Midterms 2026: How Democrats built a blue wave and won control of Congress

It was a blue wave big enough to become a blue tsunami.

On Tuesday, the Democratic Party shattered a series of decades-long Republican winning streaks, notched several historic firsts and flipped both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives as Americans in states and districts that voted to reelect President Trump just two years ago delivered a harsh judgment on the steep tariffs, rising gas prices, aggressive immigration raids and unresolved war in Iran that have so far dominated his second term.

"We didn't win this race by alienating our neighbors or shaming our neighbors or ridiculing our neighbors," Democrat James Talarico said after winning the Senate election in Texas. "We embodied a new kind of politics. A politics rooted in a deep love for our state, for our country and, most importantly, for all of our neighbors."

Votes were still being tallied and key races remained uncalled as Election Day came to an end. But as of 1 a.m. ET on Wednesday, when the last polls closed in Alaska, Democrats were projected to gain more than three dozen seats in the House and as many as nine seats in the Senate — far beyond the three and four seats, respectively, that they needed to retake each chamber. They were also on track to win the majority of governorships for the first time since 2011.

The list of milestones was long: The first Texas Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate since 1988 (Talarico). The first Latina ever elected governor of the Lone Star State (Gina Hinojosa). Kansas's first Democratic senator since the Great Depression (Adam Hamilton). The first Black woman governor in U.S. history (Georgia's Keisha Lance Bottoms). The first Democratic senator from South Carolina in decades (Annie Andrews). America's first Muslim senator (Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan). And what could be the largest Democratic House majority since 2008.

As a result, Trump will no longer enjoy complete Republican control of Congress. Starting in January, Democrats in the House and Senate will have the power to block parts of the president's agenda, reject his nominees, investigate his administration and even impeach him (again) .

Historically, midterms tend to be backlash elections; a president's party almost always sheds House seats when voters return to the polls to rate his first two years in office. The average number lost since World War II? Twenty-six .

Yet some midterms are more momentous than others. In 2006, President George W. Bush's second midterm, Republicans lost 31 seats. In 2010, President Barack Obama's first midterm, Democrats lost 64 seats. And in 2018, Trump's first midterm, Republicans lost 42 seats.

This year, according to data journalist G. Elliott Morris , "Democrats have won the largest House popular vote victory for any party since 1974, when the Watergate scandal rocked Republicans to their core."

Here are four takeaways that help explain what happened in the 2026 midterms, and why.

The most striking thing about this year's Democratic gains is that they came in some of the redder parts of the country.

Before Election Day, the GOP's majorities on Capitol Hill were already narrow — a dynamic that usually limits the opposing party's pickup opportunities. A Republican-friendly 2026 Senate map and an unprecedented mid-decade GOP redistricting push further reduced the number of easy targets for Democrats.

Yet high prices, an unpopular war and Trump's falling approval ratings gave Democrats a chance to compete in places where they haven't prevailed in years — or, in some cases, decades.

Strong nominees went on to capitalize Tuesday night.

In Texas, Talarico, a 37-year-old state lawmaker and former seminarian, defeated Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, a MAGA favorite with a controversial past. In Kansas, Hamilton, a 61-year-old megachurch pastor and former Republican, defeated incumbent GOP Sen. Roger Marshall. In Iowa, Democrat Josh Turek, a state lawmaker and two-time Paralympic gold medalist who describes himself as a "prairie populist," defeated GOP Rep. Ashley Hinson, a former local news anchor. In South Carolina, Andrews, a pediatrician, defeated incumbent Sen. Darline Graham, who was appointed to the seat after the recent death of her brother, longtime Sen. Lindsey Graham. In Ohio, Democrat Sherrod Brown defeated incumbent Republican Sen. Jon Husted to book a return ticket to the U.S. Senate, where he previously served from 2007 to 2025.

Democrat Scott Colom was even leading incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi by a handful of votes.

These are not the types of races Democrats typically win. Trump won Ohio by 11 points in 2024. He won Iowa by 13 points. He won Texas by 14. He won Kansas by 16. He won South Carolina by 18. He won Mississippi by 24. He won North Carolina — where former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper breezed to victory — by 3.

Whether the 2026 results foreshadow some sort of larger rural realignment — or just a temporary rebuke of Trump's current policies — remains to be seen. But either way, Tuesday's blue tsunami swept well into red America.

Before Election Day, the president urged his supporters to vote like he was on the ballot. Afterward, he wrote on social media , "I wasn't on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!"

But preliminary exit polls suggested that even if Americans couldn't technically cast their votes for — or against — Trump this time around, his performance and policies were very much top of mind.

A full 62% of midterm voters said they disapproved of how Trump is handling his job as president. Just 38% said they approved. No recent president has emerged from a midterm election with an approval rating that low . Nearly 90% of voters said the cost of living was a crucial or major factor in their vote; about the same number said they were concerned about the price of gas and groceries. Nearly two-thirds said that Trump's policies, including tariffs, have made the U.S. economy worse and that going to war with Iran was the wrong decision. More than half said Trump is not a strong leader, does not fight for people like them, does not have the right priorities and does not have the mental capability to serve effectively as president.

Meanwhile, Trump did little to boost Republican chances on Election Day. His endorsements and interventions appeared to backfire in contest after contest . He attracted more attention in the closing days of the campaign for praising certain candidates' anatomy than for promoting his party's agenda. And he spent his final appearance before Nov. 3 talking about his troubled reflecting pool project .

Trump has defied history before. But in the end, 2026 seemed to show that even his powers have their limits. In 2006, President George W. Bush's Republicans lost both the House and the Senate after Americans soured on another Middle Eastern war. Something similar happened again on Tuesday.

The big story of the 2024 presidential election was how a rightward shift among previously left-leaning independents and Latinos helped propel Trump back to the presidency.

It appears both groups have shifted back.

According to Equis, a polling firm that focuses on Latino voters, Democrats increased their overall share of the Latino vote by 10 points in 2026 (65%) compared to 2024 (55%). In some states, like Virginia (+19 points) and New Jersey (+23 points), Democratic gains among Latinos were even bigger. In others, like Texas (60%) and Florida (56%), Democrats went from losing the Latino vote last time to winning it. Those gains likely contributed to key House victories in both states and major statewide wins in Texas.

As for self-identified independents, Trump split them about evenly with Democrat Kamala Harris two years ago . This time around, independents appear to have favored Democrats by roughly 17 percentage points .

For decades, Democrats have lamented their party's gerontocracy, from the Silent Generation stalwarts who long led their congressional caucus to the baby boomer candidates who seem to keep winning their presidential nominations.

But Tuesday's tsunami has provided the party with a whole new batch of " elder Millennial " stars, including Talarico (37), El-Sayed (42), Andrews (45), Turek (47), Iowa Gov.-elect Rob Sand (44) and Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff (39), whose cruise to reelection has inspired buzz about a possible presidential bid (which he has publicly ruled out).

Before Nov. 3, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani were among the most prominent Democrats representing the party's next generation on the national stage. Now they have company.