US Midterm Election Results 2026: Who Won the Senate, House and Governor Races

The latest US midterm election results 2026 show Democrats winning control of the Senate, a shift that ends the Republican trifecta voters created in 2024. The Associated Press called the chamber late on Tuesday, November 3, after Democrat Josh Turek beat Republican Ashley Hinson in Iowa, according to a Forbes live blog. At that moment Democrats held 51 seats, Republicans 39, and 10 were still uncalled. House control is less clear. Some outlets say Democrats have already won it, while Axios, Yahoo and Forbes were still describing it as uncalled in their latest coverage we could read. All 435 House seats, 35 Senate seats and 36 governorships were on the ballot. That is why we are not publishing a complete winners list yet. A full list would mean guessing at races no one has called, and we will not do that to a reader who may share the numbers. We’ll be updating this article monthly.

Why should you care before every race is final? Because the Senate result changes what Washington can pass, who can be confirmed to courts and agencies, and how investigations are run. Democrats needed a net gain of four seats, starting from a chamber with 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats and two independents who vote with them. This guide shows what has been called, who called it, and where reports disagree. It also explains why some House races take longer, what the calculator below can tell you, and where to watch for official results. Every figure comes from the AP data we could access or from named news outlets, and anything unconfirmed is labelled. Our research was last updated on November 4, 2026, and where outlets disagreed we say so plainly.

US Midterm Election Results 2026 Key Highlights

Election Night Timeline: What Was Called and When

Senate Election Results 2026: Democrats Win Control

The Senate was widely described as the harder chamber for Democrats to flip, since they needed to turn four seats. Forbes reports that Democrats reached 51 seats at the time of the call, with Republicans at 39 and 10 seats not yet decided. Al Jazeera, attributing the outcome to AP projections, says Democrats have at least 51 seats and that a handful of contests were still being counted.

The chamber they will inherit has 100 seats. Because the vice president is a Republican and breaks ties, Democrats need 51 for a working majority, so a 50-50 split would not have been enough. That makes the Iowa result the one that put them over the line, according to Forbes. For context, 35 seats were up this year: 33 regular races, plus special elections in Ohio and Florida created when JD Vance and Marco Rubio left the Senate to join the Trump administration in 2025.

Which Senate Seats Did Democrats Flip? Reported Winners by State

Different outlets list the flips slightly differently, and not every one has said which were formally called. This table shows what each source reports, so you can see the overlap.

Forbes counts these six as flips. Al Jazeera names five, leaving out Iowa, which we treat as a difference in coverage rather than a contradiction, since Forbes says AP called it. Maine is a separate case that we cover below.

Several of these wins carry historic weight, according to Al Jazeera. The last Democratic Senate win in Kansas was in 1932. In Texas, the last Democratic statewide win was in 1994. In South Carolina, it was 1998. Hamilton, a megachurch pastor, said the outcome showed that “what’s happening in Washington is not OK,” and asked how a Democrat could win in a deeply red state for the first time in nearly a century. Whatever your view of the result, those long gaps explain why the night was covered as a rout in some headlines.

Senate Seats Held: Georgia, Virginia, Florida and New Hampshire

Not every seat changed hands, and a few of the holds were as important as the flips.

Georgia stayed with Democrats. Sen. Jon Ossoff was shown at 64% to Republican Mike Collins at 36%, and AP called it, according to the Forbes live blog. Treat that margin carefully, because live blogs sometimes carry partial counts, and confirm the final percentage with AP or the Georgia Secretary of State.

Virginia also stayed Democratic. Al Jazeera reports that Mark Warner won a fourth term, after serving since 2009.

Florida stayed Republican. Sen. Ashley Moody was at 51% to Democrat Angie Nixon at 48%, with 96% of the vote counted, and AP called it, per Forbes. Moody holds a seat that came open when Rubio left, and this was one of the two Senate specials.

New Hampshire was reported as a win for Democrat Chris Pappas over Republican John Sununu, according to Forbes, though that page did not state a call status. That is the kind of detail to confirm in AP’s table before you repeat it.

Maine Senate Race: AP Has Called the Result

We ran a direct check of AP’s results tool for the Maine Senate race, and it confirms that AP has called the race as of November 4, 2026, at 6:02 a.m. UTC. The tool does not give names or percentages in text, because those sit on its results card. A headline on an NBC News live blog says Democrats defeated Sen. Susan Collins in Maine, but we could not open that page, so we can only report the headline and not any details underneath it.

Forbes lists Maine among toss-ups with no result given, and Al Jazeera’s list of flipped seats does not mention it. That mismatch is probably timing, since those reports were written earlier. If Maine counted as a Democratic flip, it would add to the party’s Senate total, and the 51-39 figure at the time of the Iowa call would not include it. We are not adding it to any count until a source gives the numbers.

House Election Results 2026: Why Control Is Still in Question

This is where early reporting splits. Headlines on Variety, CNBC and MS NOW say Democrats have won the House. Headlines on Axios and Yahoo say the Senate is called and the House is still undecided, and the Forbes live blog, updated at 12:01 a.m. Eastern on November 4, also shows the House uncalled. We could open the Forbes page and Al Jazeera, but not the pages from Axios, CNBC, Variety or MS NOW, so we cannot say which version is later.

AP’s own chamber table, which we accessed on November 4 at 6:02 a.m. UTC, lists seat counts by party on a results card. The text we received does not say which party holds the chamber and does not tell us whether a majority was called. So the safe reading is this: Democrats were widely expected to win the House, and some outlets report that they did, but we cannot confirm an AP call. To win control, a party needs 218 of 435 seats. Forbes says Democrats needed a net gain of three, which implies Republicans entered the night with a narrow majority.

Why Some House Results Take Longer Than the Senate

A single Senate race is a statewide count with a few big counties. The House is 435 separate contests, many of them close and many in places with slow counting. Two named delays were flagged before the night ended.

Voting machine problems in Westchester County, New York, were expected to slow results there, including the race of Rep. Mike Lawler, a Republican. North Carolina was also expected to report a little later than usual. Mail ballots that arrive after election day, provisional ballots and cure periods can also hold up a call, and each state sets its own rules. AP will not declare a race until it is confident the trailing candidate cannot catch up, which is why you can see a candidate leading in vote totals for hours without a call.

Forecast vs Result: What the Pre-Election Ratings Said

Before election day, the nonpartisan Cook Political Report estimated that Democrats could gain as many as 25 House seats, which would give them their largest majority since 2009. Cook rated 23 seats as toss-ups, and only four of those were held by Democrats. Those were forecasts, not results, and they are only useful now as a yardstick.

At least seven Senate races were widely treated as true toss-ups: Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Michigan, according to Al Jazeera. Several of those appear among the reported flips. Alaska and Michigan do not appear in the flip lists we could read, so check AP for those two.

Who Is Affected: What the 2026 Midterm Results Mean for Voters

Midterm results are not only a scoreboard for politicians. A divided or flipped Congress changes which bills get a hearing, which agencies face questions and how federal budgets are negotiated. If Democrats lead the Senate, committee chairs will set the schedule for hearings and nominations. If the House also changes hands, that chamber controls spending bills and can open its own investigations. Voters in states with Senate flips will also see a new voice on local issues, from farm programs in Kansas and Iowa to energy policy in Texas and manufacturing in Ohio.

None of that happens overnight. Winners need to be certified, offices need to be staffed and leadership elections happen inside each party. The practical advice is to follow your own senators and representative through the winter, since those are the people whose votes will matter after January 3.

Midterm Election Results by the Numbers: Seats, Holdovers and Math

The Senate math is easier to follow when you separate seats up this year from seats that were not. Only 35 of the 100 seats were on the ballot, so most of the chamber carried over. That is why the Forbes figure of 51 Democrats and 39 Republicans at the time of the call adds up to 90, with 10 seats still open. A party can reach a majority only by combining holdovers, holds and flips, which is exactly what the calculator above does.

The House works differently. All 435 seats are on the ballot every two years, so every seat can change. A party needs 218 for a majority, and a gap of three seats, as Forbes describes it, is small by historical standards. That is why a handful of close races can decide control, and why a delayed count in one county can matter nationally.

Governor Races 2026: What We Can and Cannot Report

Thirty-six states elected governors on November 3. We searched for results and found only pre-election guides, not a reliable list of winners, and AP’s tool we used does not give names in text. We are not going to guess, and we are not going to print a winners table that we cannot back up. Governor results matter for state budgets, redistricting fights and election administration, so they deserve a proper update once calls are confirmed.

Until then, use the AP results page or your state election office. We will add confirmed governor winners to this article as they are called.

What the Senate Result Changes in Washington

The immediate effect is political. Republicans controlled the Senate, House and presidency after the 2024 election, and the Senate flip ends that three-part control. Democrats now have the power to set the Senate calendar, chair committees and decide which nominations move. They cannot pass laws alone without the House and the president, but they can block much of the agenda that depended on a Republican Senate.

For the 119th Congress that is ending, the party split was 53 Republicans, 45 Democrats and two independents who caucus with Democrats. The new Congress is sworn in on January 3, 2027, when the 120th Congress convenes. Committee leadership, Senate rules and the new majority leader will all be settled around that date, so expect those headlines in December and January rather than this week.

US Midterm Election Results Calculator

Use the calculator below to track the count yourself as calls come in. Enter the total seats each party has locked up, including seats that were not up for election this year in the Senate, and the tool shows how many more each side needs and whether control is still possible. It is a counting aid, not a forecast, and it does not call any race.

How to read the result: for the House, enter seats called for each party out of 435. For the Senate, enter each party's total seats in the chamber, including holdovers, out of 100. The calculator uses 218 for the House and 51 for the Senate for Democrats, since a Republican vice president would break a 50-50 tie. Independents who caucus with a party should be counted with that party.

When Are Midterm Results Official? Certification and Processing Time

An AP call is not the official result. Each state counts every legal ballot, then local officials and the state certify the vote under that state's own deadlines. Deadlines differ across states, and recounts are triggered by state rules, usually when the margin is very small. Because of that, some races called on election night can still change if a recount happens, though it is rare.

For Congress, the Constitution sets the next major date. Members take their seats when the new Congress convenes on January 3, 2027. The House Clerk and the Senate handle credentials, and disputes over a seat are rare but possible. If any race is certified late, the member can be sworn in after the opening day.

How to Check Midterm Election Results for Your State

If you want to confirm a result yourself, follow these steps.

1. Open the Associated Press results page and choose your race, or go to your state election office website.
2. Check the status label. A race that is called shows a winner. A race that is not called shows a leader without a check.
3. Compare vote totals with the percent of votes counted, since early percentages can shift.
4. Confirm the call with a second source, such as your Secretary of State.
5. Watch for notes about provisional, military and overseas ballots still to be counted.
6. Return after certification for the final numbers.

Official Websites and Links for US Midterm Election Results

What Is Still Unknown About the 2026 Midterm Results

A responsible results story says clearly what it does not know. As of our last check, we could not confirm a formal AP call for the House, final seat counts for either chamber beyond the Forbes snapshot, the winners of the 36 governor races, or the result of the New Hampshire Senate contest. We also did not see results for Alaska and Michigan in the Senate. We also did not find a verified count of how many people registered or voted, so we are not publishing a turnout figure.

If you saw a different number elsewhere, it may be a later update. Always check the time stamp on any live blog. We will revise this article as AP calls more races.

US Midterm Election Results FAQs

Conclusion

The US midterm election results so far deliver one clear headline and several open questions. Democrats have won control of the Senate, according to AP calls reported by Forbes and Al Jazeera, with six flips and a count of 51 at the time of the call. The House, the governor races and a few Senate contests still need confirmed calls, and early reports disagree. Use the calculator to follow the count, rely on AP and your state election office for anything you plan to repeat, and come back as we update this article monthly with each confirmed result.