Democrats flip state legislatures and pick up four governorships in 2026 midterms

2027 sessions could focus on taxes, housing and health care

Democrats won full control of both chambers of the Minnesota and Wisconsin legislatures in the 2026 midterm elections and picked up the governorships of Georgia, Iowa, Ohio and Texas, Associated Press reported. Minnesota Gov. Amy Klobuchar and Wisconsin Gov. David Crowley were among the newly elected governors; Democrats also were in position to win trifectas in Pennsylvania and Michigan.

The state-level results came as campaigns focused on groceries, housing, health care, gas, utility bills and rising costs. The AP report said the wins put pressure on Democrats to deliver on affordability. State governments shape policies on taxes, abortion rights, school choice, education funding, data-center development, artificial intelligence and law-enforcement surveillance cameras.

In Wisconsin, Democrats flipped control of both legislative chambers, breaking a 16-year Republican majority, and retained Crowley’s office. In Minnesota, they won back both chambers and kept Klobuchar’s office for another trifecta. Josh Shapiro won reelection in Pennsylvania, and Democrats also were in position to win trifectas in Michigan.

Democrats also broke or prevented Republican supermajorities in nine legislative chambers across eight states: Florida, South Carolina, Indiana, Missouri, Iowa, Ohio, Kansas and North Carolina. The party will hold at least 28 governorships in 2027 after the pickups in Georgia, Iowa, Ohio and Texas, four states long held by Republicans.

Those gains could bring pressure on Democrats in Wisconsin and other battleground states to redraw congressional maps, after President Donald Trump successfully urged eight Republican states to do the same before the election. The AP reported that the Republican push backfired: Republicans lost most of the Democratic-held seats they had targeted and others they had banked on winning. Even under maps that favored Republicans in Wisconsin, Democrats picked up two congressional seats Tuesday, leaving the state with an evenly split congressional delegation in 2027. Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Devin Remiker said, “Now it’s time to deliver.”

The gains followed nearly 1,000 state legislative seats that Democrats lost during President Barack Obama’s tenure, a decline they had been trying to reverse for several election cycles. Heather Williams, president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, said Democrats won “historic levels of power in statehouses.” She said the party had not flipped this many seats nationwide since the 1980s. “The shift in the balance of power in our statehouses will have some of the longest-lasting impacts of this election,” she said.

Legislative sessions before the election included bills aimed at making life more affordable, providing tax relief, reining in data-center development and limiting the use of artificial intelligence. The coming session could include efforts to reduce the tax burden on the middle class, relax housing regulations, expand access to health care, and require utilities and data-center developers to do more to prevent electricity bills from rising.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who won reelection, told supporters Tuesday night that people wanted him and lawmakers to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, invest in infrastructure, children, police and communities, and enshrine abortion rights for women in the state Constitution.

Other newly elected governors, including Crowley and Klobuchar, said they wanted to work with Republicans. Klobuchar said, “I am not interested in moving Minnesota to the left or the right; I want to move us forward.” She also warned her Democratic supporters, “Spoiler alert: You may not like every single thing I do.”