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Supporters gather at a campaign event for Senate candidate James Talarico in Austin, Texas. Kotaro Numata/AP/Alamy
Midterms
At a glance: The key wins that saw the Democrats romp home in the House and Senate
It was a historic night for the Democratic party which did even better than polls had suggested.
LAST UPDATE | 5 hrs ago
COUNTING IS CONTINUING in the US midterm elections but a clear landslide has emerged for the Democrats, giving the party control of both the House and the Senate.
Republicans had held both before Tuesday’s elections – but a rout in favour of Democrats in battleground seats and a mauling for President Donald Trump’s party has reversed that balance.
The results mean that Trump is set to face a hostile Congress for the final two years of his presidency.
As the Democrats rack up wins, US networks are projecting that Democrats will take control of the 435-member House of Representatives, with NBC projecting they could win at least 255 of the seats. The New York Times is projecting that the party could take 257, which would leave the Republicans with just 172.
In the Senate, Democrats look set to win at least 55 out of the 100 seats, and possibly more, giving them a strong majority.
Control of the House gives Democrats the power to stall Trump’s legislative agenda and launch sweeping investigations of his administration.
Control of the Senate is perhaps even more significant, threatening Trump’s ability to appoint any more Supreme Court justices, having already appointed three during his first term.
Here are some of the most significant results from election night.
Main points
- Democrats flipped a number of crucial battleground Senate races, including Iowa, Ohio, Kansas and Maine, as well as both North Carolina and South Carolina.
- Democrat James Talarico won the Senate seat in Texas, flipping the seat from the Republicans in a seismic win.
- Also in Texas, Gina Hinojosa was elected to the governor’s mansion, becoming the first Latina to hold the position in the state.
- Abdul El-Sayed won for the Democrats in Michigan, a critical swing state, in a bruising and highly contentious race.
- Incumbent Democrat Jon Ossoff won his Senate seat in Georgia, potentially boosting his 2028 White House ambitions.
- Democrat Amy Acton won the Ohio governorship, in a race marred by an ugly attack ad by her opponent.
- Democrat Annie Adams defeats Darline Graham, the sister of the late Lindsey Grahan, to unexpectedly flip the US Senate seat in North Carolina.
- Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms was elected governor of the state of Georgia, becoming the first Black woman elected as a governor in US history.
- It was a night that resulted in a number of historic elections, including the first Muslim senator and first openly gay senator.
The Senate
There were 35 of the 100 Senate seats up for grabs on election day, but as with all US elections, most races aren’t really competitive and are seen as solidly for one party or another.
There were about seven to ten battleground seats, depending on how wide you want to cast the net.
To wrest control of the Senate from Republicans, Democrats had to flip at least four seats from their opponents. As it stands they are on course to flip at least seven, and potentially either one or two more.
Texas (Democrats flip seat)
Democrat James Talarico won the US Senate race in Texas, becoming the first Democrat to be elected to the Senate in the state since 1988.
The race in Texas was the most expensive Senate race in history, with some $573.2 million (€512.75 million) spent, much of that by Elon Musk, who backed Talarico’s Republican opponent Ken Paxton.
Four-term Republican incumbent John Comyn had sought re-election but lost his party’s primary to Paxton, who was endorsed by Trump.
North Carolina (Democrats flip seat)
Democrat Roy Cooper bested former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Whatley to win the US Senate election in North Carolina, giving his party one of the seats previously held by Republicans they need to win control of the Senate.
Whatley was running for the Republicans to keep the seat being vacated by retiring Thom Tillis, a Republican who has been a vocal Trump critic.
Georgia (Democrats hold seat)
Incumbent Democrat Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia wasn’t a true battleground race as his star has been on the rise since he was first elected in 2020, but his reelection is significant nonetheless given his potential 2028 ambitions.
New Hampshire (Democrats hold seat)
Democrat Chris Pappas won his race against Republican John Sununu, holding a seat for his party in a race that Republicans held out an outside hope they could turn red.
The seat had been held by retiring senator Jeanne Shaheen, with Sununu hoping to return to the Senate having previously held the seat from 2003-2009.
However, Pappas was declared winner of the race relatively early on election night, becoming the first openly gay man to serve in the upper chamber of Congress.
South Carolina (Democrats flip seat)
Democrats picked up a US Senate seat for the state of South Carolina in a victory that was as symbolic as it was stunning.
Paediatrician Annie Andrews narrowly defeated Darline Graham, who was seeking to permanently fill her late brother Lindsey Graham’s shoes.
Darline Graham has temporarily filled the seat after her brother’s death in July but could not turn that into an electoral win and hold the seat for her party.
Ohio (Democrats flip seat)
Democrat Sherrod Brown flipped another vital Senate seat for his party in Ohio, the home state of US Vice President JD Vance.
Brown defeated Republican Jon Husted, who has held the seat for the last two years since it was vacated by Vance.
Aside from the significance of the seat in the maths of the Senate, the defeat is a personal one for Trump who had campaigned for Husted in the state, commenting on Husted’s “ass” on a number of occasions.
Kansas (Democrats flip seat)
Democrat Adam Hamilton won a US Senate seat in Kansas, becoming the first Democrat to win a Senate race in the largely rural, conservative state since 1932.
Hamilton, the pastor of a Methodist megachurch who was registered as a Republican until recently, had considered running as an independent before entering the race as a Democrat.
In winning the seat, Hamilton unseated Republican incumbent Roger Marshall.
Iowa (Democrats flip seat)
Josh Turek won for the Democrats in Iowa, defeating Republican Ashley Hinson.
Republicans had held the seat through incumbent Joni Ernst, who did not seek a third term.
Turek, a state lawmaker, triumphed amid voter anger over Trump’s tariffs, which hit Iowa’s farmers especially hard.
Maine (Democrats flip seat)
Former logger Troy Jackson defeated longtime Republican senator Susan Collins in Maine, the party’s seventh Senate seat captured from Republicans on the night.
The Maine Democratic primary was among the most high profile, when progressive Graham Platner upset the party establishment to win the party’s nomination, only to be forced to quit the race following a rape allegation which he denied.
The House
Democrats only needed three seats to flip the House of Representatives but they will flip many more than that based on the results so far.
Ahead of election day, Cook Political Report predicted the Democrats would secure at least 222 seats with another 18 marked as a toss-up.
That 240 now even looks like an underestimate, with projections that they could win closer to 255 or 257, a big majority in the 435-member House.
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