Democratic Party flips US Senate in 2026 midterm elections

The Democratic Party has regained control of the upper chamber of the United States Congress in the 2026 midterm elections, according to Associated Press news agency projections.

The Senate was called in the party’s favour late on Tuesday night, marking a dramatic shift in legislative power.

Democrats needed a net gain of four seats in the 100-member chamber to wrest control from the Republicans.

Some of those gains were dramatic. In South Carolina, for instance, Democrat Annie Andrews, a paediatrician, took a seat held by Republican Darline Graham, the sister of the late longtime Senator Lindsey Graham. The last time a Democrat won a Senate seat in the state was 1998.

Neighbouring North Carolina saw a similar flip, with Democrat Roy Cooper, a former governor, beating his Republican rival Michael Whatley.

In Texas, a Republican stronghold, Democrat James Talarico, a state legislator and seminary student, delivered an upset against state Attorney General Ken Paxton. The last time a Democrat won a statewide election in Texas was 1994.

Democrat Sherrod Brown also defeated incumbent Republican Senator Jon Husted in Ohio, flipping that seat as well. And in Kansas, Adam Hamilton, the Democratic pastor of a megachurch, beat another sitting senator, Republican Roger Marshall.

In the outgoing 119th Congress, Republicans hold a 53-seat majority. The Democrats have 45 seats, with two independents in their caucus.

With Tuesday’s results, Democrats have secured at least 51 seats, enough to take the majority, with a handful of races still being counted.

The outcome is also set to end the Republican “trifecta” achieved in the 2024 election, when the party won control of the three main levers of power in Washington, DC: the Senate, the House of Representatives and the presidency.

The Senate was projected to be harder to flip than the House in Tuesday’s midterm elections, given the smaller number of seats on the ballot.

Senate terms last six years, unlike the two-year terms of members of the House of Representatives. And elections for senators are staggered, meaning that only about a third of all Senate seats are voted on at a time.

This midterm election cycle saw 35 Senate races: 33 regular elections and two special elections, in Ohio and Florida. Those two states were left with Senate vacancies when Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined President Donald Trump’s second administration in 2025.

At least seven Senate races on Tuesday were considered key toss-ups. They included contests in Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Ohio, Texas and Michigan.

States like Texas and Kansas, however, rarely fall within the toss-up category, as they are considered Republican strongholds. The last time a Democratic senator was elected in Kansas was 1932.

“How did this happen? How did a Democrat win in Kansas, a deeply red state, for the first time in nearly a century, especially in a state where only 25 percent of the people are Democrats?” Senator-elect Hamilton said in his victory speech.

“First of all, I think the people in Kansas – Republicans, independents and Democrats – were saying what’s happening in Washington is not OK.”

The Democratic Party also successfully defended several seats, including Jon Ossoff’s in the swing state of Georgia. Mark Warner, who has represented Virginia in the Senate since 2009, won a fourth term.