Democrats’ sweeping victories in last week’s midterms, taking back control of the House and Senate, are set to reshape key spots atop defense committees, to include House Armed Services panels and Senate appropriations leadership.
Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), who handily won his reelection bid and announced plans to run again for House Armed Services Committee (HASC) chair, has previewed his priorities for the new Congress, which includes scrutinizing the need for a defense topline above $1 trillion and reestablishing an Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee to look into the Pentagon and the Donald Trump administration’s handling of the Iran war and potential conflicts of interest with contract awards.
“As chairman, the Armed Services Committee’s top priority in the 120th Congress will be to conduct vigorous oversight of the Department of Defense and the Trump Administration,” Smith wrote in a letter published last week. “The list of potential oversight topics is long, but the illegal war against Iran, unauthorized military strikes in the Caribbean and Latin America, and the deployment of the military to U.S. cities are high on the list. We must also carefully examine contracts and other financial support awarded to private companies to ensure they are in the best interest of taxpayers, are free from conflicts of interest or favoritism and were awarded consistent with legal authorities and procedures.”
“I also believe we must thoroughly review our national defense strategy and develop a more realistic and sustainable approach that does not require a defense budget in excess of $1 trillion or paid for through draconian cuts to critical domestic programs,” Smith added.
While final results for races in Alaska and Mississippi are still pending, Democrats reclaimed control of the Senate with a 54-44 by flipping seats in Maine, Ohio, Texas, Kansas, Iowa, North Carolina and South Carolina and retaining seats in New Hampshire, Michigan and Georgia.
In the House, Democrats have reclaimed a decisive majority for the next Congress and flipped 44 seats to include a handful of HASC members locked in elections that are still too close to call.
The “blue tsunami” result now sets up Congress for a lame duck session faced with addressing a looming government shutdown on Dec. 11, uncertain plans for passing the fiscal 2027 National Defense Authorization Act – which sets spending limits for defense nuclear programs and the National Nuclear Security Administration – and Republicans’ tenuous prospects for moving on the Trump administration’s request for $350 billion in defense funds via reconciliation before they lose the majority in early January.
“The magnitude of Democratic gains in the House and Senate from the midterm elections suggests that nothing will get done by Congress for defense legislation in Nov.-Dec,” Byron Callan, an analyst with Capital Alpha Partners, wrote in a client note.
Among the most significant results last week was Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) losing her reelection bid to former logger and president of the Maine Senate Troy Jackson, ending her 30-year Senate career and role as chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC) and senior member on its defense subcommittee.
Collins’ loss by more than seven points to Jackson opens a significant void in GOP Senate Appropriations leadership with Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the current Defense chair for SAC (SAC-D), also retiring at the end of this Congress.
Meanwhile, Democrat Josh Turek beat Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa) in the race to replace retiring Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed defeated former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers to replace retiring Rep. Gary Peters (D-Mich,), who currently serves on SASC, SAC and is the ranking member on the Senate Homeland Security Committee.
Among the most surprising results was Democrat Annie Andrews defeating Republican Sen. Darline Graham (R-S.C.) in the race to fill her late brother Lindsey Graham’s South Carolina seat. Lindsey Graham, who died this summer, had chaired the Senate Budget Committee and held a spot on SAC-D.
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), a member of SASC who also leads its Readiness subcommittee, is narrowly trailing former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola for Alaska’s Senate seat, while a final call in the race may take some time to confirm with the state’s ranked choice voting system.
Three Virginia Republicans on HASC were locked in some of the nation’s tightest races.
Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.), who chairs the panel’s Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee and was vying to lead the full committee in the next Congress, lost his seat to Democrat Shannon Taylor by over 10,000 votes.
Meanwhile, Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.) lost her rematch to former Dem Rep. Elaine Luria by 8.5 points and Rep. John McGuire (R-Va.) beat his Democratic opponent.
Kiggans and Luria, who are both Navy veterans, have each been proponents of increasing defense spending and growing the size of the Naval fleet during their respective tenures in Congress.
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), who is reportedly seeking a waiver to retain his leadership role atop HASC, easily won his reelection bid, as did HASC Seapower Chair Trent Kelly (R-Miss.) and HASC Intelligence and Special Ops Chair Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), both of whom have shown interest in pursuing top GOP spot on the full committee. Jackson also has the Pantex Plant in his district.
Democrats also successfully flipped seats involving several other HASC members to include Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) and Rep. James Moylan, who sits on the committee and represents Guam.
Former Navy Vice Admiral Nancy Lacore defeated Republican Jenny Costa Honeycutt in the race to replace HASC member Nancy Mace (R-S.C.). Rep. Jeff Crank (R-Colo.) also lost to Democrat Jessica Killin in a race called earlier this week.
Reps. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) and Scott Desjarlais (R-Tenn.), both senior members of HASC, are still trailing their Democratic opponents as of Nov. 11, with other GOP committee members locked in tight races, to include Pat Harrigan (R-N.C.) and Brad Finstand (R-Minn.).
Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), a senior HASC member with Savannah River Site in his district, narrowly defeated his opponent after a recount on Tuesday to keep his seat on the GOP side.
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), chair of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee (HAC-D), beat fellow Republican Rep. Young Kim for a redistricted seat.
HAC-D member Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.) very narrowly beat Democrat Nicole Locklin by a little over 2,000 votes.
Exchange Monitor affiliate Defense Daily first published a version of this story.
