Former FBI Director James Comey welcomed the results of Tuesday’s midterm elections, calling projected Democratic gains in the House “a very good thing for our republic.”
“We will now have a balance of power, which is a very good thing for our republic,” Comey tweeted as multiple news outlets projected Democrats would retake control of the House while Republicans pad their majority in the Senate.
“Signs of an awakening are everywhere tonight,” Comey added. “The giant is stirring. Do not stop speaking and living American values.”
Democrats appear poised to pick up at least 23 seats in the House, the number required to retake the majority.
{mosads}Republicans, however, picked up Senate seats in Indiana and North Dakota, and retained seats in Texas and Tennessee to bolster their current 51-49 majority in the upper chamber.
Comey, a longtime Republican who was fired by President Trump in May 2017, has emerged as an outspoken critic of the GOP and the president. In July, he urged Americans to vote for Democrats in the midterms.
Earlier Tuesday, Comey canvassed in support of Rep.-elect Jennifer Wexton (D), who defeated Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.).
The former FBI director also penned an op-ed in The New York Times on Tuesday, writing that Trump’s policies, coupled with his “lying, misogyny, racism and attacks on the rule of law” would “awaken” the American people.