These Democrats are set to take foreign policy reins in Congress

Correction: An earlier version of this article contained incorrect information about the likely chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs.

Tuesday’s seismic midterm results hand Democrats significant powers to investigate the Trump administration’s world dealings and check the president’s intervention abroad.

The Democrats likely to move into top posts on the foreign policy panels and appropriations committees are seasoned legislators with deep international experience.

Democrats have slammed President Trump’s attacks on U.S. allies and gutting of American soft power tools like foreign aid, government-funded media, and the foreign service itself.

The economic costs of Trump’s war against Iran and tariff policies were top of mind for Americans at the polls, making them top targets for Democrats in Congress. The future U.S. relationship with Israel is a divisive issue on both sides of the aisle and could be shaped in part by the results of Israel’s postelection power struggles.

The next two years serve as an important period for Democrats to sharpen their foreign policy message heading into the 2028 presidential election.

Likely chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

Sen. Chris Coons, 63, is the leading contender for chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, moving up in the ranks with the retirement of the ranking member, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.).

Coons, who won reelection in Delaware on Tuesday for his third term, has already telegraphed that going after tech billionaire Elon Musk is a top priority — and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee provides the subpoena power to make that happen.

“One more thing to add to the list of questions for Musk when I subpoena him,” Coons posted on social platform X on Oct. 28, citing a report that the SpaceX owner was in talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin about satellite communications. Musk also owns the social media site X.

Coons is supportive of Ukraine, hawkish on China, outspoken on Israel’s faults but supportive of the Jewish state, and he’s one of the few lawmakers with expertise on the African continent.

He was considered a “shadow” secretary of State during the Biden administration, after being passed over for the top diplomatic role in favor of the president’s close adviser, Antony Blinken.

A former chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations, Coons controlled the purse strings for how America funded its foreign policy and where it put its priorities.

Per Democratic caucus rules, Coons will have to be nominated by the Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee and then voted on by the caucus. Seniority is often taken into account.

Chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs

The Senate subcommittee is the primary venue for earmarking the State Department’s spending priorities. Sen. Brian Schatz, 54, is the ranking member of the subcommittee but has announced his intention to seek the Democratic whip, the party’s No. 2 in the chamber.

That leaves open who will move into the chair of the Senate subcommittee. The likely remaining members of the subcommittee will be Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who recently suffered a stroke, and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.). The rest of the bench is expected to grow from the current six members, and have new faces as Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Shaheen retire.

Still, Schatz has work to do in the remaining weeks of the 119th Congress. Congress faces a Dec. 11 deadline to fund the government for the next year. The Senate has not advanced any spending bills for fiscal 2027, which will make it difficult for Republicans to push through their priorities before handing over majority control in January.

The House has advanced spending bills and Democrats in the lower chamber are looking for a full-year budget so as to start fresh in January.

Likely chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee

Democratic Rep. Gregory Meeks, 73, easily won reelection in New York’s 5th Congressional District. He’s served in Congress since 2013 and was previously chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee between 2021 and 2023. His election to the chairmanship made him the first African American to hold the position.

Meeks served as ranking member of the committee during the 119th Congress under the chairmanship of Republican Rep. Brian Mast (Fla.). Their contentious relationship would frequently spill into public during committee hearings — with Mast a staunch ally of Trump’s America First foreign policy and Meeks pushing back on what he criticized as the president’s destructive actions.

As ranking member of the committee, Meeks blocked arms sales to Israel and successfully discharged legislation to provide more support to Ukraine (a measure that was not taken up in the Senate). Meeks has also introduced legislation to block Trump’s purchase of Russian diesel and introduced a joint resolution of disapproval to block the administration’s pursuit of a nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia.

Meeks will have to be nominated by the House Democratic Caucus’s Steering and Policy Committee to serve as chair and then approved by a majority vote of the full caucus.

Likely chair of House Appropriations subcommittee on National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs

Democratic Rep. Lois Frankel, 78, is the new representative for Florida’s 23rd Congressional District after redistricting moved her out of the 22nd District. Frankel is heading into her eighth term in Congress.

She is the ranking member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs.

Frankel will have to bid for the chair of the subcommittee, per House Democratic Caucus rules, and be confirmed through a majority vote, but seniority is generally a primary factor in those appointments.

Frankel signaled she’s looking to chair the subcommittee ahead of reelection, telling FloridaPolitics.com that the position is key to exercising American leadership abroad. Her top issues are humanitarian aid and developmental assistance, as well as strengthening alliances and combatting China’s influence.

“America will be best positioned to compete with China when we invest in our workers and innovation at home while using our diplomatic, humanitarian, and economic strength to lead abroad,” she told the outlet.

She’s also likely to be a champion for women’s and girls’ programs that were gutted by the Trump administration — from contraception assistance to increasing women’s participation in national security and peace negotiations.