The 2026 midterms were a tsunami Democrats rode, and now they have nearly 260 seats in the House and will likely get close to 60 in the Senate. It’s a repeat of the 2006 and 2008 election cycles. President Trump has his veto pen at the ready. As we sift through the data, Trump’s tariff policy and the war in Iran will likely be seen as two major areas where he eroded base support. That’s the presumption, and it’s not outlandish. Democrats opposed the tariffs, which at times were used to renegotiate trade deals. Trump viewed them as part of a national security discussion, a good message that the rest of the party never helped disseminate. 

Regardless, if Democrats want to erase them, they have a problem. A math problem — they don’t have the votes (via Liz Peek):

Democrats won control of both chambers in Tuesday’s midterms, with at least 54 Senate seats and a House majority as dozens of races remain uncalled, The Center Square reported via Just the News. But overriding a presidential veto takes 67 votes in the Senate and 290 in the House. “No outcome in the remaining contests gets Democrats there,” the report found.

That hasn’t slowed the victory laps. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., in line to chair the Senate Finance Committee, vowed to use the panel to “reassert congressional authority over our country’s trade policy to bring down costs, end Trump’s disastrous and corrupt tariffs, reestablish critical trade partnerships, and hold trade cheats accountable.”

Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., the incoming Democratic caucus chair, promised Democrats “will pass a bill to stop the stupid Trump tariffs jacking up prices on Americans.”

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, now running for speaker, was asked at a Nov. 4 news conference whether he expected Republicans to help against a veto and whether an override was even possible. His answer: “We’re going to have a conversation as a caucus upon our return about what the agenda looks like, but we’re going to get out of the gate fast.” He did not address the veto.

The bill already exists. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer introduced the End Trump’s Tariff Tax Act, S.5390, on Sept. 14. It would terminate and refund the duties, has 29 cosponsors including Wyden, and has sat in the Finance Committee without a vote ever since. Neither Wyden’s office nor Schumer’s answered questions about how they would get past Trump’s veto, or what would replace the revenue.

And the revenue is real money. Net customs duties totaled $173.2 billion in fiscal 2026, according to the Treasury Department. The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates repealing the remaining tariffs would cost about $85.5 billion a year. Tax Foundation economist Erica York put the cost of repealing every tariff imposed since 2017 at nearly $1.8 trillion over a decade, and wrote that a broad-based 1% value-added tax would raise enough to replace it.

So, here’s a policy battle that will die with Trump’s veto pen, unless it gets Republican votes. It’s possible — the GOP is running scared right now.