Updated November 4, 2026 at 12:11 AM CST
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• South Carolina surprise: Democrat Annie Andrews defeats Republican Darline Graham
• Here's how some key demographic groups voted in the midterms
• How voting has gone so far
Democrats have flipped control of the Senate and look to be on track to win the House in a resounding rebuke to President Trump and the GOP.
Thus far, Democrats have picked up six Senate seats - including in Texas, which Democrats have long sought to turn blue, and the red states of Kansas and South Carolina - as well as a tightly contested governorship, and have even won multiple House seats that had been redrawn to favor Republicans.
In the runup to the midterms, the president had attempted to shore up Republican support with a blitz of rallies intended to energize the GOP race. At those rallies, he had one key instruction for his supporters: "Pretend I'm on the ballot."
If that's what voters did in this year's elections, the results show that Americans have firmly turned against Trump and the party he has reshaped over more than a decade.
Key races
Democrats have flipped six Senate seats thus far. In Iowa, Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek defeated Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson for the seat being vacated by Republican Joni Ernst.
In Kansas, Democratic Methodist Pastor Adam Hamilton defeated Republican incumbent Roger Marshall, who had held the seat since 2021.
In Texas, Democratic state Rep. James Talarico defeated Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, in a race that gained national attention as Democrats saw an opening.
In Ohio, Democratic former Sen. Sherrod Brown defeated incumbent Republican Sen. Jon Husted after both Trump and Vance did a run of events in the state in the final month of campaigning.
In deep-red South Carolina, Democrat Annie Andrews ousted incumbent Republican Sen. Darline Graham, who this year took over the seat after the death of her brother, longtime Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham.
The win represents a major upset for Democrats in a state that the president won by nearly 18 points in 2024.
In addition, North Carolina Democrat Roy Cooper has defeated Republican Michael Whatley in that state. Cooper, the former Democratic governor, was expected to win the race against the former RNC chairman and Trump ally.
In the House, Democrats have also flipped at least three Republican seats, including in a tight race in Kentucky's 6th district. They also thus far have managed to win multiple House districts that Republicans drew to be more favorable to their own party.
Democrats need a net gain of three seats to gain control of the House, but with many race results outstanding, it's not yet possible to definitively say Democrats will control the House.
There were also a trio of gubernatorial flips for Democrats, in Texas, Georgia and Ohio.
In Texas, Democrat Gina Hinojosa defeated incumbent GOP Gov. Greg Abbott, making her the state's first Latina governor.
Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms defeated Republican Rick Jackson in Georgia, considered one of the tightest governor's races this year. She will become the nation's first Black female governor.
In Ohio, Democrat Amy Acton, Ohio's former health director, defeated Republican Vivek Ramaswamy. She will be Ohio's first female governor.
Republicans, meanwhile, have held onto the Florida governor's mansion, with Rep. Byron Donalds defeating Democrat David Jolly, a former House member. Donalds had been favored to win that race. However, with nearly all votes in, Donalds' margin of victory is looking to be in the low single-digits – far smaller than President Trump's 13-point Florida win in 2024. He will be Florida's first Black governor.
The Trump factor
This voting season, President Trump had a fast-paced rally schedule through swing states and some red states, trying to drum up votes for Republican candidates who appeared to be in danger of losing.
Republicans hoped that Trump would energize the GOP base to turn out, as midterms have lower turnout than general elections.
However, in battleground races, GOP candidates need voters beyond the base to win, and the president's approval ratings show that some who once supported him have strayed. The president's approval rating has slid steadily during this term. Many polls show it below 40%, which puts it in historic territory. According to Gallup, George W. Bush in 2006 had the worst pre-election approval rating since 1946, at 37%.
Trump fares particularly badly on the economy. Roughly two-thirds of Americans said that Trump was to blame for higher-than-usual prices, according to a September AP-NORC poll.
And while presidents generally can neither be directly blamed or credited for the economy's performance, many higher prices are directly affected by Trump's policies – including tariffs and a war in Iran that made gas, diesel, and fertilizer more expensive.
However, the president insisted late Tuesday night that Republicans lost not because of him but in spite of him. As results rolled in, he posted on social media, "I wasn't on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE! Thank you for your attention to this matter."
Even as Trump loomed over the election, voters in individual races may have had their own reasons for voting against Republican candidates.
In Texas, Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton had an array of scandals to his name, including federal indictment for securities fraud and impeachment in the Republican-led state House for misusing his office to benefit a donor.
And an ad from Ohio Republican gubernatorial Ramaswamy's campaign gained massive negative attention in the weeks leading up to the election. That ad featured Democratic candidate Amy Acton's estranged mother, accusing her daughter of being a liar. Acton has long claimed that her stepfather sexually abused her and criticized her mother for staying with him after his arrest. Acton's mother said in the ad that her daughter's accusations were lies.
Even some high-profile Republicans, including Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, criticized the ad. Ramaswamy eventually took it down.
Ballots to be counted
While it may become clear tonight which party will soon control the House or even the Senate, it may still be days or even weeks until all races are called. In Alaska in 2024, it took 15 days to call a statewide House race.
Alaska's tight Senate race is already in the national spotlight after Trump's Department of Justice filed a lawsuit to block the certification of results there if the Republican incumbent loses, saying voters could be confused by two Dan Sullivans on the ranked-choice ballot (one is the incumbent, and one is not affiliated with a party). A federal judge threw out that lawsuit last week, though the DOJ has said it plans to appeal.
Trump has been sowing election distrust for months, including with an extraordinary July primetime address where he alleged – without providing any new evidence – that American elections were vulnerable to being "rigged and stolen." In addition, he has continued to repeat the lie that he won the 2020 presidential election and to insist in his speeches that Democrats "cheat."
However, he said Tuesday night, in an interview with the New York Times, that he is "absolutely willing" to accept the midterm results.
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—Domenico Montanaro and Miles Parks contributed to this report.
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