2026 Midterm Election Results: Who Won Congress

Published November 5, 2026. Results are unofficial until each state certifies them, and figures may change as counting continues.

Short answer: Democrats won majorities in both the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate. They hold at least 54 Senate seats and had won 251 House seats by Thursday afternoon, November 5, with more races still to be called. The new Congress is scheduled to convene on January 3, 2027.

The results at a glance

The pre-election Senate and House counts come from NBC. The Senate count includes the 34 Democratic-caucus and 31 Republican seats that were not on the ballot, per NBC News. The House tally is the figure Forbes reported on Thursday. Governor totals are from NCSL. Different news desks call races at different times, so their running totals can differ.

What changed in the Senate

Democrats needed a net gain of four seats and have gained seven: Iowa, Kansas, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas. Democrats also held every seat they were defending. Two Republican-held seats remain uncalled, in Alaska and Mississippi. If Democrats win both, their majority would reach 56. If Republicans win both, the final count would be 54 to 46.

Several of those wins came in states President Donald Trump carried by double digits in 2024. Full results are in our state-by-state Senate table.

What changed in the House

Democrats needed a net gain of three seats to reach the 218-seat majority. Their 251 called wins are already 37 more than the 214 seats they held going in. The party is on track for its largest majority since 2008, and The New York Times reported a majority of at least 50 seats looks likely. The mid-decade redistricting fight did not deliver the seats Republicans had drawn for. Read the House results.

Governors and statehouses

Democrats flipped governorships in Georgia, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio and Texas, and Republicans flipped none. Democrats will hold more governorships than Republicans for the first time since before 2010. Kansas and Alaska have not been called. See every governor’s race.

How unusual was this?

Since World War II, the House and Senate had flipped from one party to the other in the same midterm only three times: 1946, 1994 and 2006. A gain of nine Senate seats, if Democrats reach it, would be the most for either party since 2014. The AP Voter Poll offers some evidence on why voters decided as they did.

What this means for the next two years

Democrats will gain the power to set the agenda in both chambers, run investigations and reject nominees. They will not gain the ability to pass most bills on their own. President Trump’s veto and the Senate’s 60-vote threshold both remain in place. Our guide to what happens next lists the key dates, including a December 11 government funding deadline that the current Republican-led Congress must deal with first.

Who represents you right now

Nothing changes in Congress until the new term begins. The members listed in our House and Senate directories keep serving until January 3, 2027, and you can find your current officials here. We will add newly elected members once they take office.