The Democratic Party has taken two U.S. Senate seats away from the Republicans in North Carolina and South Carolina, according to projections cited by n-tv.de. The results, reported on Wednesday, November 4, 2026, mark the first time in many years that Democratic candidates have won both seats. The outlet describes the two victories as "flips" in the battle for control of the Senate.
In South Carolina, Democrat Annie Andrews won the seat that Republican Lindsey Graham held for more than twenty years until his death in July, according to n-tv.de. The outlet reports that projections from CNN and NBC News put Andrews ahead of Darline Graham, the late senator's sister, who had President Donald Trump's backing. Darline Graham was described as having no prior political experience.
n-tv.de notes that South Carolina, an East Coast state with 5.6 million residents, has been governed by Republicans for decades. The outlet adds that Republican candidates have traditionally led in presidential elections there as well.
Why it matters
The two seats matter because they feed directly into the wider contest over which party controls the Senate. According to n-tv.de, the Democrats also appear to have won back a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in the midterm elections, and the outlet says a Senate victory now looks possible for the party.
A Senate flip in South Carolina is especially notable given the state's long Republican history. Taking a seat there, alongside the North Carolina result, gives the Democrats gains in a region where n-tv.de says Republican candidates have usually prevailed.
Roy Cooper wins in North Carolina
The first of the two wins came in North Carolina, where Democrat Roy Cooper won the Senate race according to projections cited by n-tv.de. Cooper, a 69-year-old former governor, defeated Republican Michael Whatley, who had President Donald Trump's support.
Cooper takes over from Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who announced he would step down after falling out with Trump, n-tv.de reports. The outlet describes the North Carolina result as another important seat for the Democrats in the fight for Senate control.
The reporting places both victories in the context of a broader midterm night for the Democrats. n-tv.de states that the party appears to have reclaimed the House majority, and that the Senate remains within reach.
Coverage linked by the outlet also points to other results and reactions from the same election. T-Online reported on live midterm results and on Barack Obama commenting on the Democratic wins, while Spiegel reported on Obama's reaction to the outcome. Tagesspiegel reported that Democrats won a Senate seat in Kansas for the first time since 1932, describing it as a historic win after 94 years. DIE ZEIT published a piece on rural regions in the U.S. and their potential role as a counterweight to Trumpism.
Those additional items are separate from the two flips detailed by n-tv.de, but they indicate the scale of the night's coverage across German outlets. The core facts reported by n-tv.de remain the North Carolina and South Carolina Senate seats changing hands, and the apparent Democratic majority in the House.
What to watch next is whether the Senate balance ultimately falls to the Democrats, and how the party's new senators, Cooper and Andrews, take up their seats in a chamber where control has been the central question of the night.
