Midterms That Flipped Both Chambers: Where 2026 Fits in History
Dated editorial analysis; figures in this article are not recalculated automatically. Visit the linked race pages for current data.
Midterm elections usually go badly for the president's party, but losing control of both the House and the Senate at the same midterm is less common. Based on unofficial results and race calls, the 2026 midterms appear to be one of those years: Democrats won majorities in both chambers during President Donald Trump's second term. This article places that result alongside earlier examples, without drawing conclusions about what will follow.
When both chambers changed hands at a midterm
Since direct election of senators began in 1914, the president's party has lost control of both chambers at the same midterm only a few times:
- 1918, Woodrow Wilson (Democrat). Republicans won both the House and the Senate in the final days of the First World War.
- 1946, Harry Truman (Democrat). Republicans took both chambers for the first time since 1930, in the year after the Second World War ended.
- 1954, Dwight Eisenhower (Republican). Democrats won back both chambers just two years after Republicans had taken them; Democrats then kept the House for 40 years.
- 1994, Bill Clinton (Democrat). Republicans won both chambers, gaining a House majority for the first time since 1954.
- 2006, George W. Bush (Republican). Democrats won both the House and the Senate in his second term.
In other midterms the president's party lost only one chamber, either because it already lacked the other one or because it held on to it. Examples include 1986, when Republicans lost the Senate under Ronald Reagan while Democrats already held the House; 2010, when Democrats lost the House but kept the Senate under Barack Obama; and 2018, when Republicans lost the House but gained Senate seats during Trump's first term.
Midterms that went the other way
The pattern is not automatic. In 1998, Democrats gained House seats during Bill Clinton's second term, and in 2002 Republicans gained seats in both chambers during George W. Bush's first term. Political scientists have offered several explanations for the usual midterm loss, including presidential approval, the economy and the tendency for the president's party to have won marginal seats two years earlier. They disagree about how much weight each factor deserves, and no single explanation fits every year.
How 2026 compares
In the unofficial 2026 results, Democrats had gained eight Senate seats among called races, including Mississippi, called on November 11, and the Associated Press had called 44 House districts that changed from Republican to Democratic representation and two that changed the other way, as of November 12. Those are large shifts by recent standards, though the final numbers will not be known until states certify their results. The second-term timing is similar to 2006, when the president's party also lost both chambers six years into his presidency.
Polling before the election pointed in the same direction but did not capture the size of the shift everywhere. In the 25 Senate and governor races we compared, results were on average about 1.3 points more Democratic than the final polling averages, with much larger gaps in some states. See How accurate were the 2026 polls?
What history does not tell us
- A wave election does not determine what happens two years later. Democrats lost both chambers in 1946 and won them back in 1948; Republicans lost both in 1954 and did not regain the House until 1994.
- Each case had its own causes: wars ending, economic conditions, specific scandals or policy fights. Comparing years is useful for context, not for prediction.
- The Senate map, the share of seats in competitive districts and the number of open seats all differ from one cycle to the next.
For the rules that will apply when power is divided, see what Congress and the president can each do, and for the first day of the new Congress, how the new Congress begins.
Historical party control is drawn from the official records of the House and Senate historians. 2026 figures are unofficial results and race calls as of November 12, 2026.
Relevant race pages: Mississippi Senate