--- title: Democrats Won the House. Here Are Their Top Priorities description: The Democrats just won control of the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterms. Here's what Democratic leaders plan to do first. canonical: https://time.com/5442973/democrats-won-house-majority-plans/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-11-07T05:14:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T08:05:26.750Z article:section: Politics og:title: Democrats Just Won the House. Here's What They Plan to Do First og:description: The first order of business: transparency and accountability. og:url: https://time.com/5442973/democrats-won-house-majority-plans/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt923c3d56d9d89829/69893e77457a520e1cd5fd15/democrat-house.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1353 og:image:alt: Minnesota Congressional Candidate Ilhan Omar Attends Election Night Event In Minneapolis og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Democrats Just Won the House. Here's What They Plan to Do First twitter:description: The first order of business: transparency and accountability. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt923c3d56d9d89829/69893e77457a520e1cd5fd15/democrat-house.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Democrats Just Won the House. Here's What They Plan to Do First > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. Senior correspondent Philip Elliott brings sharp context to the issues driving the capital, connecting the decisions made in Washington to the institutions, industries and people they affect. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=c5af4700-c0f7-4aeb-bfd3-73c75cb705e3&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: 2018 Midterm Elections: The Democratic Resistance [Watch (HLS stream): 2018 Midterm Elections: The Democratic Resistance](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/pOQrdNnY.m3u8) (3:18)  _Published 2018-11-07. The 2018 midterm elections see a record numbers of voters, a flip of the house, and many firsts for women elected to office._  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Nov 7, 2018 5:14 AM UTC The 2018 midterm elections see a record numbers of voters, a flip of the house, and many firsts for women elected to office.  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Nov 7, 2018 5:14 AM UTC Scarred by the 2016 election, many House Democrats had been incredibly cautious about publicly discussing what they might do if they regained the majority after the midterms. But in the past week, with polling swinging in their favor and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi publicly projecting victory, some details began to trickle out about the party’s plans now that it is back in power in the lower chamber. Although the exact margin has yet to be determined, Democrats are now projected to hold a majority, thanks to voters unhappy with the Trump Administration, and the first order of business will be highlighting transparency and accountability. The first major legislative effort will be an ethics reform package that is expected to incorporate proposals for campaign finance reform, voting rights and ethics and accountability. The bill is still being drafted, but Democrats are expecting it to introduce it early in the new Congress. Other top priorities include infrastructure and reducing prescription drug prices. All of these topics theoretically have potential for bipartisan cooperation, although it remains to be seen whether that will actually come to fruition. At the same time, the incoming chairs of 21 House committees will be looking for ways to hold the Trump Administration officials’ feet to the fire, mainly by pressing forward on investigations they feel were ignored under the Republican majority. This effort will largely be led by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which will likely be chaired by Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings. This work, however, will almost inevitably broaden to include all committees that have a section solely devoted to oversight. The intelligence and judiciary committees will also probably find their work in the spotlight, as will Ways and Means, which has the [authority](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/6103) to request President Donald Trump’s tax returns from Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler said in a statement that the results are an indication that “Americans are demanding accountability.” > [](https://twitter.com/RepJerryNadler/status/1060028634860318720) “We need to get in there and see what’s happening,” said Maryland Rep. John Sarbanes, who sits on the oversight committee. “Our job is to put the information in front of the American people so they can make a decision about who they want to be running the federal government.” **Read More:** [_Nancy Pelosi Doesn’t Care What You Think of Her. And She Isn’t Going Anywhere_](http://time.com/5388347/nancy-pelosi-democrats-feminism/) How they accomplish this objective, however, is nearly as important as what they may discover. And while their newly minted position of power gives lawmakers the power to essentially subpoena the president and the administrations for whatever answers they are seeking, veterans of Congress are urging restraint. “What I’ve been telling my Democratic colleagues and friends is that they have a responsibility to use the oversight powers responsibly, in a credible way. If they abuse those powers they will have no credibility which is a bad result for what they’re trying to do,” said Henry Waxman, who led Democrats on the oversight committee for over a decade and has been in frequent contact with ranking committee members and House leadership. Waxman said lawmakers in his party should study the way Republicans investigated the 2012 attack on Benghazi — and then do the exact opposite. “If \[a\] committee chairman said ‘Oh, we’re going to investigate Trump and look for anything he might have done that was wrong or criminal or against the rules.’ …. That would be an abuse of power,'” he said. “I think it would be a serious mistake.” So far, House leadership committees that have divulged some semblance of their plans seem to be heeding Waxman’s advice. “We are not going after Republicans the way they went after us,” Pelosi said at Democratic Party headquarters on Tuesday. “We are the Democrats and the Democrats have an open and transparent congress that will strive for bipartisanship.” [In an interview with CNN last month](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSJHjIMgV90) that Democrats would use their oversight and investigative power “strategically.” “Its about bringing people together,” she said. “People who said are you going to impeach the President are you going to impeach \[Kavanaugh?\] No. If there’s a bipartisan … inevitability to impeachment, but its not something one party does.” Cummings’ goals for oversight are aligned with this rhetoric. His idea for the committee’s objectives is twofold, according to a Democratic staffer: to expose what Democrats deem the waste and fraud of the Trump administration while simultaneously working on policy issues. The first half of that mission incorporates the investigative work, which is likely to include Trump’s financial conflicts — including inquiries into whether failing to disassociate from his business violates the emoluments clause of the Constitution — as well as controversies surrounding members of his administration, whether it’s [Jared Kushner’ security clearances](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/23/us/politics/jared-kushner-security-clearance.html) or [former ](http://time.com/5331309/scott-pruitt-andrew-wheeler-epa/)EPA Director Scott Pruitt’s misuse of taxpayer money. The President’s immigration policies are also expected to come under a microscope. “What I have been asking my Republican chairmen to do all along is to gather the facts about the crisis of corruption in the Trump Administration,” Cummings said in a statement provided to TIME. “The waste, fraud, and abuse is plain to see—and the most important thing for the Oversight Committee to do is to use its authority to obtain documents and witnesses, and actually hold the Trump Administration accountable to the American people.” ## Transcript [00:00] [ MUSIC ] And [00:06] what's been regarded as one of the most important [00:08] midterms in a generation. A deeply divided America [00:11] turned up to vote for the country's midterm elections [00:13] on November 6th for Congress, governors and state [00:17] and local legislators. The vote in many ways is a [00:19] referendum on President Trump's unconventional [00:22] presidential style, his America First agenda and his bid [00:25] to take the Republican party in a radically more [00:28] nationalistic direction. After a divisive 2016 Democratic [00:32] primary, Trump's inauguration sparked a movement to [00:35] organize the Democratic base. Well, followed were the [00:38] women's marches, the largest single- day mass [00:40] demonstration in US history. The President's divisive [00:43] rhetoric re- energized a string of liberal organizing [00:47] that drew crowds to the countries' airport to reject [00:49] Trump's travel ban. And many more gathered to [00:52] protest the attempted repeal of Obamacare. The [00:55] political awakening swelled into a record number of [00:58] women and minorities running for office in the [01:00] country's midterms. And rallying cries from both [01:03] President Trump, and former President Barack [01:05] Obama, two celebrity appeals produce startlingly high, [01:09] early high voter turned out at long line on election day. [01:12] With the election producing historic results. The [01:15] Democrats took control of the House picking up the 26 [01:18] House seats previously held by Republicans to gain [01:21] that chamber. The victory means that Trump will now [01:24] lose the governing majority he's enjoyed for the first [01:26] two years of his presidency. The Republicans cap the [01:30] Senate. The results will also likely mean more [01:32] legislative gridlock and additional pressure to push [01:35] investigations into the President's ties with Russia. The [01:39] Democrats resistance to Trump worked and election [01:42] night marked a series of first for the nation. Numbers [01:45] are still being tallied but we may for the first time have [01:48] a 100 women elected to the House. Including [01:51] Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Abby Finkenauer who [01:54] became the youngest congresswoman ever elected to [01:57] office. 10 female senators were elected including [02:01] republican Marsha Blackburn who became the state's [02:03] first woman senator. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib [02:07] became the first Muslim women in congress. Omar is [02:10] now Minnesota's first woman of color elected to [02:12] congress. The Democrats' hope of an overwhelming [02:15] blue wave fell short when they were unable to seize [02:17] control of the Senate. Losing key races in Texas, [02:20] Missouri, North Dakota, and Indiana. Republicans' [02:23] allegiance to Trump paid off, and the party was able [02:26] to gain two Senate seats to hold their majority there. [02:29] But while the results do share the limitations of the [02:32] Democratic party's geographic reach, the 2018 [02:35] election map heavily favored Senate Republicans, with [02:37] ten Democrats up for re- election in states that Trump [02:41] won by double digits in 2016. Despite the [02:44] Republicans' loss of the House, President Donald [02:46] Trump claimed tremendous success on Twitter. So as [02:50] both parties made clear strides amongst a divided [02:52] voter base, what did the 2018 midterms foreshadow [02:55] for the 2020 presidential elections? A presidential [02:57] election is always different from a midterm election, [03:04] just because when you by definition have A single [03:07] candidate at the top that's got to craft a message that [03:10] can appeal to all of those voters, so it's gonna [03:15] be exciting to see how the 2020 presidential [03:18] candidates thread that needle. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5442973/democrats-won-house-majority-plans/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5442973/democrats-won-house-majority-plans/"},"headline":"Democrats Just Won the House. Here's What They Plan to Do First","datePublished":"2018-11-07T05:14:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-13T08:05:26.750Z","description":"The Democrats just won control of the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterms. 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