Democrats Win Both Chambers of Congress in US Midterms

Democrats have won control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate in the 2026 midterm elections, delivering a sharp rebuke to President Donald Trump and the Republican Party two years into his second term. News organisations including CNN, NBC News and CBS News projected Democratic majorities in both chambers after Americans voted on Tuesday, November 3.

The scale of the result stood out. CNN noted that control of both chambers has changed hands in the same election cycle only twice in the last fifty years. Al Jazeera reported that by the Associated Press tally on Wednesday, Democrats had already won 228 House seats and were leading in 34 more. They had flipped 25 seats from the Republicans, more than the 21 they took in 2008, the last time they held such a large majority. Later estimates from CBS News put the party on pace for about 256 seats, within a range of 251 to 268, although the exact figures were still moving as counting continued.

In the Senate, projections gave Democrats roughly 54 seats, and CBS reported that the races in Alaska and Mississippi were still unresolved. Democrats had needed a net gain of only four seats to take the majority, and they cleared that bar with room to spare after winning seats in states such as Texas, Kansas, Iowa, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina and Maine, according to reports from CNN and Northeastern Global News.

The campaign was also the most expensive midterm cycle on record, according to The Hill. CNN linked the Democratic surge to the president's historic unpopularity, while Republican strategists are now weighing how their party lost ground even in places where it had strong support just two years ago.

Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader, is positioned to become the first Black speaker of the House if his party elects him to the post. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer is expected to become majority leader.

Markets reacted calmly. CNBC reported that stock futures rose after the results, and that Trump was expected to accept the outcome and had said he could work with Democrats on many issues. The new Congress is due to be sworn in on January 3, 2027. Final numbers will change as the remaining ballots are counted and results are certified, so readers should treat all seat totals as provisional until then.