Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress in the November 3, 2026, midterm elections, reversing the Republicans’ hold on the House and Senate. The shift gives the opposition control of Congress during the remainder of President Donald Trump’s term, though final seat totals have not been established.

Before the vote, Republicans held the Senate 53 to 45, with two independents, and the House by 218 to 214, according to figures cited by American Bazaar Online. The scale of the result is still being counted: an Associated Press tally cited by the outlet put Democrats at 54 Senate seats and 228 House seats by Wednesday, while Rolling Stone reported projections of at least 55 Senate seats and more than 250 House seats. The AP figures could change as votes were counted, and the final certified totals are not available.

Trump made the election a test of his own standing

The outcome followed a campaign in which Trump urged voters to treat the midterms as a judgment on him. The Washington Post found that he did so more than 41 times in recent weeks. After the losses, Trump blamed Republican candidates and said Republicans would have won by a landslide if he had been on the ballot.

That explanation differs from Ron DeSantis’s account. The outgoing Florida governor called the result a rejection of Republicans in Washington, with Democrats benefiting from it. He also said Trump’s popularity had not transferred to Republican candidates.

DeSantis said the Iran war and the resulting rise in fuel prices contributed to the party’s losses, while maintaining that he stood by the decision to go to war. His assessment identifies issues he believes mattered; the available results do not establish how much either issue influenced voters.

State races show the breadth of the shift

The congressional change came alongside notable results in individual states. The Associated Press called Jon Ossoff’s re-election in Georgia and Roy Cooper’s victory in North Carolina; in Maine, Republican senator Susan Collins conceded to her Democratic challenger. In Michigan, the AP called the Senate race for Abdul El-Sayed, who was set to become the state’s first Muslim senator.

In the New York region, Governor Kathy Hochul won by a double-digit margin, after winning by six points four years earlier, according to ABC7 New York. The outlet also reported Democratic seat flips by Cait Conley and Rebecca Bennett, and Zack Mullock’s win in South Jersey.

Political analysts offered different ways to describe the results, rather than a settled explanation for them. Micah Rasmussen of Rider University called it a very large blue wave and compared it with the Republican backlash after Watergate in 1974. John Mollenkopf of CUNY Graduate Center described the outcome as a repudiation of the Trump presidency.

What the result means for the party

DeSantis warned that the defeat could weaken Republicans for years. He said he did not expect the party to regain control of either chamber in 2028, when Congress is next due to be elected, and suggested it could take many years for Republicans to control the White House and both chambers again. Those are his forecasts, not confirmed outcomes.

Trump, meanwhile, said he would accept the election results and work with Democrats rather than spend the next two years vetoing everything they tried to pass. The election has changed which party controls Congress; the eventual seat totals and the reasons voters chose as they did remain unresolved.