Democrats Win Control of Congress. What the Morning After Actually Shows.

Democrats won control of Congress on Tuesday, ending two years of unified Republican rule in Washington. The Associated Press called the Senate late Tuesday night and the House early Wednesday morning. The new Congress is sworn in on 3 January 2027; until then Republicans keep their majorities.

As of Thursday morning, Democrats hold 54 seats to 44 for Republicans, with two races still uncalled: Alaska and Mississippi. In Mississippi, Democrat Scott Colom leads by about 1,100 votes with affidavit ballots still being counted. In Alaska, the lead shifted to Democrat Mary Peltola on Wednesday; the state counts mail ballots for 10 days and runs ranked-choice tabulation on 18 November if nobody clears 50 percent.

Seven Senate seats flipped from Republican to Democratic: North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Ohio, Iowa, Kansas, and Maine. The four we reported last night as Poliwave calls only are now AP calls: James Talarico beat Ken Paxton in Texas, Sherrod Brown beat Jon Husted in Ohio by about 3 points, Josh Turek beat Ashley Hinson in Iowa by about 4 points, and Adam Hamilton beat Roger Marshall in Kansas. In Maine, Troy Jackson defeated Susan Collins, who conceded. In North Carolina, Roy Cooper won the open seat. Democrats also held Georgia, where Jon Ossoff beat Mike Collins with no runoff.

In the House, the AP called control for Democrats at 1:24 AM Wednesday. As of Thursday morning, the AP had called 235 seats for Democrats and 146 for Republicans, with 54 races still uncalled, mostly in the West. Hakeem Jeffries is in line to be Speaker. The final size of the majority is still to settle, and that number will move as the last races are called.

Governors moved the same way. Democrats now hold 28 of the 50 governorships to 20 for Republicans, with Alaska and Kansas still uncalled — a Democratic majority of governorships for the first time since 2010. Five states changed party, all from Republican to Democratic: Georgia, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio, and Texas. In Georgia, Keisha Lance Bottoms beat Rick Jackson and becomes the first Black woman elected governor of any US state. In Ohio, Amy Acton defeated Vivek Ramaswamy. In Iowa, Rob Sand beat Zach Lahn. In Texas, Gina Hinojosa toppled three-term Governor Greg Abbott. Florida stayed Republican: Byron Donalds held the governor’s office, beating David Jolly.

The conservative take: This was a genuine midterm check on the party in power, not a close call that broke late. Democrats picked up seats they were supposed to lose, in Texas, Iowa, Kansas, South Carolina, and Maine, and governorships in states Donald Trump carried in 2024. That deserves a straight answer from Republicans about what voters were rejecting — and the early reporting points to the cost of living first. But winning the midterms is not the same as winning the argument. Democrats now own the House and Senate agenda from January, and they will be judged on what they do with it, starting with prices, not with payback. We will keep reporting calls, not forecasts, as the last races are decided.