Democrats thrash Republicans in 2026 midterm elections

Republicans faced huge losses across the country in Senate, House and Governor races on Tuesday night as millions of Americans voted in the 2026 midterm elections, resulting in an overall repudiation of Republicans and the second Trump administration’s agenda in its first two years and giving Democrats majorities in both chambers.

In New Jersey, Democrats won all but one seat, retaining its nine seats and flipping two Republican held seats in NJ-02 and NJ-07. Jeff Van Drew conceded his seat in the 2nd congressional district to Democratic challenger Zack Mullock won with a +3 lead over, although this race has not been called.

Tom Kean Jr. lost his seat in the 7th congressional to Democratic challenger Rebecca Bennet. Kean Jr. had previously faced national backlash for disappearing for nearly four months and had funding pulled from his national party earlier this election cycle. Bennett won by +16 points.

The only New Jersey Republican to retain their seat was Chris Smith, who fended off Rachel Peace in New Jersey’s 2nd congressional district by +18 points.

Cory Booker won a quick reelection race early in the night over Republican challenger Justin Murphy by +27 points. He heads back to Washington for his third term, winning his fourth overall senatorial election since his first special election to replace late senator Frank Lautenberg in 2013.

Smith, along with Kean Jr. and Van Drew, were the only Republicans with President Trump’s endorsement, and all three were the only incumbent Republicans. New Jersey’s congressional delegation now consists of 11 Democratic representatives, one Republican representative and two Democratic senators.

Nationally, the House races resulted in at least 228 seats won by Democrats and 139 won by Republicans, with Democrats flipping 26 seats so far. Including NJ-02 and NJ-07, the seats include CA-1, CA-3, CA-41, CO-08, IA-1, IA-2, IA-3, IN-4, KY-6, MO-2, NC-11, NE-2, OH-7, OH-15, PA-1, PA-7, PA-8, PA-10, TX-15, TX-23, UT-1, VA-2, WI-1 and WI-3. Republicans have yet to flip a seat so far.

Senate races across the country have resulted in at least 54 seats for Democrats and 44 seats for Republicans. 34 Democratic and 31 Republican seats were not up for election on Tuesday. Of the 35 seats up for election, Republicans won 13 seats they already had control of, while Democrats won 13 seats they had control of, and flipped seven further seats, for a total of 20 wins during the night.

The flipped seats included Texas, where James Talarico beat Ken Paxton, South Carolina where Annie Andrews beat Darlene Graham (who replaced her brother Lindsay Graham following his death), Ohio where Sherrod Brown beat out incumbent Jon Husted after Brown lost his 2024 reelection campaign. In Maine, Troy Jackson ended Republican incumbent Susan Collin’s nearly 30 year tenure in the Senate after he took over from Graham Platner, who dropped out of the race following sexual assault allegations.

In Iowa, Josh Turek beat Republican Ashley Hinson to replace Republican Joni Ernst, who did not seek reelection, flipping the seat to Democrats. In North Carolina, Roy Cooper beat Republican Michael Whatley to flip the seat to the Democrats and replace retiring Republican Thom Tillis. An unexpected flip came in Kansas, where Republican incumbent Roger Marshall lost to Democratic challenger Adam Hamilton.

As for other Senate elections, Democrat incumbents kept their seats in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Delaware, Virginia, Oregon, Colorado, New Mexico and Georgia, where 2028 presidential hopeful John Ossoff won. New Democrats who won open seats, but kept it under Democratic control included Illinois’ Julia Stratton and New Hampshire’s Chris Pappas, who became the first openly gay man elected to the US Senate.

In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed became the first Muslim elected to the senate as he beat Republican Mike Rogers in the open election to replace retiring Democrat Gary Peters, marking another new Democratic senator defending a blue seat. The race was watched closely across the nation, and had huge news over the weekend as El-Sayed’s primary challenger he had beat, Democratic Congresswoman Haley Stevens, endorsed Mike Rogers, drawing backlash from Democrats across the spectrum.

Republicans kept senate seats in the hands of the GOP in the following states: West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Nebraska, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Arkansas, and Florida, where Democratic Angie Nixon lost to incumbent Ashley Moody by just 3 points. Republicans have not flipped a seat.

Currently, a Democrats have a shocking lead in Mississippi, where Democrat Scott Colom has a 43 vote lead over Republican incumbent Chris Hyde-Smith with 96% of the votes counted. In Alaska, which closed its polls at 1 a.m. eastern, Republican incumbent Dan S. Sullivan leads Democratic challenger Mary Peltola by 2.2 points with 68% of the votes in, and is the only battleground race other than Florida where a Republican leads the Democrat. These are the only two seats that have yet to be called, and both are currently held by Republicans.

Of the 36 governor races throughout the night, Democrats flipped governorships in Texas, Ohio, Georgia and Iowa. Democrats kept 17 other governorships, and with 6 already in office not for election, hold 27 total, and look to flip two more with their current leads in Nevada and Alaska as well as keep Kansas, having a total of 30 of the 50 governorships across the country.

Democrats are leading in Nevada which is currently held by incumbent Republican Joe Lombardo, who trails by nearly 6.6 points with 71% of the votes counted, and Kansas which is already under Democrat control, where Cindy Holscher leads Republican Ty Masterson 0.6 points with 95% of the votes counted to replace outgoing Democrat Laura Kelly, who cannot run for a third straight term. Democrats also lead in Alaska, where Democrat Johnathan Kreiss-Thomas leads Republican Bernadette Wilson by 19.5 points with 68% of the votes counted in efforts to replace outgoing Republican Mike Dunleavy, who is term limited.

The governorship races are crucial, especially in states like Georgia, where reelected senator John Ossoff may run for president, and should he win, the newly elected Democratic Governor Keisha Lance Bottoms would pick his replacement senator until a special election to replace him in.

Editor’s note: While WRSU references other outlets, we only call races that the AP has called. You can find their results here. Please note that while the AP has not called NJ-02, Van Drew has already conceded, and therefore, WRSU calls that election in favor of Mullock.

This article will be updated with election updates, including other races and information not in the article at time of publication. Come back and check for updates as they come in and as races are called.

This article was last updated at 4:30 a.m. on Nov. 4, 2026.