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By Marni Rose McFall
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The Democrats have surged to a historic victory in the 2026 midterm elections, signaling a stunning rebuke of President Donald Trump.
Control of the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives was handed to the Democrats, as they wrestled victories in key seats in Texas, Kansas, South Carolina and Michigan, two years after a devastating loss in the 2024 presidential election that left the party struggling to find its feet.
In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed defeated Republican opponent Mike Rogers; former teacher James Talarico defeated Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton in Texas, becoming the first Democrat elected to Senate in the states since 1988 and in South Carolina, Republican Darline Graham was defeated by Democrat Annie Andrews.
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Traditionally, in midterm elections, the party that holds the White House tends to lose seats, and a Democratic victory had been projected in advance.
But the scale of the Democrat success goes far beyond expectations and signifies a shock that will likely continue to reverberate through American politics for years to come.
The victories follow high-profile, high-cost and highly contentious races across the country.
"There were a number of poor campaigns, primarily due to the candidates promoted by Donald Trump in Senate and Governors races," Michael Traugott, Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan, told Newsweek over email.
Through the midterm election cycle, Democrats proved able to threaten previous GOP strongholds like Texas and Kansas, even as Republican candidates had the support and endorsement of Trump.
Inflamed rhetoric, polarized messaging and personal attacks became routine in campaigns that were often marred by scandal.
Elizabeth Bennion, Chancellor’s Professor of Political Science at Indiana University South Bend, told Newsweek, "What stands out to me are cases where a campaign risks backlash by crossing a line that voters perceive as unfair, excessively personal, or exploitative."
As the scale of Democrats' wins continues to set in, Newsweek looks at the worst campaigns of the 2026 midterms.
Newsweek has contacted spokespeople for the losing campaigns mentioned in this article for comment.
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The Controversial Campaign Ad That Overshadowed the Ohio Governor Race
There will likely be one moment that people remember about Trump-endorsed billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy’s unsuccessful bid for Ohio governor: the controversial attack ad against his Democratic opponent, Doctor Amy Acton, that featured her estranged mother.
In the ad, Acton’s mother, Donna Arthur, called her daughter a liar and warned Ohioans against voting for her.
Acton’s mother lost custody of her after her husband, Acton’s stepfather, was indicted for allegedly raping Acton at the age of 12.
"This ad was so vile that many prominent Republicans, including Ohio’s Republican Governor Mike DeWine, publicly criticized it," James F. Adams, distinguished Professor in the Department of Political Science at U.C. Davis, told Newsweek over email. **"**Yet Ramaswamy has continued to defend the advertisement and has refused to apologize."
The ad was ultimately discontinued after bipartisan condemnation, despite Trump and Vice President JD Vance’s support for the ad. Outgoing Republican Governor Mike DeWine called the ad "deeply, deeply troubling."
Adams told Newsweek that in defending his "indefensible ad," Ramaswamy followed Trump’s playbook that you "never back down, always double down," but that while that strategy sometimes works for Trump, it almost never works "for his imitators."
Traugott meanwhile said this ad "will go down as one of the most memorable ads of any campaign," predicting that it would "cost him the election."
Indeed, Ramaswamy’s strategy didn’t pay off.
Despite Trump’s endorsement and support from top strategists, Acton won the race, becoming the first Democrat to win Ohio’s governorship since 2006, in a state that backed Trump for three consecutive elections.
Acton won by 52.3 percent to Ramaswamy’s 44.4 percent*.*
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Acton spoke about her life and journey while delivering her victory speech.
"I know what it’s like when people look the other way when you’re struggling. As a child, I experienced abuse and neglect. And I could have never imagined going from homeless to being a doctor" she said.
"Let alone that I would be standing here, the next governor of Ohio," Acton said.
The Political Earthquake in Kansas
Something remarkable has happened in the south, perhaps leaving Republicans with the feeling that they’re not in Kansas anymore.
In 2024, Trump carried Kansas by 16.12 percentage points.
Two years later, that advantage has collapsed.
The Methodist megachurch pastor Adam Hamilton pulled off a win against the Republican incumbent Roger Marshall, giving Democrats their first Kansas victory in 94 years.
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With 93 percent of the vote counted, Hamilton had garnered 53 percent, while Marshall had 44.8 percent.
The shift in a southern state that had not elected a Democratic senator since 1932 came after Marshall faced scrutiny during the campaign over reporting that his former medical practice sued over 700 patients for unpaid bills, with 81 arrested after missing court appearances.
Defending the practice at a state fair debate, he was booed and met with chants of "shame on you."
Marshall said that this practice was normal, late emphasizing this in an advert released ahead of the election where he said that his "involvement in any patients’ account ended the minute it was turned over" and said that he had never called for anyone to be arrested.
The Republican incumbent was also forced to contend with a raucous crowd at debates, and was booed, jeered and heckled when answering questions.
The competitiveness of the race was captured in campaign fundraising, as despite Kansas’ long-standing Republican lean, Hamilton significantly outraised Marshall, signaling an opening in the state for Democrats.
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The Surprises Out of the Lone Star State
One of the biggest shocks of the night, and worst-run races, happened in Texas.
Trump’s support of the Republican attorney general over the incumbent Senator John Cornyn may have contributed to the GOP’s loss of the Lone Star State, which 37-year-old Democrat Talarico won, becoming the first Democrat elected in the Senate in Texas since 1988.
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The race drew enormous spending—some $579 million, according to VoteLog.
Paxton had spent years confronting ethics controversies, investigations, and impeachment proceedings.
He was impeached by the Texas House in 2023 over allegations that he improperly used his office to aid an Austin developer, including claims of bribery, abuse of public trust and retaliation against whistleblowers. He denied wrongdoing and was later acquitted and stayed in office.
And beyond the controversies swirling around Paxton’s professional life were ones related to his personal life.
His wife, Angela Paxton, made claims Paxton did not dispute when she filed for divorce earlier this year after 40 years of marriage. She cited adultery and alleged the marriage had become insupportable because of conflict and discord.
The context of these controversies likely had the consequence of making Paxton unelectable, and Texas a competitive playground for Democrats. "I suspect that if Texas Republicans had picked John Cornyn in the primary, the general election race with James Talarico would look very different than the current tight race between Talarico and Ken Paxton," Laurel Harbridge-Yong, a professor of political science at Northwestern University, told Newsweek ahead of the results.
Talarico ultimately won by 55.2 percent of the vote share to Paxton’s 42.9 percent.
Harbridge-Yong told Newsweek that candidates can under or over perform based on who they are, rather than the specific details of their campaigns.
"If primary elections produce weak candidates, this can hurt the party in the general election," she said, citing Texas specifically as a good example of this.
But that wasn’t the only surprise that Texas had in store.
Gina Hinojosa, an Austin civil rights attorney and Democratic state representative, made history becoming the first Hispanic governor elected in Texas and ended more than three decades of Republican control over the governor’s mansion, defeating the incumbent Governor Greg Abbott with 54 percent of the vote.
The results coming out of Texas destabilize what have previously been long regarded as Republican strongholds, and show that the way voters have cast their ballots in the past doesn’t necessarily map out onto the future.
The Switch Up in South Carolina
South Carolina also saw a stunning upset in a pattern that mirrored the Texas Senate race.
Democrat Annie Andrews pulled off a shock win against incumbent Republican Senator Darline Graham, who was the sister of the late longtime Senator, Lindsey Graham.
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Trump pushed for Graham to finish her brother’s term after his sudden death, and she decided to run for the full term.
But the party did not immediately rally behind her, and there were concerns about her lack of political experience, which only grew after she said "national security is not my thing" during a primary runoff debate.
Ahead of the results, Laurel Harbridge-Yong told Newsweek that Graham’s inexperience may "prove to be a liability."
The result is a blow to Trump, who won the state by 18 points in 2024 and who had personally recommended Graham to the state’s Republican Governor Henry McMaster.
Andrews will become the first Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from South Carolina since 1998, after winning against Graham with 51.1 percent of the vote to Graham’s 46.7 percent with 99 percent of the votes counted.
The success of Democrats against Trump-endorsed candidates raises questions over what weight the president's endorsement carries for voters.
The Mess That Unfolded in Michigan and Maine
A theme that emerged through the 2026 midterm election cycle was that of Democrat disarray.
Races in Michigan and Maine saw infighting, candidate switch-ups, and a last-minute shift in party allegiance, raising questions about overall unity in the state.
The Maine Senate race saw a particularly dramatic series of events.
At first, it looked like as if the state's former Governor, Janet Mills, would be in the race, and she received crucial backing from Senator Chuck Schumer.
But this was shaken up by the emergence of the relatively unknown Oyster farmer Graham Platner, an oysterman and former marine. Platner clinched the nomination, but controversy swirled around his campaign. He was ultimately forced to drop out after an allegation of sexual assault, which he denied.
Troy Jackson then stepped into the race, which was widely seen as close and competitive. Jackson roiled voters by telling his Republican opponent, incumbent Senator Susan Collins, to "shut up" while on the debate floor.
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Over in Michigan, it was one of the closest watched and most contentious races of the cycle.
Abdul El-Sayed won the Democratic nomination in August, by one point over Congresswoman Haley Stevens.
At the center of the race were discussions over Israel, as El-Sayed was accused of fostering antisemitism by his Republican opponent Mike Rogers.
El-Sayed faced attacks on his Muslim faith and was mocked by Trump for his name, and the president repeatedly referred to the Michigan progressive as a "jihadist," and the broader rhetoric employed in descriptions of El-Sayed has been criticized as racist.
Mere days ahead of the election, there was a rare November surprise as Stevens endorsed Rogers and appeared with him at a Detroit church, days after saying she would vote for El-Sayed, eliciting Democrat fury.
Traugott characterized Stevens’ endorsement of Rogers as "strange," and said the act will "cost her any future she had in politics in Michigan or nationally."
But while this contributed to moments of campaign chaos in both states, it proved inconsequential to the Democrats' ability to win.
Jackson unseated Collins, who has served in the Senate for nearly three decades, securing 53.8 percent of the vote to Collins’ 46.1 percent, with 86 percent of votes counted.
El-Sayed, meanwhile, won by 52.5 percent to Rogers’ 45.5 percent, with 96 percent of votes counted.
Contact Newsweek editors for this story: Robert Greenall and Daniel Orton
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