Recent polls are showing Democrats making gains in advance of the midterm elections, where control of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate will be at stake. Several industries, including cryptocurrency and pharmaceuticals, could come under increased scrutiny if Democrats return to power.
On Monday, prediction market Kalshi gave Democrats about a 92% chance of winning back the House and a 65% chance of winning the Senate, an increase of 10 percentage points and 25 percentage points respectively from where markets stood in July.
A New York Times/Siena poll released Saturday showed Democratic Senate candidates with a polling advantage in some deep-red states, including Alaska, Texas and Ohio. The poll of likely voters showed Republicans with a one-percentage-point advantage in Iowa and a neck-and-neck race in Kansas. A CBS News poll released Sunday asking which party's candidate they would support for the House, showed Democrats leading Republicans by 9 percentage points.
Democrats need to pick up four GOP-held seats while defending all of their own to take control of the Senate.
Democrats only need to retake the House to stymie Trump's legislative agenda for the rest of his term. But retaking the Senate would be an especially bitter pill for some businesses to swallow.
With no ability to pass legislation on their own, Democrats are likely to use their control of committees to investigate Trump and some of the companies that got close to the White House in the first two years of his administration.
That will happen even if Democrats when merely the House, but if the Senate flips, that could mean nearly twice as many hearings, subpoenas and other investigative queries.
A road map for what companies could be targeted appears in the letters and other less formal queries Democrats have sent while in the minority. Last week, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D., Md.) sent a letter to cloud companies asking about nondisclosure agreements to keep local officials from talking about their involvement in data center projects.
House and Senate members have also sent industrywide requests for information to retailers on surveillance pricing, to government contractors, and to health insurance firms.
The crypto industry, where President Donald Trump himself has made more than $1 billion since entering office, could also be a prime target.
In general, Democrats will be using their investigative authorities with an eye to the 2028 election, targeting industries that already have at least some antipathy from voters, said Andrew Lokay, a senior research analyst with Beacon Policy Advisors, who noted financial services firms and pharmaceutical companies are also potential targets.
"Companies with negative perceptions will yield greater political dividends" as targets, Lokay said.
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