US Midterm Results 2026: Democrats Sweep House and Senate

The US midterm results are now clear: Democrats have won control of both chambers of Congress in a sweeping victory over President Donald Trump's Republicans, after voters went to the polls on Tuesday, November 3.

According to the Associated Press tally, the US midterm results give Democrats 228 seats in the House of Representatives so far, with the party leading in 34 more races. That means Democrats could finish with more than 260 House seats, their biggest strength since 1990, when they won 267 seats. In the Senate, Democrats have won 54 seats and lead in one more, while Republicans have won 44 and lead in one. A party needs 51 seats to control the 100-seat Senate.

The US midterm results were driven by widespread voter discontent over inflation, tariffs, the building of AI data centers and the Iran war, according to early analysis of the vote. Democrats turned that frustration into gains in places where they have rarely won in recent decades, and the scale of the victory surprised even many within the party.

US midterm results: the Senate flips

The Senate was where the US midterm results produced the biggest shock. Republicans went into the election holding a relatively comfortable 53 seats, with 35 seats contested, including 22 held by Republicans and 13 by Democrats. Democrats needed to gain four seats to take the majority. They gained at least seven.

In Texas, Democrat James Talarico defeated Republican Ken Paxton, flipping a Senate seat that Republicans had held since 1988. In Ohio, Democrat Sherrod Brown beat Jon Husted to win the seat contested in a special election. In Kansas, Democrat Adam Hamilton became the first Democrat elected to the Senate by the state since 1932.

In South Carolina, Democrat Annie Andrews defeated Republican Lindsey Graham. In Iowa, Democrat Josh Turek won his Senate race. In Maine, Democrat Troy Jackson defeated five-term Republican senator Susan Collins. In North Carolina, former governor Roy Cooper became the first Democrat to win a Senate race in the state since 2008.

In Michigan, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed defeated Republican Mike Rogers, becoming the first Muslim ever elected to the US Senate. The Michigan result was one of several historic firsts in a night full of them, and it underlined how broad the Democratic wave was.

US midterm results: the House and governors

The US midterm results in the House were just as sweeping. All 435 seats were contested. Before the election, Republicans held 219 seats, Democrats held 214 and two independents sat in the chamber. Democrats flipped at least 25 seats from Republicans, winning in rural North Carolina and central Kentucky, in the suburbs of St. Louis and Omaha, and all along the Texas border.

In California, the only Democratic-controlled state to redraw its maps, Democrats achieved their goal of sending five more representatives to the House, for a total of 48 out of the state's 52 seats. Democrats also made inroads deep into Republican territory, including a Kentucky district that Trump had carried by 15 percentage points in 2024.

The US midterm results also swept through the governors' races, which were held in 36 of the 50 states alongside the federal elections. Democrats won five new governorships, in Nevada, Texas, Iowa, Ohio and Georgia, while holding onto 17 others. Democrats now hold 28 governorships, against 20 for Republicans.

Financial markets welcomed the outcome. The Nasdaq opened on Wednesday up 1 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.8 percent and the S and P 500 up 1.1 percent, after Trump said in a social media post that he would accept the results, easing political uncertainty.

US midterm results: what happens next

The US midterm results mean Trump will now face a divided government for the final two years of his term. It is the first time in 20 years that a Republican president has lost control of both houses of Congress, since George W. Bush in 2006.

Democrats will be able to increase oversight of the White House and set the agenda in Congress, but their power has limits. They did not win the two-thirds supermajority in the Senate, 67 seats, that would allow them alone to remove a president through impeachment, nor are they likely to hold the 290 House seats needed to override presidential vetoes. The next two years are therefore set for negotiation and confrontation in equal measure.

The newly elected members of Congress will take their seats in January 2027. Until then, counting continues in a handful of races, including the Senate races in Alaska and Mississippi, where results had not been called at the time of writing.

US midterm results: frequently asked questions

Who won the US midterm results? Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress, the House of Representatives and the Senate, defeating President Donald Trump's Republicans.

How many seats did Democrats win in the US midterm results? Democrats have won 228 House seats so far and lead in 34 more, which could take them past 260. In the Senate they have won 54 seats and lead in one more.

Which Senate seats flipped in the US midterm results? Democrats flipped Senate seats in Texas, Ohio, Kansas, Iowa, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maine and Michigan, among others.

What do the US midterm results mean for Trump? Trump now faces a divided government for the final two years of his term, with Democrats able to increase oversight, though without the supermajority needed to remove him or override his vetoes alone.

When do the newly elected members of Congress take office? The newly elected members take their seats in January 2027.