5 surprising facts from the 2026 midterms

( NewsNation ) — Democrats won a landslide victory in a midterm election that broke decades-old winning streaks and challenged assumptions about the American electorate .

Here are five facts that show just how unusual this election was.

Kansas hadn't elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1932

Democrat Adam Hamilton ended a 94-year losing streak when he defeated Republican Sen. Roger Marshall this week.

The last Democrat Kansas elected to the Senate was George McGill, born in 1879. That's the year Thomas Edison first showed off his light bulb.

Ossoff, Cooper and Talarico would have won without any Election Day votes

Senate races in Georgia, North Carolina and Texas were expected to be competitive.

Instead, the Democratic winners each received more early votes than their Republican opponents received in total, according to state election data reviewed by The Washington Post .

In other words, Jon Ossoff , Roy Cooper and James Talarico would have won their races even if no one had cast a ballot for them on Election Day.

Young men swung 39 points toward Democrats

Men under 30 backed Democratic House candidates by 25 points in the midterms, according to estimates from The New York Times .

That's a 39-point swing from the 2024 presidential election, when Donald Trump won young men by 14 points.

Some of that may come down to who turned out to vote, but it's a sign young men are more up for grabs than many thought just two years ago.

Democrats swept Texas' top statewide offices

James Talarico flipped a U.S. Senate seat and Gina Hinojosa won the governor's race, but the blue wave in Texas didn't stop there.

Democrats won all of the top statewide offices on the ballot, including lieutenant governor, attorney general, comptroller, agriculture commissioner, land commissioner and railroad commissioner.

One of America's bluest states reelected a Republican governor. Again.

Vermont hasn't backed a Republican presidential candidate since 1988 . The governor's office is a different story.

Republican Gov. Phil Scott just won a sixth term, putting him on track to become Vermont's longest-serving governor since it joined the Union.