House win would restore unified congressional control for the first time since 2022
The Guardian reported that Democrats regained control of the US Senate in the 2026 midterm elections, including through victories in states where the party had not won Senate seats in years or decades. According to the Associated Press, as cited by The Guardian, Democratic candidates won in South Carolina, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas, Iowa and Kansas. The Guardian characterized the wins as historic victories that routed Republicans nationwide. The outlet described the outcome as a rejection of Trump’s agenda and said it gave Democrats powerful new leverage over President Donald Trump for the remainder of his presidency.
Together with their likely victory in the House of Representatives, Democrats were expected to have full control of Congress beginning next year, for the first time since 2022, The Guardian said.
The Guardian said Senate control would give Democrats the votes to hold up President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda and to block his appointments to the cabinet and the federal judiciary, including the Supreme Court. The outlet said conservatives hold a 6-3 majority on the court.
Not every race was settled when The Guardian published. Vote counting continued in Minnesota and Michigan, where Democrats hoped to hold seats vacated by retiring Democrats, as well as in Maine, where Susan Collins is the last Republican senator representing a blue state. In Alaska, Democrats hoped to unseat two-term Republican Dan Sullivan, but The Guardian said the result may take days to decide.
The scale of the party’s pickup includes states where Democrats had not won Senate seats in years or decades. Kansas has not sent a Democrat to the Senate since 1932, and Texas since 1988. In South Carolina, 38 years had passed since a Democrat won a Senate race, and in Iowa and North Carolina, 18 years.
Democrats lost the Senate in 2024, when voters sent Trump back to the White House and gave his allies a 53-seat majority. Going into the 2026 election, Democrats named Republican-held seats in North Carolina, Ohio, Alaska and Maine as their primary targets, while Republicans hoped to pick off Democratic-held seats in Georgia and Michigan, both of which voted for Trump, as well as New Hampshire and Minnesota, which Harris carried by relatively weak margins.
In the wake of the 2024 election, The Guardian said it seemed unlikely Democrats would return to control soon. Most states holding Senate elections in 2026 were strongholds of one party or another, and the tendency of voters to split their tickets between parties in congressional elections has declined in recent years. The outlet said circumstances appeared to move in Democrats’ favor as Trump’s second term got underway. Trump’s approval ratings slumped over time, particularly on his handling of the economy and immigration, which had previously been two of his strongest issues.
The Guardian also said Trump’s decision to attack Iran and to send federal agents to conduct highly public immigration raids further alienated voters. The raids resulted in the killings of two US citizens in Minneapolis, The Guardian reported. Rising gas prices tied to the conflict in the Middle East, The Guardian said, gave Democrats confidence about winning Senate races in Texas, Kansas and Iowa.
The Guardian reported that Trump’s intervention in Republican primaries appeared to backfire. The outlet said he condemned North Carolina’s Republican senator Thom Tillis for opposing his main domestic-policy legislation, leading Tillis to announce his retirement. The Democratic nominee, former governor Roy Cooper, easily won the race to replace him.
In Texas, The Guardian reported that Trump endorsed scandal-plagued Texas attorney general Ken Paxton over the state’s longtime US senator John Cornyn, causing the incumbent to lose the Republican primary. The outlet said the endorsement gave Democrats what they believed was a rare opening in one of the country’s most influential Republican strongholds. The Associated Press, as cited by The Guardian, reported that Democratic state representative James Talarico won the seat by a double-digit margin.
Republicans failed to unseat Democrats in New Hampshire and Georgia, both of which backed Trump in 2024, The Guardian reported.
The Guardian’s November 4, 2026 account left Minnesota, Michigan, Maine and Alaska without a settled result. With control of the Senate and an expected House majority, Democrats were expected to control Congress for the first time since 2022, with the votes to hold up the administration’s agenda and block its appointments.