2026 US Midterms: Democrats Advance, Senate Won According to Projections

In the US midterm elections of 3 November 2026, the Democrats won a series of victories and, according to media projections, have taken the Senate. Politico headlines its live coverage by saying that the first results point to a “blue wave”, that is, a Democratic wave.¹²³ On the House of Representatives, reports do not agree: some already give it to the Democrats, while others speak of an expected victory or one within reach. For this reason the picture should be read as provisional.⁴⁵³

What the midterm elections are and what is at stake

Voters go to the polls halfway through the presidential term. The test concerns Congress, and therefore the Democrats’ chance to push back against the administration of Donald Trump, now at the midpoint of his second term.⁶¹ Before the vote, the Republicans held a 218 to 214 majority in the House, which has 435 seats. Two vacant seats and an independent close to the Republicans complete the picture. The Democrats needed a net gain of four seats to take control.⁶ In the Senate, the Republicans started from a 53 to 47 majority, and there too the Democrats needed a net gain of four seats. Voters also elected governors in 36 of the 50 states and, almost everywhere, state legislatures.⁶ According to the news agency The Straits Times, the vote may also show future presidential candidates what voters are looking for ahead of 2028.⁶

What the first results say

According to projections reported by the Guardian and Euronews, the Democrats took Senate seats from the Republicans in Texas, Iowa, Kansas, North Carolina, South Carolina and Ohio. The names mentioned include James Talarico in Texas, Sherrod Brown in Ohio, Roy Cooper in North Carolina, Adam Hamilton in Kansas, Josh Turek in Iowa and Annie Andrews in South Carolina.¹⁷ The Guardian reports that Kansas had not elected a Democratic senator since 1932, Texas since 1988 and South Carolina since 1998. In the state of Maine, the Democrat Troy Jackson defeated the Republican Susan Collins, who has been in the Senate since 1997.⁴⁸ The Democrats also held their seats in Georgia, with Jon Ossoff, and in New Hampshire, with Chris Pappas. In South Carolina, Andrews defeated Darline Graham, who was nominated in place of her brother, Senator Lindsey Graham, who had died earlier. According to Dawn, Trump had won the state by almost 18 percentage points in 2024.⁷⁹ Dawn attributes the vote to anger over the cost of living, tariffs and Trump’s war on Iran, which, according to the paper, has pushed up fuel prices. This is that newspaper’s interpretation.⁵

Projections, not official results: what remains to be verified

As The Straits Times notes, the winners announced by television networks and news outlets are “projections” and not official results. There is no central source of data in the United States. The media rely on aggregators such as the Associated Press or on their own algorithms, analyses and expert panels, which is why outlets can report different numbers. Some races, the same source warns, may take days or weeks.⁶ In the early hours of the night, Dawn reported that most of the most closely contested House districts had not yet been called. At that point the Democrats had four seats taken from the Republicans.⁹ The vote also had practical problems. In Westchester County, in the state of New York, machines were unable to read up to 250,000 ballots, and a manual count could delay the results by a few days. In Illinois some voters were turned away because of a lack of paper ballots, while in Florida rain and flooding forced some polling places to be moved. The Guardian nonetheless describes the process as largely smooth.¹⁰ On turnout, the sources strike different tones. The Straits Times estimated more than 100 million voters if the 2022 figure were repeated. The Guardian speaks of record early voting and numbers far higher than in previous midterm elections.⁶¹

Trump’s reaction

Trump wrote on social media that he had not been on the ballot and that, had he been, the Republicans would have won “overwhelmingly”. He told the New York Times that he was ready to accept the results and to work with the Democrats.⁴¹¹ Right afterwards, according to Dawn, he posted an image of a cap with the word “VETO” on it. Democratic Representative Robert Garcia, who is expected to lead the House oversight committee, told the Republicans to “get a lawyer”.¹²⁵

This article was written by artificial intelligence from the sources cited, without human review. Automatic newsroom by Redazia.

Sources

Footnotes

1. US midterm elections 2026 live: key House and Senate races to determine control of Congress for remainder of Trump’s term, The Guardian · World, 2026-11-03 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

2. 2026 Midterm Elections Live: Early results point to Democratic ‘blue wave’, POLITICO, 2026-11-04 ↩

3. Midterm Election Results (Live Updates): Democrats Win Senate In Stunning Rout, Forbes · Business, 2026-11-04 ↩ ↩²

4. US midterm voters poised to deliver verdict on Trump’s second term, The Guardian · World, 2026-11-03 ↩ ↩² ↩³

5. US midterms: Democrats projected to win Congress in major setback for Trump, Dawn, 2026-11-04 ↩ ↩² ↩³

6. US midterm elections 2026: Live results, The Straits Times · World, 2026-11-03 ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

7. Live updates on the 2026 midterm elections in the US, Euronews, 2026-11-03 ↩ ↩²

8. Democrat Troy Jackson defeats Susan Collins to win Maine US Senate seat in blow to Republicans, The Guardian · World, 2026-11-04 ↩

9. US midterms: Media projections show Democrats closing in on House, making gains in Senate, Dawn, 2026-11-04 ↩ ↩²

10. US midterm voting issues: New York voting machine failures and Florida flooding affect some – video, The Guardian · US, 2026-11-04 ↩

11. ‘I wasn’t on the ballot’: Trump deflects blame as Democrats on track to control Congress, South China Morning Post · World, 2026-11-04 ↩

12. Top Democrat tells Trump and Republicans to ‘lawyer up’ after US midterm defeats, The Guardian · US, 2026-11-04 ↩