Midterm Shift: Democrats Take Both Chambers
Democratic candidates flipped 25 House seats and seven Senate districts to secure majority control in Congress before the 118th term begins.
By Naomi Tesfaye ·
American voters handed Democrats control of both chambers of Congress in the 2026 midterms. The party now holds at least 228 of 435 House seats and 54 of 100 Senate seats. This shift ends the Republican majority that had governed the federal legislature since the previous cycle.
The transition happened quickly after polls closed. Republicans previously held 218 House seats and 53 Senate seats. Democrats flipped at least 25 House districts to cross the 218 threshold needed for a majority. In the Senate, the party won at least 20 of the 35 contested seats. Two states had not yet been called as of Wednesday morning.
The timeline of this political change began with the 2024 election, which set the stage for the current balance of power. That cycle left Republicans with control of both houses. The 2026 results reversed that dynamic. President Donald Trump told The New York Times that he was "absolutely willing to accept" the outcome. He made those comments after the initial counts confirmed the Democratic gains.
Several long-held Republican districts changed hands during this election. Roy Cooper won the North Carolina Senate seat with just under 60 percent of the vote. Sherrod Brown flipped the Ohio Senate seat, a race he lost to a fourth-term bid in 2024. James Talarico took a House seat in Texas that had been held by Republicans. Democrats also claimed Senate seats in Kansas, South Carolina, and Iowa.
Abdul El-Sayed won the Michigan Senate race with just over 53 percent of the vote. His victory marks a historic first for the chamber. El-Sayed is the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Senate. Keisha Lance Bottoms won the Georgia gubernatorial race. She becomes the first Black female governor in the history of the country.
New York State saw modest changes in its House representation. Before the midterms, Democrats held 19 of the state's 26 House seats. Twenty seats have been called so far. Seventeen of those are now Democratic. Three of the remaining six districts are projected to go to Democrats, while the other three are projected to go to Republicans. Nine Democratic candidates won seats in the ten New York City districts. Only District NY-11, which covers Staten Island and parts of Southern Brooklyn, elected a Republican.
The new Democratic majority has outlined its immediate legislative goals. The Washington Post spoke with a dozen members and staffers before the election. Many plan to launch sweeping investigations into President Trump. These probes will focus on his expanding wealth and his treatment of political rivals. Some lawmakers urge caution because previous investigations yielded limited results. The Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel argued that Trump could use executive privilege to avoid answering certain congressional questions.
The next step in the process involves the official certification of results. Final numbers will be added as they come in. The new Congress will face a divided government with President Trump still in office. CNBC analysts suggest this setup could lead to gridlock in federal lawmaking. The incoming Democratic leadership will need to balance its investigative agenda with the practicalities of passing bills alongside a Republican executive branch.
