US midterm elections 2026: live results from Senate, House and governor races in all 50 states

With many seats still to come in, the Democrats have taken control of the Senate, House and several key governorships. Find live updating results in full here

Most US election seats are reliably won by one party, so control of Congress comes down to a few competitive "battleground" seats. Experts track these to predict overall results; if a party wins seats they were expected to lose, it often signals a successful night. In the charts below, blue shapes on the right signal a good night for the Democrats, and red shapes on the left signal that the Republicans have done well.

Before the election, the Cook Report classified six Senate races as genuine "toss-ups". The Democrats need to win at least three of these, alongside the other races they are expected to win.

Democrats were favoured in enough House seats to take the chamber without winning any of the 18 seats the Cook Political Report classed as “toss-ups”. If they won every seat they were expected to win, they would comfortably win a majority. The balance of power rested on whether Democrats would hold the 18 seats rated “lean Democratic”. Republicans, favoured in 195 seats, would have needed to sweep all 18 toss-ups and flip five Democratic-leaning seats to win.

Thirty-three of the 100 members of the upper chamber were being elected regularly this year, along with two other special elections. Republicans had the Senate majority before the election. Senators serve six-year terms.

Republicans were defending a majority in the 435-member House. Democrats held 212 House seats and needed 218 to win control. Members of the House of Representatives serve two-year terms and face re-election every even year.

Gubernatorial elections were taking place in 36 states, as well as three territories. Republicans and Democrats held 18 of these state governorships each before the election. Three incumbent governors were retiring.

The US legislature, Congress, has two chambers: the House of Representatives and the Senate.

How is the House of Representatives elected and how do they work?

The lower chamber, the House of Representatives, has 435 voting seats, each representing a district of roughly similar size. There are elections for each of these seats every two years.

The speaker of the House is the chamber’s presiding officer, elected by the representatives. The House has several exclusive powers, such as the power to initiate revenue bills, impeach federal officials and elect the president in the case of an electoral college tie.

How is the Senate elected and how do they work?

The upper chamber, the Senate, has 100 members, who sit for six-year terms. One-third of the seats come up for election in each two-year cycle. Each state has two senators, regardless of its population; this means that Wyoming, with a population of less than 600,000, carries the same weight as California, with almost 40 million.

Most legislation needs to pass both chambers to become law, but the Senate has some important other functions, notably approving senior presidential appointments, for instance to the supreme court. The Senate also has the sole power to provide advice to the president, consent to ratify treaties and try impeachment cases for federal officials referred to it by the House.