Midterm Elections Put Control of Congress on the Line as Parties Eye Senate and Judicial Races

Voters decide control of Congress on Tuesday in the 2026 midterm elections, with Senate, House and governor's races under way across the country during President Donald Trump's second term. Republicans hold a 53-47 Senate majority, so Democrats must gain a net four seats to take control and overcome a tiebreaking vote from Vice President JD Vance. Nine states are at the center of the contest: Texas, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Georgia, Iowa, Nevada, Maine and Florida. Senate control is described as a coin flip. In Texas, Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton faces Democratic state Rep. James Talarico for the seat held by outgoing Republican John Cornyn, while Republican Gov. Greg Abbott seeks a historic fourth term against Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa. Close Senate races are also under way in Iowa and Minnesota, where Michele Tafoya is the Republican candidate. National groups are also spending money in battleground state supreme court races, hoping for liberal majorities in two years.

Politico, on the left, looks away from the Senate and House and leads with Democrats' interest in state supreme court races, both this year and later, and with national groups' spending toward liberal majorities in two years. Fox News, on the right, publishes a service-style Election Night guide, listing nine states, poll closings and live results. It names candidates such as Paxton, Talarico, Abbott and Hinojosa and presents Republicans as defending their majorities while Democrats seek gains. Both sides treat Democratic gains as the central question, but Politico stresses long-term court strategy while Fox stresses Tuesday's contests and Trump-country battlegrounds. Zeteo, an alternative outlet, differs in tone: it casts the midterms as a chance to check Trump, cites the Iran war, ICE and the Epstein files, and adds Senate math, including a worry about Sen. John Fetterman leaving the party.