Trump asked voters to pretend he was on the ballot. Democrats took Congress.

Featured image: A comment shown first under ABC News's live election stream on Facebook on Tuesday night, with 321 likes about an hour after it was posted. The commenter's name and photo have been blurred. Screenshot shared with Thoughtful India.

Column. This piece contains the writer's opinion. Results are NBC News projections as of early Wednesday, November 4, and counting continues.

In August, at a Myrtle Beach rally for Sen. Darline Graham, President Donald Trump made his request plainly. "What I really want you to do is pretend please, that I am on the ballot," he said, Michigan Public reported. Graham lost on Tuesday. That night a Facebook user boiled the result down to two lines under ABC News's live stream. "America: Okay," the second one read.

The joke landed because the numbers back it. NBC News projected at 11:04 p.m. Eastern that Democrats would win the House, with about 252 seats expected. A majority takes 218. At 11:23 p.m. Eastern, NBC projected that Democrats had won the Senate too.

The Senate map turned over in places where Democrats had been shut out for a generation. James Talarico, a former sixth-grade teacher, beat Ken Paxton in Texas, NBC projected. No Democrat had won a Senate race there since 1988. Sherrod Brown returned in Ohio by defeating Sen. Jon Husted.

Annie Andrews beat Graham in South Carolina. Democrats also picked up Kansas, and Roy Cooper flipped North Carolina. NBC said Josh Turek's win over Rep. Ashley Hinson in Iowa clinched the majority. Jon Ossoff held Georgia. Michigan and Maine had not been called by early Wednesday.

Governors' mansions moved too. Gina Hinojosa defeated Gov. Greg Abbott in Texas, NBC projected. Rob Sand won in Iowa and Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia. In Ohio, Amy Acton beat Vivek Ramaswamy, the Indian American entrepreneur whose campaign ran an October ad featuring Acton's estranged mother. The campaign pledged $4 million to air it. It was off the air within 10 days. Republicans held South Carolina, South Dakota, Oklahoma and Idaho.

Indian American candidates had a mixed night. Rep. Suhas Subramanyam won reelection in Virginia's 10th District with about 63 percent of the vote, The Tribune reported. Maryland's lieutenant governor, Aruna Miller, returns on Gov. Wes Moore's ticket. In Florida's 22nd District, Democrat Pia Dandiya led Republican Casey Askar 52 percent to 48 with about 94 percent counted. NBC had not called that race.

The voters explained themselves in the NBC News Exit Poll. Forty-three percent said one reason for their vote was to oppose Trump. Only 38 percent approved of his performance, down from 45 percent at his first midterm in 2018. The economy was the top issue for 39 percent, and three in four called it in rough shape. Sixty-five percent said his policies had made it worse. Eighty-eight percent worried about grocery prices.

Republicans have a fair answer, and it deserves its own hearing. The president's party almost always loses seats in a midterm. Speaker Mike Johnson said so on Tuesday, calling history "very, very difficult to overcome," NBC reported. Trump told Fox News he was "a little bit surprised" and "thought we'd do better," NBC reported. I am glad he told The New York Times he was "absolutely willing" to accept the results.

History explains part of a loss. Texas is harder to fit. Democrats had not won a Senate race there since 1988, and on Tuesday they took the governorship too. A cyclical pattern cannot carry all of that. Trump asked for a referendum on himself, and the exit poll shows voters gave him one, judged largely on grocery prices. Abbott had been governor since 2015.

Hakeem Jeffries, who is expected to become speaker, declared on Tuesday night that "America is back," NBC reported. Chuck Schumer said, "Relief is on the way." Those are promises, and promises can be checked. Democrats will hold both chambers with a president who can veto their bills. Trump posted a picture of a "VETO" cap at 12:26 a.m. Eastern.

Democrats ran on prices. Neither leader said on Tuesday what bill comes first. The new Congress is sworn in on January 3.