The Democratic Party is poised to gain a majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives following the results of the 2026 midterm elections.
This victory has been widely seen as a referendum of Trump’s presidency, whose approval rating dropped to 38% on election day — the lowest for any president since 2008, according to NBC News.
In the Senate, the Democrats regained their majority after winning 20 out of 35 contested seats and flipping seven Republican-held seats. This gives them at least 54 seats starting Jan. 3, 2027, making for their largest senate majority since 2012.
As of Nov. 9, two senate races — Mississippi and Alaska — have yet to be called. With 97% of votes in, Mississippi’s Democratic candidate Scott Colom is leading the Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith by over 2,000 votes, according to the Associated Press.
Several thousand provisional ballots have yet to be counted, and the deadline to count those is today, while the deadline for counties to certify their results will be on Friday. If Colom holds on to win the seat, he will be Mississippi’s first Black senator since the Reconstruction era.
In Alaska with 74% of the votes in, Democratic candidate Mary Peltola leads Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan by around 600 votes. Results could take weeks to certify because of the state’s ranked-choice voting system and the remoteness of many Alaskan communities. Officials aim to certify results by Nov. 25, according to the Washington Post.
Among the 52 Democratic senators entering the Capitol, Abdul El-Sayed will be the first Muslim American in the Senate, after winning an open seat in Michigan against the Republican nominee Mike Rogers with 52.5% of the popular vote.
James Talarico is set to become the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in Texas since Lloyd Bentsen in 1988, after defeating Republican nominee Ken Paxton with 55.06% of the popular vote.
Talarico is part of a larger wave of Texas Democrats who have been elected to the offices of governor, attorney general and railroad commissioner following the midterms, along with control of the state house of representatives since 2000.
Adam Hamilton is the first Democrat to win a Senate race in Kansas since George McGill in 1932. Hamilton faced the Republican incumbent Roger Marshall and won the race with 51% of the popular vote.
For the first time since 2020, the Democrats have control of the House of Representatives and could very well have their largest majority in two decades. As of Nov. 9, the Democratic Party has 254 seats — well above the 218 needed for a majority — and have flipped 44 seats.
House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries of New York, is expected to make history on Jan. 3 when he will be sworn in as the first Black speaker of the House. According to NBC News, Jeffries has four items on his agenda he wants to carry out as House Speaker: reversing Trump’s cuts to Medicaid, extending the Affordable Care Act credits, restoring congressional authority on tariffs and stopping the war with Iran.
Redistricting also played a huge role in the midterms, as the GOP redrew congressional lines in Texas, Florida, North Carolina and other states in a bid to win more seats and break up Democratic districts.
In response, former Governor of California Gavin Newsom and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rallied support for Proposition 50, which would redistrict California’s congressional map to pick up more Democratic seats
A poor economy and Trump’s unpopular presidency were some of the reasons for this “blue wave” in the midterms. 75% of voters rated the nation’s economy as “not so good” or “poor,” according to an NBC News Exit Poll.
65% of voters blamed President Trump for worsening the economy with his policies compared to the 27% who thought they were made it better. Voters polled also rebuked other aspects of the Trump administration: 63% of voters thought his war with Iran was the “wrong decision,” 62% believes he prioritizes his own interests over the country’s and 58% believe his actions on immigration enforcement have gone too far.