How the 2026 US midterms turned the map blue

Democrats won majorities in both the US House of Representatives and the Senate in the November 3 midterm elections, stripping Republicans of control of Congress. With about 122.7 million ballots counted, turnout reached 48.8 percent of eligible voters, the second-highest midterm rate in over a century. Democrats secured at least 240 House seats and 54 Senate seats, flipping 31 House districts and seven Republican-held Senate seats. Key Senate wins included James Talarico in Texas, Roy Cooper in North Carolina, and Annie Andrews in South Carolina, while Democrats held all their existing seats. Historic results included Talarico becoming Texas’s first Democratic senator since 1993, Gina Hinojosa as the state’s first Latina governor, and Keisha Lance Bottoms as the first Black woman elected governor in the US. Democrats also gained seats in Iowa, Maine, and Ohio, breaking through Republican strongholds.