Democrats Take Both Chambers in the 2026 Midterms: The Key Numbers

Democrats have taken both the House and the Senate, flipping seven Senate seats and winning the House by the widest margin in 33 years.

Democrats took back control of both the Senate and the House on Tuesday, according to projections, in a result widely read as a rebuke of President Trump. Counts are still moving, and outlets differ on the final House number. Here are the numbers that matter.

House

Majority: Democrats reached 218 confirmed seats, which locks up the majority. Republicans entered election day holding a very narrow majority, so Democrats needed only a small net gain.
Projected size: The final count is not settled. NBC News projects at least 258 Democratic seats, the most since 1993. CNBC's desk projected at least 250 for Democrats and at least 160 for Republicans. Fox News showed Democrats at 228 declared seats, up 25, with Republicans at 139. The gap comes from how many races each outlet had called at the time.
Redistricting backfired for the GOP: Democrats won in several districts that Republican legislatures redrew to help their own candidates.
Leadership: Hakeem Jeffries is expected to become speaker when the new Congress convenes in January.

Senate

Count: Democrats flipped seven seats, and Alaska and Mississippi were still too early to call. Most trackers show about 54 Democrats and 44 Republicans. Republicans started the night with a 53 to 47 majority.
Seats flipped: Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Maine, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas.
Notable results: Troy Jackson beat Susan Collins in Maine, and Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan's Senate race. Roy Cooper won North Carolina, the first Democrat elected to the Senate from the state since 2008. Jon Ossoff held Georgia.
GOP holds: Pete Ricketts won in Nebraska over independent Dan Osborn. Ashley Moody held Florida for Republicans.

Governors

Early tally: Democrats had won 17 governor races and Republicans 12 when the count was last updated.
Flips: Democrats flipped governorships in Texas, Georgia, Nevada, Ohio and Iowa.

Texas

Democrats won every statewide office in Texas for the first time since 1961. James Talarico won the Senate seat, and Gina Hinojosa won the governor's race.

Democrats can now use subpoena power and open investigations. They will be able to challenge the administration's priorities from a position of strength for the last two years of the term.

Market Reaction

Stocks are pointing to a strong open, mainly because the midterm result removed uncertainty and investors read a Democratic Congress as gridlock rather than a policy shock. S&P 500 futures are up about ~1% (near 7,654) and QQQ is up 0.6%, while the VIX is down 2.5 bps to around 18.4.

Democrats lack a filibuster-proof Senate and Trump can veto, which is why analysts say the result changes little for the near-term policy outlook. Trump has said he will work with Democrats, which is being read as lowering gridlock risk.

Rates and the dollar repriced fast. 10-year rates slipped to about 4.5 bps to 4.9%, the dollar weakened broadly, and fed-funds futures pushed rate-cut odds higher.

That fed a risk-on rotation in premarket trading. Tech and chips are leading, with Arista Networks up 11%, AMD up 6% after strong results, Super Micro up 8% and Block up over 8%. Gold is up about 3% and silver is above $51 an ounce on the weaker dollar. Clean energy is sharply higher (TAN up 9%, First Solar up 8.2%), alongside cybersecurity and healthcare.

Meanwhile Defense is lagging, with Northrop down 3.7%, Lockheed down 3.3% and RTX down 3.0%. Energy is also weak, with Exxon down 1.7% and ConocoPhillips down 1.6%. Tesla and SpaceX are down several percent tied to a Tradegate slide.