Democrats Seize Congress In Midterm Rebuke As Brent Crude Tops $100 On Iran War Fears

Democrats have won control of both the House and the Senate in a sweeping midterm victory that repudiates President Donald Trump’s agenda, even as global oil prices surged back above $100 per barrel amid escalating tensions with Iran.

The Democratic wins, projected at 54 Senate seats and 228 House seats, mark a dramatic reversal of power in Washington for the final two years of Trump’s presidency.

Democrats flipped Senate seats in Texas, Kansas, Iowa, Ohio, Maine, North Carolina, and South Carolina, including victories in states that had not elected a Democratic senator in decades.

Vice President JD Vance placed the blame squarely on the war with Iran. “The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night,” Vance wrote in a social media post, adding that a pollster found ending the war was the top issue for former Trump voters who switched to Democrats.

Trump acknowledged the war’s impact but insisted he had no regrets. “I don’t view it as a hit on me,” he told Fox News, while conceding that soaring gasoline prices contributed to Republican losses.

The election result initially sent oil prices tumbling, with Brent crude falling 8.7% on Wednesday below $100 as markets bet on a potential diplomatic off-ramp to the conflict.

That optimism proved short-lived. By Friday, Brent crude had climbed back above $100 per barrel, rising 2.1% to $100.34, as investors weighed the likelihood of renewed U.S. military action against Iran.

Bob McNally, president of Rapidan Energy Group, told CNBC there is an 80% probability of “a resumption of military fighting” now that the midterms are over. “President Donald Trump is determined, as a legacy item, almost at all costs, to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon,” McNally said.

“The Iranian regime, on the other hand, is not willing to do it. And as long as that core difference in that deal space is absent, the escalation dynamic remains in place”.

The war has already driven U.S. gasoline prices up more than 40% since it began, with diesel prices surging nearly 70%, according to The New York Times . Voters cited energy costs and inflation as primary concerns at the ballot box, with gasoline prices at a record high for an Election Day.

Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf mocked Vance’s post-election commentary, describing it as “losing gambler energy” and accusing the administration of preparing the next phase of conflict.

Despite the Democratic victory, analysts cautioned that a peace deal remains far from certain. “Republicans don’t really have an off-ramp here at this stage,” said Laurel Rapp of Chatham House.

“We know the Democrats will seek to take votes in the House and the Senate to constrain the Republicans, to restrain the administration on Iran war powers. But whether that will bind the administration is another matter”.