Democrats win House and Senate control in 2026 US midterms

Democrats gain first gubernatorial majority in two decades

The Guardian’s post-election assessment said Democrats won control of both chambers in the 2026 US midterms. Within hours of polls closing, Democrats had 54 Senate seats, with two more races still in balance, after needing to flip four seats for a 51-seat majority; they had also passed the 218 seats needed for a House majority.

The outlet said the outcome appeared to be the biggest congressional landslide since 1976, in the aftermath of Watergate, and portrayed it as an “astounding humiliation” for a president whose political brand was power. The outlet said bitter previous experience had made Democrats wary of polls predicting a blue wave; the result went beyond a narrow victory into what it described as a rout.

Democrats claimed deep-red states such as Kansas with decisive margins. In South Carolina, Annie Andrews defeated her Senate rival by almost five points after Donald Trump had carried the state by 18 points in 2024. James Talarico won in Texas by 12 points; Trump had carried Texas by nearly 14 points. The Guardian’s election-night photograph showed Democrat supporters celebrating at a rally in Austin, Texas.

Democrats also flipped governorships and won their first gubernatorial majority in two decades. The Guardian said Democrats were rejoicing two years after Kamala Harris’s crushing defeat by Trump and after what it called greater chaos and cruelty in his second term. Despite the wins, the party remained unpopular, and the outlet said the battles over its future were only beginning.

The shift also brought generational change to the Senate. The first Black and Native American women and the first openly gay man will take their seats, The Guardian said, while the result brought what the outlet described as abundant new talent to the party.

The Guardian cited Abdul el-Sayed’s Senate win in Michigan as evidence that progressives can win in purple states. It said the scale of the Democratic victory gave Hakeem Jeffries, who was poised to become the first Black House speaker, greater ability to withstand pressure from the left. Jon Ossoff was easily re-elected in Georgia.

The outlet said Donald Trump had regained the presidency in 2024 by promising lower prices and no foreign wars, then lost that political advantage after launching what it called an illegal conflict that hurt voters financially and imposing heavy tariffs. Trump had urged voters to pretend he was on the ticket, and the result delivered a verdict the outlet described as damning.

Democrats, notably the newly re-elected Jon Ossoff, tied affordability to corruption, The Guardian said. The outlet said Democrats would use their new power in Congress to pursue accountability, although Trump’s executive overreach and refusal to accept legislative constraints were unlikely to shift.

The Guardian said a divide was growing among Republicans over whether to embrace Trumpism or move away from it. It faulted Trump’s candidate selections and said he campaigned vigorously but seemed strangely detached. Republicans had deferred to Trump because he wins, the outlet said, but a growing number now believed the party could win only by confronting him while fearing they would be crushed if they did.

The editorial warned that Trump, after the defeat, might seek to change the narrative and become more dangerous at home and abroad, particularly on Iran. It characterized the Republican campaign as hitting new lows as the party confronted the choice between continued deference to Trump and a more independent course.

Faced with results “too big to rig,” Trump said he would accept them, according to The Guardian. The outlet said election officials, including Republicans, pushed back against voter-suppression efforts.

The Guardian said gerrymandering proved ineffective: Black voters turned out in response, and Latino voters whom Republicans counted on swung back toward Democrats. The outlet said culture-war attacks, vile bigotry, personal smears and a huge spending advantage did not reverse the shift.

The Guardian called the result a bad election for Elon Musk and other big tech donors, pointing to what it described as a voter revolt against data centers and cronyism. It concluded that the outcome amounted to more than a Republican defeat and a good day for Democrats, calling it a critical victory for democracy.