Three days after the 2026 midterm elections, Democrats have secured majorities in both chambers of Congress, according to The New York Times. As of Friday morning, the party had won at least 253 seats in the House and at least 54 in the Senate. These are the largest majorities Democrats have held since the early years of the Obama administration. The gains followed a campaign in which voters expressed anger with the Trump administration, The New York Times reported.
While the broad outcome is clear, the final size of the Democratic majorities depends on a handful of races that are still too close to call. Two Senate contests, in Alaska and Mississippi, and dozens of House races remain unresolved. The New York Times reports that the full extent of the Democratic gains was still coming into view on Friday.
Why it matters
The results represent a significant shift in power in Washington. The new majorities will give Democrats control of the legislative agenda in both the House and the Senate when the new Congress convenes in January. The scale of the victory is also notable for the Republican Party, which is confronting its worst electoral performance in roughly fifty years, a comparison drawn by The New York Times to the period after the Watergate scandal.
The outcome has also triggered a debate within the Republican Party about responsibility for the losses. President Trump defended his role in the defeat on social media late Thursday, arguing that his party had faced a drubbing because he was not on the ballot. Others in the party placed the blame directly on the president. Senator John Curtis, a Utah Republican, said people had voted against Republicans because of the state of the economy under Mr. Trump's leadership. "This was about the president and the president's policies," he said, according to The New York Times.
Mississippi Senate race remains razor-thin
The most closely watched unresolved contest is in Mississippi, where a Democratic victory would be historic. The Democratic nominee, Scott Colom, a former prosecutor, leads the Republican incumbent, Cindy Hyde-Smith, by about 2,000 votes. More than 95 percent of ballots have been counted, according to The New York Times.
A report from Bolivar County just before 10 a.m. Eastern on Friday increased Mr. Colom's statewide margin to 1,956 votes. Several of the state's more populous counties, including Harrison and Hinds, have not updated their tallies since election night. Mississippi administers its elections at the county level, and small numbers of absentee and provisional ballots have steadily trickled in over the past few days.
If Mr. Colom holds his lead, he would become the first Democrat elected to the Senate from Mississippi in 44 years. He would also be the state's first Black senator since Reconstruction, The New York Times reports.
The contest may not be settled without a legal fight. On Thursday, lawyers for Ms. Hyde-Smith formally asked Mississippi officials to preserve provisional ballots, a move that suggests she might challenge the results in court. Mr. Colom's campaign objected in a letter to election officials to parts of Ms. Hyde-Smith's request. Mail-in ballots can continue to arrive, and provisional ballots can continue to be verified, until Tuesday. Counties have until Nov. 13 to certify their election results to the state.
Alaska race and a potential ranked-choice tabulation
In Alaska, the Democratic challenger, former Representative Mary Peltola, maintained a slim lead on Thursday night over the Republican incumbent, Senator Dan S. Sullivan. The candidates are separated by less than one percentage point. The vote count in the state has remained unchanged since Wednesday.
A New York Times analysis of the ranked-choice ballots suggests that Ms. Peltola is on track to eventually prevail in the race, even if it advances to a ranked-choice tabulation. While some votes may be reported in the coming days, the next substantial update is expected on Tuesday, when more early in-person votes will be reported. The remaining mail-in ballots have until Nov. 18 to be counted, and a ranked-choice tabulation would not occur until that date.
Other outcomes from the midterms
Beyond the congressional races, several other results from Tuesday's elections are drawing attention.
In Los Angeles, Nithya Raman won the race for mayor, making her the latest democratic socialist to be elected to lead a major U.S. city over the past year. The group includes the mayors of New York, Los Angeles and Seattle, according to The New York Times.
Voters in four states chose to bar transgender athletes from competing on female sports teams. Opinion polls show that most Americans say transgender girls and women should not play on girls' and women's sports teams, and the Democratic Party has wrestled with internal divisions on the issue.
Representative Katherine M. Clark of Massachusetts, the No. 2 House Democrat, is set to become the majority leader in January. Ms. Clark would make history as the first woman to hold that title, though Representative Nancy Pelosi of California served as House speaker, a loftier role.
The Democratic victories may also have implications for the Electoral College. The party's surge in Tuesday's elections included gaining hold of the governor's office and both statehouse chambers in at least four states: Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. According to The New York Times, those states could join an agreement called the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which in theory could elect the next president effectively by popular vote instead of through the typical rules of the Electoral College.
What to watch
The final shape of the Democratic majorities will depend on the remaining vote counts in Mississippi and Alaska, with Mississippi's certification deadline set for Nov. 13 and Alaska's remaining mail ballots due by Nov. 18.
