Democrats flipped control of the U.S. Senate in the Tuesday, November 3 general election, picking up seven Republican-held seats and holding Michigan’s open seat to take full control of Congress. Combined with clinching at least 219 seats to secure a U.S. House majority, the 2026 U.S. election results give Democrats the legislative power to block or check President Donald Trump’s agenda during his final two years in office.
Decision Desk HQ projected that Democrats won the Senate majority at 11:19 p.m. ET on Tuesday night, according to Ballotpedia. Heading into the November 3 vote, Republicans held a 53-47 majority in the upper chamber, with 35 of the 100 seats on the ballot.
Seven Senate flips and Michigan election results
According to CNN projections and Ballotpedia returns, Democrats unseated Republican incumbents or won open GOP-held seats across seven states:
- In Maine, Democrat Troy Dale Jackson defeated five-term Republican Sen. Susan Collins.
- In Ohio, Democrat Sherrod Brown defeated incumbent Republican Sen. Jon Husted.
- In South Carolina, Democrat Annie Andrews defeated incumbent Republican Sen. Darline Graham, sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, flipping a seat held by Republicans since 1964.
- In Kansas, Democrat Adam Hamilton won a seat in a state that had not elected a Democratic U.S. senator in 94 years.
- In Texas, Democrat James Talarico won the open Senate race, breaking a stretch of more than three decades without a Democrat winning statewide office in the state.
- In North Carolina and Iowa, Democrats Roy Cooper and Josh Turek also flipped Republican-held seats.
In the Michigan election results, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed defeated Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers to keep the open Senate seat in Democratic hands, CBS News reported. El-Sayed becomes the first Muslim U.S. senator in history, winning the race after his Democratic primary opponent, Rep. Haley Stevens, issued an 11th-hour endorsement of Rogers.
In New Hampshire, Democrat Chris Pappas won his Senate contest to become the first openly gay male U.S. senator. Democrats Jon Ossoff in Georgia, Mark Warner in Virginia and Peggy Flanagan in Minnesota also won their Senate races.
Governor races and reactions from Trump and Musk
Statewide losses for Republicans extended to several governorships on Tuesday. In Texas, Democrat Gina Hinojosa defeated three-term Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. In Georgia, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms won the governorship to become the first Black female governor in U.S. history, while Arizona Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs won reelection over Republican Rep. Andy Biggs. Republicans held onto governorships in Florida, where Byron Donalds was projected to become the state’s first Black governor, as well as in Vermont with Gov. Phil Scott’s sixth term and in Nebraska with Gov. Jim Pillen’s second term.
Trump told The New York Times on Wednesday that he will accept the midterm results and is willing to work with Democrats, CNN reported. Speaking separately with Fox News, Trump rejected the idea that the Republican losses reflected poorly on his presidency and blamed individual GOP candidates, saying he expected them to perform better.
Billionaire Elon Musk, who donated nearly $216 million to Republican candidates through his super PAC ahead of the midterms, reacted to the results on X with a shrug emoji. “Guess my election-interfering space lasers didn’t work this time,” Musk wrote. Vote counting continues in the remaining uncalled House and Senate races across the country.