2026 Midterms: Democrats capture Senate, House, and deep red states

The 2026 midterm cycle closed with a decisive shift in national power that exceeded most forecasting models. Democrats secured control of both the Senate and the House, positioning them to hold their largest House majority in nearly twenty years.

The most dramatic results arrived in Texas, a state President Donald Trump carried by double digits in 2024. Democrat James Talarico defeated Attorney General Ken Paxton for the Senate seat, while Gina Hinojosa unseated Governor Greg Abbott. Talarico held 53.9% of the vote against Paxton's 44.2% in the early hours of Wednesday. Hinojosa built a lead of nearly seven percentage points in the governor's race, a margin far wider than the "lean Republican" rating assigned by the Cook Political Report.

Polls had suggested much tighter contests in these regions. A Fox News survey from October showed Talarico and Paxton evenly matched, with Abbott leading Hinojosa. The actual outcomes flipped these expectations, delivering wide Democratic victories in territory long considered a Republican stronghold.

The wave extended to Kansas and South Carolina, both of which Trump won by wide margins in the previous presidential election. In Kansas, Adam Hamilton defeated Senator Roger Marshall, ending a 94-year streak of Republican victories in the state's Senate races. This made Hamilton the first Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from Kansas in nearly a century.

South Senator Annie Andrews defeated incumbent Darline Graham, ending the Graham family's hold on the seat that began in 2002. Andrews led by 4.2 points as of Wednesday morning. In Maine, Democrat Troy Jackson ousted five-term Senator Susan Collins by a six-point margin, adding another major upset to the night's results.

These electoral shifts occurred against a backdrop of declining support for the administration. A Fox News poll placed Trump's approval rating at 36%, while 74% of voters viewed the economy negatively. The results indicated a broad rejection of the Republican message, which had focused on repairing the economy and ending wars during the 2024 campaign.