Texas and South Carolina wins secured Democrats’ Senate control
Democrats won control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2026 midterm elections, while Senate victories in Texas and South Carolina gave them control of the other chamber. The combined result leaves the party in control of Congress for the final two years of President Donald Trump’s presidency. In Maine, Troy Jackson defeated Republican Susan Collins, giving Democrats a larger Senate majority after he entered the race late to replace Graham Platner, who withdrew following a series of controversies.
BBC News described the Maine race as marked by controversy. Jackson’s victory unseated a longtime incumbent who was first elected in 1996 and had served nearly 30 years. Collins was the only Republican senator representing a state that has consistently voted Democratic in presidential elections since 1992.
Jackson took his place on the ballot after Graham Platner, the Democratic nominee, withdrew following a series of scandals. BBC News reported that the controversies included allegations of sexual assault, which Platner denied. Jackson had failed to win the Democratic gubernatorial primary but won the Senate nomination in a special convention, entering the general-election campaign late in the season.
Jackson positioned himself as a working-class candidate and backed progressive policies including abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The former logger campaigned on workers’ rights and accused Collins of yielding to pressure from President Donald Trump.
Collins and Jackson met head to head during state debates, with Jackson making national headlines after he told the 73-year-old Collins to “shut up.” In the debates, Jackson tied Collins to Trump’s record, pointing to her voting record and arguing that she could have used her position as a key swing vote to sway the president.
Collins had cultivated a reputation as a moderate and sought to distance herself from Trump during the campaign. At times, Collins walked a tightrope with Trump, often criticizing his policies while remaining a Republican in a state that historically supported Democrats. Many observers viewed her as a possible “swing vote” during controversial legislation, someone who could tip the scales either way.
Her Senate record mixed distance from the president with support for him. BBC News reported that she voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial in 2021, after the riots at the U.S. Capitol. She also voted against Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, which passed, and against repealing the Affordable Care Act, helping to save the health-care policy commonly referred to as Obamacare.
Yet she backed the president in many crucial votes, including voting in favor of Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court and confirming Robert Kennedy Jr, a vaccine skeptic, as Health Secretary.
Collins argued that she used her position leading the Senate Appropriations Committee, which oversees writing bills that allocate federal funds to states and programs across the U.S., to make a difference for Maine and its residents.
Democrats’ House victory combined with Senate wins in several key states, including Texas and South Carolina, and Jackson’s win in Maine, gave the party control of both chambers for the final two years of Trump’s presidency. The Maine result also ended a Senate career that began with Collins’s 1996 election and included votes on the Affordable Care Act, Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination and Trump’s second impeachment.