiana, Kansas and Kentucky, where the incumbents are all up for re-election in 2028.
Democrats will also have to craft bills to protect incumbents facing re-election in 2028, including those holding Senate seats from Georgia, Arizona, Colorado, Ohio and Nevada. Within the party there are tensions between moderates and progressives. If Democrats cannot score bipartisan victories, they might resort to a procedural tactic Republicans used to pass tax cuts with a simple 51-vote majority, sidestepping the 60-vote threshold.
For Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia, who is up for re-election in 2028, his top three bills would be ending the Iran war, killing tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump and bringing back healthcare subsidies that Republicans let expire. "I start there as a way of stopping the bleeding and then we can lay out a vision going forward," he said in a hallway interview.