US midterm results 2026: Democrats reach 253 House seats, 54 in Senate
Democrats lead the House 253-160 and the Senate 54-44, with Mississippi and Alaska still counting. Vance blames the Iran war; Sanders hails populist wins.
Three days after Americans voted, the scale of the Democrats’ win is clearer. By midday on Friday, 6 November (US Eastern time), Democrats had won 253 House seats to the Republicans’ 160, with 22 races still uncalled, according to the Associated Press count. In the Senate they hold 54 seats to 44, after flipping seven, with two races still open.
We reported the night Democrats took Congress; this is what has changed since.
US midterm results so far
- House: Democrats 253, Republicans 160, 22 to call (218 needed for a majority)
- Senate: Democrats 54, Republicans 44; Mississippi and Alaska undecided
- Mississippi: with 96% counted, Democrat Colom led Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith by about 1,800 votes (49% to 48.9%). The state’s secretary of state said around 3,600 absentee ballots were still outstanding, and Colom’s camp said it was “prepared to litigate”
- Alaska: Democrat Mary Peltola led Republican Senator Dan Sullivan by about 600 votes at 74% counted; the state’s ranked-choice count cannot start until 15 days after election day, so a result may not come before 18 November
The winners people are talking about
- Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan’s Senate seat and is set to become America’s first Muslim senator.
- James Talarico beat Ken Paxton in Texas, the first Democrat to win a Texas Senate race since 1988.
- Keisha Lance Bottoms became the first Black woman elected governor of Georgia, and Amy Acton the first woman elected governor of Ohio.
- Nithya Raman beat Karen Bass to become mayor of Los Angeles, the city’s first South Asian mayor.
Bernie Sanders’ victory lap
Senator Bernie Sanders, who campaigned across the country, used interviews this week to credit the result to “economic populist” candidates who won in Texas, Michigan, Montana and Wisconsin. He talked through those results on public radio’s Here & Now on Thursday, a week after campaigning hard for candidates such as El-Sayed. On election day he had called it the most consequential midterm in modern history.
How Trump and Republicans reacted
President Trump said he would work with Democrats but would not hesitate to use his veto, and defended the Iran war: “You can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon.” His own vice president was blunter. “The reason we lost is the war,” JD Vance wrote on X.
Why it matters for Pakistan
A Democratic Congress from January can hold hearings on the Iran war, question military aid and push on trade and visas. Pakistan’s government has worked closely with Trump’s team this year, so Islamabad will now have to build ties with a very different Congress. For Pakistani-Americans, El-Sayed’s win as the first Muslim senator is a milestone of its own.
The last House races and the Mississippi and Alaska Senate counts are what to watch over the next two weeks.
