These figures are not definitive. It seemed like the margin of victory in the House was revised upwards every ten minutes all night. Another couple of races may still be in play, and it is still possible for the Alaska Senate seat be added.
There are a lot of folks out there this morning with glee hangovers and some folks checking into vacations in no extradition havens. The results of the 2026 Election far exceeded the most optimistic pixilated Democrat across the country in rural, suburban, and urban areas among almost every identifiable type of voter. Democracy is apparently saved pending the lashings of the dying of the dragon's tail.
It's hard not to get giddy--or over-confident.
Democrats picked up nine Senate seats including Deep Red South Carolina, North Carolina, Texas, Iowa, and Kansas, and critical battlegrounds in hotly contested Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, Maine, and New Hampshire, and in Alaska Mary Peltola clings to a narrow 75-vote lead with 75% of the vote in. Their majority in the Senate is assured no matter what mischief John Fetterman is up to.
James Talarico's win in the Texas Senate race was a highlight of the night.
Dems flipped House seats in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virgina, North Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Texas, and California. They defended several seats that were mid-term gerrymandered against them. If Hakeem Jeffries can hold his caucus together Democrats will have a free hand in the House.
They gained governorships in Gorgia, Ohio, Texas, Iowa, and Nevada and picked up control of seven state legislative chambers.
The only cloud on the horizon were those who want to spur a war by establishment Dems personified by Senate Leader Chick Schumer and Democratic Socialist upstarts. On NBC Rahm Emanuel was practically salivating, Wins in the South and blue-collar Northern districts were made possible by picking up good slices of disillusioned Trump voters motivated by pocketbook issues. Congress needs to prioritize immediate relief without systemic change and play down or even pass on hauling Resident and his cronies before investigative committees, he said. He also claimed that most of those swing voters would be repelled by the Socialist label.
There is little evidence that Socialist mud stuck. It's losing its bugaboo reputation. DSL and other left progressive candidates did very well in their races racking up wins in deep Red areas. They also want to offer voters real relief but endorse more far-reaching remedies including Medicare for All, and taxing billionaires. They will insist that extensive corruption under Trump and his family and cronies must dealt with. But that could so consume both houses of Congress that nothing else can move. The new Congress will have to find a way to deal with both, which will demand at least some cooperation by both sides.
Another lesson of the Midterms is that the Republican reliance on hair-on-fire social issues to get working class voters to turn against their own interests is fading. The tranny-in-the-bathroom scare fades when people can't afford fuel for their cars and trucks, find affordable housing, or get critical medical care.
Nation-wide Democratic women made impressive gains up and down state tickets. Black, Latinx, Native American, and immigrant citizens all won in unexpected palaces.
Here in Illinois, Governor J.B. Pritzker and Senate candidate Juliana Straton led a sweep of state-wide offices and Dems won all five U.S. House districts up for grabs due to retirement or primary losses. That included Mellisa Bean retaking her former 8th District seat. Most of the newcomers are progressives.
Here in formerly Deep Red McHenry County, local Democrats made deep inroads. They picked up two County-wide races--Bill McNeese for County Clerk and Bridget Belcastro for Regional Superintendent of Education. Amin Karim lost his bid for Treasurer after controversy over late property tax bills. Brad Schnider and Bill Foster easily won re-election to the U.S. House seats but Republican Darin LaHood retained his largely rural seat.
Karen Battaglia upset incumbent Craig Wilcox, Nabila Syed trounced a blond MAGA clone appointed incumbent, and Michele Clark won in localState Senate races. Suzzane Ness was re-elected to her State House seat and Melissa Peterson bested an incumbent in her race.
Gloria Van Hof led Democratic vote getters in McHenry County Board races with one race stilltoo close to call picking up five--maybe six--Board seats.
