In an outcome seen as a backlash to President Donald Trump, Democrats decisively won control of the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives in the 2026 midterm elections.
The Senate’s flip to the Democrats was called by CNN at 11:35 p.m. ET, with the network projecting the party had won at least 51 seats to lock up the voting majority, after cable network NewsNation had predicted the Senate would go blue about 15 minutes prior. The Dems’ win of the House was called by MS NOW just before 10 p.m. ET followed by CNN several minutes later, then NBC News and CBS News. The AP had not called either the Senate or House for the Democrats as of this writing.
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In the widely followed the Senate race in Texas, former state representative James Talarico, a Democrat, was the projected winner over Ken Paxton, the state’s Republican attorney general. It was the most expensive U.S. Senate campaign to date, with an estimated $573.2 million spent on political ads, including at $168 million from Elon Musk, who backed Paxton, per CNN.
“We just took back Texas,” Talarico said in his victory speech. “We just proved that all the money in the world is no match for the people of Texas. … And we just sent a message to every billionaire megadonor, every trillionaire megadonor, every corrupt defender of this broken political system: In this state, in this country, power belongs to the people.”
In other key Senate races, Roy Cooper decisively beat Michael Whatley in North Carolina; Annie Andrews prevailed in South Carolina over Darline Graham, sister of the late Lindsey Graham; Adam Hamilton won in Kansas to become the state’s first Democratic senator in almost 90 years; Sherrod Brown won against Republican incumbent Jon Husted in Ohio; and Josh Turek, a Democratic state representative, flipped Iowa’s open Senate seat in a victory over Rep. Ashley Hinson. In Maine, Troy Jackson defeated GOP incumbent Sen. Susan Collins.
One of the Senate races that remained too close to call was the fierce battle in Michigan between Dr. Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers.
“This is the repudiation of Trumpism that people have been hoping for,” CNN political commentator and former Obama adviser Van Jones said about the “Blue Wave” sweeping across the country. MS NOW’s Rachel Maddow said of the Democrats’ House win: “This is a seismic change in Washington.”
With the Democrats retaking the House, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York’s 8th District, who is currently House minority leader and won reelection Tuesday, is in line to become Speaker of the House.
The surge of support for Democrats comes as Trump’s approval ratings among American voters has plummeted over the course of the year, amid higher gas and grocery prices and the administration’s unpopular war with Iran. As of Nov. 3, just 37% of U.S. voters approve of Trump, near his lowest level ever of 36% just two weeks ago, per the New York Times’ analysis of multiple polls. Trump has stumped for Republican candidates at rallies across the country in recent weeks.
Trump, after repeatedly urging voters in battleground states to vote as if he were on the ballot, wrote in a post on his Truth Social platform Tuesday evening, “I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!” He also blamed Fox News for the Republican defeats, saying the network “bears responsibility for these losses by constantly and consistently putting on the Dumocrat opposition.” Trump told the New York Times he was “absolutely willing” to accept the election results and that “We’ll, you know, look forward to working with” the Democrats: “We’ll probably work something out.”
In gubernatorial races, notable Democratic winners Tuesday night included Keisha Lance Bottoms, who prevailed in the Georgia gubernatorial race, becoming the first Black woman governor in the U.S. Amy Acton defeated former Republican presidential candidate and Trump ally Vivek Ramaswamy in the Ohio governor’s race, and Gina Hinojosa beat incumbent Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
Pictured above: James Talarico, senator-elect of Texas
Fox Style News Syndicate. Sourced from broadcast reporting: Read Full Source Coverage.