Democrats have regained control of the upper chamber of the United States Congress in the 2026 midterm elections, according to projections from the Associated Press news agency. The race was called in the party’s favour late on Tuesday night, a result that sharply changes the balance of legislative power in Washington.
To take the chamber from Republicans, Democrats needed a net gain of four seats in the 100-member Senate. Based on Tuesday’s results, they have won at least 51 seats, enough for a majority, although a handful of races are still being counted. The outcome also ends the Republican “trifecta” that the party built in 2024, when it held the Senate, the House of Representatives and the presidency.
Upsets in South Carolina, Texas, Ohio and Kansas
Some of the gains were especially striking. In South Carolina, Democrat Annie Andrews, a paediatrician, won a seat held by Republican Darline Graham, the sister of the late longtime Senator Lindsey Graham. The last Democrat to win a Senate seat in the state did so in 1998.
Also read: Democrats projected to take US House; Senate gains grow · US midterm elections 2026: polls open in closely contested races
Neighbouring North Carolina saw a similar switch, with former governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat, defeating Republican rival Michael Whatley. In Texas, a Republican stronghold, state legislator and seminary student James Talarico won an upset victory over state Attorney General Ken Paxton. The last Democrat to win a statewide election in Texas did so in 1994.
Democrat Sherrod Brown also defeated incumbent Republican Senator Jon Husted in Ohio, flipping that seat as well. In Kansas, Adam Hamilton, a Democrat and the pastor of a megachurch, beat another sitting senator, Republican Roger Marshall.
Hamilton’s Kansas win draws attention to the state’s politics
The Kansas result stood out because the last Democrat elected to the Senate there won in 1932. In his victory speech, Hamilton asked how a Democrat could win in a deeply red state for the first time in nearly a century, particularly one where only 25 percent of residents are Democrats.
He offered his own explanation. “First of all, I think the people in Kansas – Republicans, independents and Democrats – were saying what’s happening in Washington is not OK.”
How the Senate map shaped the midterm contests
The Senate was expected to be harder to flip than the House, given the smaller number of seats on the ballot. Senators serve six-year terms, compared with two years for House members, and Senate elections are staggered, so only about a third of seats are contested at any one time.
This cycle included 35 Senate races: 33 regular contests and two special elections in Ohio and Florida. Those two states had vacancies after Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined President Donald Trump’s second administration in 2025. At least seven races were considered key toss-ups, including contests in Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Michigan.
Before the vote, Republicans held a 53-seat majority in the outgoing 119th Congress, while Democrats had 45 seats and two independents sat in their caucus. Democrats also defended several of their own seats, including Jon Ossoff’s seat in the swing state of Georgia. Mark Warner, who has represented Virginia in the Senate since 2009, won a fourth term.
