Election 2026LiveSenate54 Dem · 44 Rep · 2 to callHouse240 Dem · 147 Rep · 48 to callGovernors28 Dem · 20 Rep · 2 to callUpdated 07:22 ET · AP race calls
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US Politics

Democrats win control of House and Senate in midterm elections

Trump says he was not on the ballot and would have won in a landslide, while some House and Senate races remain uncalled.

8 news outlets reported this
Liberal1 outletMS NOW hosts read results as a rebukeCenter4 outletsThe scale of the sweep, seats and moneyConservative3 outletsTrump's setback and what Democrats may do next
Published 3 min read
Overview

Democrats won control of both and the in Tuesday's elections, and counting continues. Newsweek's tally gives them 54 Senate seats, with two races still outstanding, and says they have flipped Republican-held seats in both chambers, including 25 in the House. Many House races have not yet been called.

In Texas, Democrat James Talarico beat Republican Ken Paxton for the Senate, and Democrat Gina Hinojosa unseated Gov. Greg Abbott. Maine Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, lost her race. Newsweek reports that Trump's approval ratings sat near their low point ahead of the vote, and that he repeatedly asked supporters to treat the election as if he were running himself.

After results came in, he wrote on Truth Social that he was not on the ballot and would have won in a landslide. still has to fund the government, and Deseret News gives the deadline as Dec. 11. The Daily Mail reports Democrats are expected to open investigations, and at least three Democrats have filed articles seeking the of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.

Key figures
  • 54 seats to Republicans' 44 Democrats' Senate seats, with two races outstanding — Newsweek
  • 228 seats to Republicans' 139 House seats so far, with 68 races yet to be called — Newsweek
  • 25 Republican-held House seats Democrats have flipped — Newsweek
  • up to 255 House seats or more what Democrats are on track for, per Deseret News — Deseret News
  • $445.5 million Elon Musk's outside spending, by OpenSecrets' count — Newsweek

Three sides of the story

Liberal1 outlet

MS NOW hosts read results as a rebuke

HuffPost's two pieces both build on MS NOW hosts' reactions. One centers on Joe Scarborough telling the White House "that’s the price of " after Talarico's win over Paxton, which HuffPost says was significantly driven by Hispanic voters. Scarborough says he warned Trump that his treatment of Hispanics would "destroy you politically."

HuffPost notes that Paxton and Abbott both ran with Trump's endorsement and lost, and that Collins also lost. The second piece features Rachel Maddow saying that if Democrats are now winning statewide in Texas and the state gains after the 2030 census, national politics becomes "a totally different ballgame." Chris Hayes says he was upset by the Republican closing message in Michigan, including the attacks on Abdul El-Sayed and on trans people, and is grateful to see it rejected.

Nicolle Wallace calls the result "a completely citizen-driven revolt." HuffPost describes Trump as having made the midterms all about himself despite poor approval ratings.

Center4 outlets

The scale of the sweep, seats and money

Newsweek's report on the results leads with a blue wave that dealt Trump "a major political blow." It gives the Senate and House tallies, compares the losses with past midterms, and quotes Trump's Truth Social post that he was not on the ballot. Deseret News, in a newsletter, opens with Republicans texting "It's a bloodbath," then walks through Senate flips in South Carolina and Kansas, a Mississippi race it calls astonishingly close, results and the first-time winners.

It adds that Congress faces a Dec. 11 funding deadline. A second Newsweek piece follows the money: it reports Elon Musk's spending at $445.5 million by OpenSecrets' count and quotes law professor Michael Kang on "the collapse of campaign finance law." Forbes says Bezos, Page and Brin gained billions while Musk's and Michael Dell's fortunes fell.

Conservative3 outlets

Trump's setback and what Democrats may do next

The Daily Mail's headline reads "Bitter humiliation for Trump." It opens with Trump calling the Reflecting Pool "a very dirty, filthy, stagnant mess," and says his party lost both chambers. It lists likely investigations of Trump's family and of Elon Musk, quotes Robert Garcia, who will chair the House Oversight Committee, on "a lot of questions about Elon Musk's role in DOGE," and notes that at least three Democrats have filed articles seeking Hegseth's impeachment.

It cites a Washington Post analysis that puts Musk's spending at $446 million. The Washington Free Beacon runs a winners-and-losers list that opens "The midterms happened and it wasn't pretty." It names "The letter D" a winner and says California's wealth tax "went down in flames."

The piece adds that, in Washington State and Colorado, ballot measures limiting "sex-change operations for minors" and transgender participation in sports are projected to pass. It lists Hakeem Jeffries as both a winner and a loser and says Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has unlocked frontrunner status for 2028.

All sources: 10 articles from 8 outlets

Liberal (2)

Center (5)

Conservative (3)

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1 min
House of Representatives

The lower chamber of Congress: 435 members elected every two years, with more seats for bigger states. It is the chamber that can impeach officials.

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Senate

The upper chamber of Congress: 100 senators, two per state, elected for six years. It confirms judges and ministers and approves treaties.

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Midterm elections

US elections halfway through a president's four-year term. The whole House, a third of the Senate and many governors are elected. In 2026 Election Day is November 3.

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Congress

The US parliament: the Senate and the House of Representatives. A bill becomes law when both pass it and the president signs it.

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Impeachment

A formal accusation against a top official, up to the president, voted by the House of Representatives. Only the Senate can then remove the official, with two-thirds of the votes.

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ICE

Immigration and Customs Enforcement: the federal agency that arrests, detains and deports people who are in the US without legal status.

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Electoral College

The president is chosen not by the national vote but by 538 electors from the states, and 270 win. Nearly every state gives all its electors to its winner, so a candidate can win the presidency while losing the popular vote.

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Redistricting and gerrymandering

States redraw their election districts, normally after each ten-year census. Gerrymandering is drawing the lines to help one party, by packing the other side's voters into a few districts or spreading them thin. Both parties do it where they can.

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