What could Democrats do if they win the House in the 2026 midterms, according to the BBC's Sarah Smith?

Sarah Smith, the BBC's North America editor, said Democrats are very likely to take the House because the president's party normally loses seats in midterms. With it they could block Donald Trump's legislation, open investigations into his controversial decisions and even try to impeach him or a cabinet secretary such as defence secretary Pete Hegseth. Winning the Senate is harder but possible, and would let Democrats pass their own bills.

• One Democratic Senate candidate told Smith he would first push a war powers bill to force an end to the war in Iran.
• Smith said Trump would try to bypass a hostile Congress by executive order, but courts have struck down orders on tariffs and birthright citizenship.

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on Global News Podcast (2026-11-02). Read the whole episode summary →

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