2026 Midterm Results: What the Numbers Show
Dated editorial analysis; figures in this article are not recalculated automatically. Visit the linked race pages for current data.
Election night 2026 ended with Democrats winning majorities in both chambers of Congress, according to race calls by the Fox News Decision Desk for the Senate and The Associated Press for the House. This article sets out what the unofficial numbers show, seat by seat, without forecasting anything that is still being counted. Every figure here can be checked on the linked pages.
The Senate
Thirty-five Senate seats were on the ballot: 33 regular seats plus special elections in Ohio and Florida. Before the election Republicans held 53 seats and Democrats 47, counting the two independents who caucus with Democrats. Of the 65 seats not on the ballot, 34 were held by Democrats or their independent allies and 31 by Republicans.
By the morning of November 4, Democrats had won 20 of the contested seats and Republicans 13, with Alaska and Mississippi not yet called. Added to the seats not up this year, that gave Democrats 54 seats, past the 51 needed for an outright majority. The 51st seat came with the Iowa call at 11:38 p.m. ET.
Seven Senate seats moved from Republican to Democratic control among called races: Iowa, Kansas, Maine, North Carolina, the Ohio special election, South Carolina and Texas. No called seat moved the other way.
The House
All 435 House seats were up. A majority takes 218. In the November 4 snapshot, The Associated Press had called 361 districts: 223 for Democrats and 138 for Republicans, with 74 still uncalled. The district that gave Democrats their 218th called seat was decided at about 2:00 a.m. ET. Twenty-five called districts changed from Republican to Democratic representation, and none changed in the other direction. The full list, with vote shares for every district, is on the House results by district page.
Governors
Thirty-six governorships were on the ballot. Democrats won 22 of the called races and Republicans 12 by the morning after the election. Five governorships moved from Republican to Democratic control: Georgia, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio and Texas. Kansas, a Democratic-held seat, was within about half a point and not yet called.
How close were the polls?
In the 25 Senate and governor races with verified polls that were called or nearly fully counted, the result margin differed from the final polling average by 4.6 points on average. The direction leaned one way: results were about 1.3 points more Democratic than the averages. The largest gaps came in races with only one or two published polls, such as South Dakota Senate (polls R +8, result R +21). Races with four polls, such as Maine Senate and Michigan Senate, landed within about two points. The race-by-race table is on Polls vs results.
What is still open
As of the snapshot, the closest uncalled contests were Mississippi Senate, separated by about 0.01 points with 96% counted; Kansas governor, about 0.5 points; and Alaska Senate, where ranked-choice tabulation is scheduled for November 18 if no candidate passes 50% of first choices. The closest races page lists each one with the state rules that apply next.
Reading the numbers carefully
- A race call is a news organization's judgment, not a certified result. States certify in the weeks after the election.
- Vote shares in races with less than about 95% counted can still move by a point or more as late ballots are added.
- Seat counts that include races still being counted are labeled as leads, not wins, everywhere on this site.
To watch how the night unfolded hour by hour, use the election night replay.
Figures are unofficial. Vote shares, share of the expected vote counted and race calls come from the results snapshot this site published on November 4, 2026 (8:51 a.m. ET), drawn from the Fox News Decision Desk results pages; House calls are by The Associated Press. Polling averages are the mean of verified polls ending in the 14 days before Election Day, as shown on each race page. Certified results from state election offices may differ.
Relevant race pages: Alaska Senate · Florida Senate · Georgia Senate · Iowa Senate · Kansas Senate · Maine Senate · Michigan Senate · Mississippi Senate · North Carolina Senate · Ohio Senate