Democrats won control of the U.S. Senate and are on the brink of taking the House in Tuesday’s 2026 midterm elections in a widespread repudiation of President Donald Trump and the Republican Party that reached deep into their most loyal territory. The Associated Press called Alabama’s District two race one ballot to watch.
GOP lawmakers flipped the voting map back to one favoring conservatives. The move came after the U.S. Supreme Court originally ordered Alabama to create a “minority majority” district to be more fair to blacks.
U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures overcame an effort to unseat him through redistricting to win a second term in Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District. Figures defeated Trump-backed Republican Rhett Marques. The district had been reshaped to favor the GOP after the U.S. Supreme Court’s redistricting decision.
“We had the deck stacked against us,” Figures said at his victory party. But he said they got to work, “and we did not look backwards.”
Six Senate seats and more than a dozen in the House have flipped toward Democrats. It’s the first time in decades that Texas, Kansas and South Carolina have elected Democratic senators. Democrats also flipped seats in North Carolina and Ohio.
Democrats Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia, Amy Acton in Ohio, Rod Sand in Iowa and Gina Hinojosa in Texas won races for governor, flipping GOP-held offices.
While Trump urged voters to pretend he was on the ballot, most appear to blame his administration for high costs and want Congress to impose more checks on him, according to The AP Voter Poll. Trump tried to shift the blame away from himself during a Fox News interview that aired early Wednesday, saying Democrats “did a good job” in their campaigns and blaming GOP candidates for losses.
Here's the latest:
Democrats flip 3 House seats in Iowa
Iowa had an all-Republican congressional delegation going into the election. Democrats have now picked up three of the state’s four House seats.
In the 1st Congressional District, Christina Bohannan defeated Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks. About 800 votes separated them two years ago, even though Trump comfortably carried the district, setting the stage for Bohannan to win on her third try for the seat.
Democrat Sarah Trone Garriott, a state senator and a Lutheran minister, defeated Zach Nunn in the state’s 3rd Congressional District.
And finally, Democratic candidate Lindsay James, a chaplain, defeated Republican Joe Mitchell in an open seat in the state’s 2nd Congressional District. The move by Rep. Ashley Hinson to run for the Senate had left the opening.
Both parties invested heavily in a state where farmers are dealing with headwinds from high gas prices and retaliatory tariffs.
Democrats flip control of Wisconsin Senate
Republican control of the Wisconsin Legislature has come to an end in at least one chamber.
Democrats won control of the state Senate on Tuesday and were making gains in the Assembly.
Democrats haven’t fully controlled Wisconsin’s government since 2010. But new legislative districts, ordered by the liberal-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court, gave Democrats a better shot at flipping the legislative chambers this year.
Iowa’s Hinson says she’ll keep up ‘fight for common sense’ after defeat
Republican Ashley Hinson made brief remarks to supporters after Democrat Josh Turek won Iowa’s open seat in the U.S. Senate.
Hinson, who serves in the House, was hoping to replace retiring Republican Sen. Joni Ernst. Flanked by her family, Hinson thanked her staff and supporters for helping her fight to keep the American dream within reach for more Americans.
“I will continue to fight for common sense,” Hinson said.
“I think we ran an absolutely fabulous campaign across the state,” she added. “Lots of late nights and lots of miles.”
The AP Voter Poll: Hamilton won Kansas Senate voters who were moderates
Republican Sen. Roger Marshall performed significantly worse with Kansas Senate voters under 30, with roughly 8 in 10 backing Democrat Adam Hamilton. Marshall split this group with his Democratic opponent in 2020, during his last Senate campaign, according to AP VoteCast.
Hamilton won moderates in Kansas this year, with roughly 7 in 10 backing him over Marshall. Marshall only won about one-quarter of this group, down from about 4 in 10 in 2020.
Many Kansas voters also appeared concerned about Marshall’s character, after he faced accusations throughout the campaign that he had sent unpaid medical bills from former patients to collections agencies. A slim majority of Kansas voters said Marshall did not have the right personal character to serve in the U.S. Senate.
About half of voters, by contrast, said Hamilton was “too extreme.”
Gillibrand taken aback by breadth of Democratic Senate wins
New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand was confident going into Tuesday but said she was surprised anyway.
“The size of the blue wave is bigger than I ever imagined,” the chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee told The Associated Press. “It’s unbelievable.”
Calling from her hotel after the evening at the committee office watching returns, she at times broke into laughter when ticking through the high points of the evening.
For Gillibrand, the biggest thrill was easy. “Kansas,” she interrupted. “First time since 1932.”
Beyond the wins, she credited candidates with talking about issues that were heavy on voters’ minds: “housing costs, fuel costs, medical costs and how they are going to fight for these families across America.”
Democrat Adam Hamilton says win in deeply red Kansas is repudiation of Washington
Speaking before a raucous crowd, Hamilton said he won over Republicans and independents because they were not on board with the administration’s policies.
He cited economic pressure weighing on voters from tariffs along with the war in Iran as factors.
“I think the people in Kansas, Republicans, independents and Democrats are saying what’s happening in Washington is not OK,” he said.
He added: “I got elected because Kansans were saying, ‘We’re tired of the bullies. We’re tired of the chaos,’” Hamilton said to cheers.
Sherrod Brown says Ohio residents ‘sent an undeniable message’
Democrat Sherrod Brown told supporters they had made themselves clear to the nation.
“You sent an undeniable message tonight: Ohio is not for sale,” he said.
Brown’s victory over Republican Sen. Jon Husted was among the most expensive in the nation, topping $500 million in spending by campaigns and outside groups. The former three-term senator pledged to return to Washington to fight for the average Ohio resident.
“My pledge to all Ohioans, whether you voted for me or not, is that I will always be on your side — always,” he said.
Rob Sand celebrates win in Iowa governor’s race
Sand told a loud and energized crowd of Democrats in Des Moines that Iowans sent a clear message Tuesday.
“We have to have bigger hearts and minds than just our party,” Sand said. “Come January, we will be forced to work together.”
Sand’s win breaks a Republican trifecta that’s gripped state government for about a decade. He told lawmakers Tuesday that he looks forward to working across the aisle to solve Iowa’s problems.
Sand also had supporters in the crowd sing an election-night rendition of “America the Beautiful,” which he asked attendees to sing at each of his town halls. He also thanked his family and offered a tribute to his late brother-in-law, Walter Lauridsen, who died unexpectedly last month.
Democrat Gina Hinojosa says her faith in Texas ‘never wavered’ in stunning upset
The crowd in Austin at her victory party screamed “Gina” repeatedly as the Democratic legislator who will be Texas’ first Latina governor addressed supporters.
“It never bothered me that they doubted me. It bothered me that they doubted us,” Hinojosa said. “Texas, my faith in you never wavered.”
Hinojosa said Gov. Abbott had called to congratulate her and offered to assist with her transition into office.
Hinojosa is a state lawmaker from Austin who entered the race last year with little money or name recognition. She told supporters about her upbringing along the Texas-Mexico border and her policy priorities, including fighting for public school teachers and keeping billionaires out of politics.
“Your life can be bigger than your dreams,” she said.
Xavier Becerra celebrates Democrats’ winning streak in California
He’ll take over from termed-out Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Becerra defeated GOP rival Steve Hilton while campaigning on a promise to push back against Trump and his administration’s Republican policies, from immigration to voting rights.
“If anyone wants to come after California or any one Californian, they better be ready for a fight,” Becerra said at a rally near Sacramento.
He’ll become the state’s first Latino governor since the late 19th century. Becerra was born in Sacramento to a mother from Mexico and a father who was born in California and raised in Mexico.
“What a great night to be an American, to be the son of immigrants from a union household, to be standing in victory with all of you,” Becerra said.
Sen. Chuck Schumer tells voters ‘relief is on the way’ after Democrats take the Senate
The longtime Democratic leader told reporters in Washington that “Americans voted for change” and that there had been a “generational remake of the Senate map.”
“Five words for the American people: relief is on the way,” the New York senator said.
Texas’ Democratic victories a ‘rude awakening’
After Talarico and Hinojosa won the races for Senate and governor in Texas, respectively, overturning more than three decades of Republican control, voter Aaron Dickerson, 30, said it's a wake-up call for the Lone Star State.
“I think it is a rude awakening,” said Dickerson, who attended Talarico’s exuberant watch party. “They’ve been in power here in Texas for 30 years, and I think voters are realizing that, the problems with Texas, the only people to blame
are Republicans.”
Trump criticizes Texas governor after loss
After Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s defeat, Trump accused him of being a “RINO,” or a “Republican In Name Only.”
Abbott, one of the president’s most steadfast allies, lost his bid for a fourth term to Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa.
“If Greg Abbott, the Governor of Texas, hadn’t become a RINO in the last six months of his Political Life, he wouldn’t have lost,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “He went back to his original formula, and it wasn’t pretty!”
‘Speaker! Speaker!’
Cheers erupted for Jeffries after he and his leadership team addressed the crowd at the House Democrats’ watch party.
Jeffries is in line to make history as the first Black speaker of the House, if Democrats win control and colleagues elect him to the job.
