Democrats Win House and Senate in 2026 Midterms, Creating Divided Government Under Trump

Democrats won control of both the House and the Senate in the 2026 midterm elections, returning them to full control of Congress for the first time since 2023 and setting up divided government with President Donald Trump in the White House. On Election Day, Trump's approval rating stood at 39.1 percent, with 59.1 percent disapproving, according to the RealClearPolitics average of polls. Before the vote, forecasters had given Democrats strong odds: Nate Silver's FLIPR model put their chances at 82.4 percent in the Senate and 96.4 percent in the House, and the prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket showed them as favorites in both chambers. NPR reported that the result deepens the friction expected between Congress and the president. With a House majority, Democrats can pass their agenda there, and a Senate majority gives them power over Trump's judicial and other nominations. Democrats could also try to end the Senate filibuster, which they failed to do in January 2022 when Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema refused; both have since left the Senate.

The Washington Examiner, on the right, leads with Trump's low approval rating and calls the result a broad, coast-to-coast repudiation of the president. Its piece focuses on mechanics: the chance that a united Democratic Senate abolishes the filibuster, forcing Trump to use vetoes, and Democrats' ability to block his nominations. NPR, on the left, frames the result as the start of a new era of divided government and stresses the friction ahead with Trump, offering less detail on procedure in the excerpt. Both agree on the scale of the Democratic win and on the likelihood of conflict with the White House. Reason, an independent outlet, takes a distinct angle: it wrote on Election Day, before results, citing forecasts and markets, and predicts symbolic votes, grandstanding and many hearings, though it allows that Democrats might limit Trump's tariff and war powers.