Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections held on Tuesday, 3 November 2026, sweeping the House of Representatives and the Senate from Republican control in a result the Associated Press called early on Wednesday. The victory hands the party the power to block President Donald Trump’s agenda and open investigations for the final two years of his presidency.
The Associated Press called the House for Democrats once the party passed the 218 seats needed for a majority, hours after the Senate had already fallen. It is the first time since Barack Obama’s second term that a sitting president has faced a Congress controlled entirely by the opposition party, according to Al Jazeera’s analysis of the AP calls.
Seven Senate flips, from Texas to Maine
Democrats built their Senate majority by flipping seven Republican-held seats, several of them in states that have voted Republican for decades. The party reached 54 seats in the 100-seat chamber, with two races still uncalled, and the flips ran through the political map from the South to New England.
| State | Democrat who won | Why it mattered |
|---|---|---|
| Texas | James Talarico | Beat Republican Ken Paxton; first Democrat to win a Texas Senate seat since 1988 |
| Kansas | Adam Hamilton | Beat incumbent Republican Roger Marshall; first Democratic senator from Kansas since 1932 |
| Iowa | Josh Turek | Beat Republican Representative Ashley Hinson |
| South Carolina | Annie Andrews | Beat Republican Darline Graham |
| North Carolina | Roy Cooper | Flipped a Republican-held seat |
| Ohio | Sherrod Brown | Flipped a Republican-held seat in a special election |
| Maine | Troy Jackson | Flipped a Republican-held seat |
Democrats also held the seats they had to defend. In Georgia, Jon Ossoff won re-election over Trump-backed challenger Mike Collins, and in Michigan the Associated Press called the open Senate race for Democrat Abdul El-Sayed over Republican Mike Rogers at 2:27 a.m. ET on Wednesday, making El-Sayed the first Muslim elected to the US Senate. He led 52.4 percent to 45.6 percent with about 97 percent of the expected vote counted.
Two Senate races were still too early to call on Thursday morning. In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola led Republican Senator Dan Sullivan by 637 first-choice votes ahead of a ranked-choice count on 18 November, and in Mississippi, Democrat Scott Colom led Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith by 1,138 votes with about 96 percent of the expected vote counted.
The House: past 218, with counting still to go
In the House, the Associated Press tally showed Democrats had won 235 seats and led in 26 more, against 146 seats won by Republicans, with the party’s national popular-vote lead standing at about 60.2 million votes to 48.0 million with roughly 90 percent of the expected vote counted. NBC News projected Democrats would finish with about 259 seats, well beyond the 218 needed for a majority.
The scale of the House win showed up in the map as well as the maths. Democrats flipped more than two dozen Republican-held districts, including several that Trump had won by as much as 18 points in 2024, according to AP reporting. Dozens of House races were still being counted on Thursday, so the final margin is likely to grow rather than shrink.
Five governorships change hands
The Democratic wave reached the states as well, with the party flipping five governorships, all of them in states Trump had carried in the 2024 presidential election. Texas delivered the biggest shock of the night, where Democrat Gina Hinojosa defeated Governor Greg Abbott, giving Democrats their first statewide victories in Texas since 1994 alongside Talarico’s Senate win.
Democrats also flipped the governor’s offices in Georgia, Nevada, Ohio and Iowa. The results leave the party holding a majority of the nation’s governorships for the first time in a generation, and in Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Nevada, Democrats will now control both chambers of the state legislature as well as the governor’s office.
What changes in Washington
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries is now in line to become the first Black Speaker of the House when the new Congress convenes, although his election to the role is not automatic and the House must still vote. The Democratic majority will not take control of the Senate until 3 January 2027, when the new Congress is seated.
Democratic committee leaders began outlining an oversight agenda on Wednesday, with the House set to gain subpoena power and the Senate set to gain control of judicial and executive confirmations. Reuters reported that incoming committee chairs were already targeting Trump administration deals and corporate interests, while the White House pushed back and denied any wrongdoing. President Donald Trump said he would accept the results.
Why voters moved: the cost of living
The result followed a campaign dominated by affordability. In a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted from Thursday to Monday before the election, 48 percent of registered voters said the cost of living was the top issue determining their vote, and voters blamed the administration for high prices even as the economy grew. The third-quarter growth of 3.4% reported on Thursday, 29 October, showed output accelerating, yet prices at the checkout still felt high to many households.
The polling had pointed the same way before a single ballot was cast. In the final pre-election polls, Democrats led the national congressional ballot by 51.4 percent to 43.2 percent, and a record 47,922,669 Americans had already cast early ballots before Election Day. The vote confirmed the polls rather than defying them, and the swing was widest exactly where Republicans had looked safest.
Midterms 2026 results: your questions answered
Who won the 2026 midterm elections? Democrats won control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate in the elections held on Tuesday, 3 November 2026, ending Republican control of Congress. The Associated Press called the Senate for Democrats first, then called the House early on Wednesday once the party passed 218 seats.
How many Senate seats did the Democrats flip? Seven: Iowa, Kansas, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas. That took the party to 54 seats in the 100-seat Senate, its clearest Senate majority since 2008.
Which races are still undecided? Two Senate races, in Alaska and Mississippi, were still too early to call on Thursday, and dozens of House races were still being counted. The AP’s determination of control of Congress is not a certified final tally, so the final seat counts can still move by a few seats in either direction.
When does the new Congress take office? The new Congress convenes on 3 January 2027, and the Democratic majority takes control of the Senate on that date. Congress returns on 9 November, when the new balance of power will start shaping the budget and oversight hearings.
Who is in line to become the next Speaker of the House? House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, who would be the first Black Speaker if elected by the House in January. The Speakership is decided by a vote of the full House, so his election is expected but not automatic.
