Chuck Schumer says the January 6 committee's hearings had an 'important effect' on Senate Democrats' history-defying midterm victory

• With victory in Georgia, Democrats defied historical odds and will increase their Senate majority.
• It's the first year since 1934 that no incumbent senator from the president's party lost a race.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Wednesday that the January 6 committee's public hearings played an important role in Senate Democrats' history-defying victory in this year's midterm elections.

"There were the January 6 hearings — I think they had an important effect," Schumer told reporters at a press conference at the Capitol. "People didn't just read about something that happened once, but every night they saw on TV these hooligans, these insurrections, being violent, beating up police officers."

"They saw all of that, and they said 'wow,'" he continued. "They saw that the Republican leaders wouldn't even attack this crazy."

Schumer spoke alongside Democratic Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, the chairman of Senate Democrats' campaign arm, following Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock's victory against Republican Herschel Walker in a runoff election in Georgia on Tuesday.

This year's midterm elections were the first time since 1934 that no incumbent senator from the president's party lost re-election, a historic result.

Discussing the broader results, Schumer also credited the party's "great" candidates and said that the overturning of Roe v. Wade showed that "these MAGA Republicans are serious about turning the clock all the way back."

The January 6 committee, established by the House after a vote to establish a bipartisan commission failed in the Senate, held a series of high-profile hearings over the summer and into the autumn detailing the efforts that former President Donald Trump took to stay in power.

It featured video from the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, as well as striking testimony from police officers, former Trump administration officials, and Republican officials across the country who had defied pressure campaigns from Trump.

In July, one Republican senator said that the hearings had significantly weakened Trump's chances of winning his party's nomination for the presidency in 2024.