There’s a separate thread for the Senate elections, because that’s far, far easier to track than the House races and the Gubernatorial races.
Consider this thread open to everything else! House, Governor, state and local measures, everything else!
Polls start closing at 7 PM Eastern, 4 PM Pacific. My plan is to be obsessively posting results as they come in.
Current standings:
US House of Representatives:
Republicans: 218
Democrats: 214
Vacant: 2
Independent: 1
Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX23) resigned 04/14/2026.
Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-FL20) resigned 04/21/26.
Rep. Kevin Kiley (CA3) flipped from R to I in March, 2026.
Every seat is up for re-election with 218 necessary for a majority.
Governors:
26 Republicans
24 Democrats
There are 36 seats to be decided this election, 19 of which are open races, meaning no incumbent is defending.
I sit here with a sinking feeling in my stomach. I’m hoping for good news. I’m hoping this is a turning point.
But man I don’t know what I’m gonna do if it turns out to be a wash and we get more years of this shit.
I know you posted this twelve hours ago when the results weren’t coming in yet, but at this point I’ve been watching the counts on the Associated Press and it’s looking really good so far. I’m feeling a sense of hope for the first time in a long time.
It’s not just the good election results I find encouraging. It’s the shift in the zeitgeist. Things are happening man, I can feel it.
Yeah this has done a lot to restore hope. Fucking KANSAS and IOWA flipping blue senate is nuts. And Mississippi being a toss up? Holy shit!
Yeah, that’s fucking crazy. It’s currently sitting at a 28 vote lead with 3% of the ballots left to count.
Also, it’s official: both chambers went blue! Dems now have
220221 confirmed seats in the House, with 85 races still to be called!We are getting more years of this shit regardless. The best Democrats can do is conduct investigations (that will be ignored), hold debates (that will be ignored), and pass laws that will be veto’d.
That’s better than the alternative but don’t pretend like the midterms are going to be a major shift of power. Its just one step, the legislature. Republicans still have the Presidency and the Supreme Court backing them. Even if House + Senate go blue this year, that’s 1 branch vs 2 branches.
Yeah, there’s a significant limit on what lawmaking can be done with an adversarial President. I think one potentially effective strategy is to pass legislation that is good for the country as a while, but where a Presidental veto would also weaken public opinion of the opposition. If there’s no veto it’s a total win. If it is vetoed, democrats make it part of their campaign strategies in 12-18 months.
Investigative and budgetary powers can also still be used, but they are less flashy and can play negatively in the media. If a D congress is seen as doing nothing but investigating Rs and shutting down the government, there might not be a D congress in 2 years.
Dems taking the Senate by a few seats is important because it denies Trump further judicial or supreme court nominees. Having both chambers allows Democrats the ability to set the budget agenda and will force Trump to negotiate which he is terrible at.
This is still important.
If Trump loses badly, it will also send a powerful message. Then everyone knows that no one likes Trump no matter how Fox News tries to spin it. It will make the whole Republican party freak out for 2028.
Are you kidding? For Fox and Friends, the powerful message will be how effective the Dems rigged the election, and why none of them should be allowed to be sworn into congress. There are no teachable moments for the wilfully ignorant.
No matter who wins, the losers will say the election was rigged.
Proud US tradition since 2000. Every election.
Yeah, but the election rigging works less well when the result is overwhelming for democrats. In fact, it might even alienate people who voted R before, but switched to D. Some part of the population will lap it up, but they will believe absolutely anything anyway.
It’s still at least a branch that can stymie a lot of things.
I’m not saying things are magically gonna get fixed but there’s a lot of bad that’s been able to go through because congress is complicit or “shuts down” at the right time.
I don’t have a lot of hope and this is my only chance for a light at the end of the tunnel.
If the Democrats win the House of Senate, it’s very good news regardless.
The Senate map is impossible. I mean it’s probably happening but Texas, Arkansas, North Carolina are supposed to be impossible.
But it’s only going to truly matter if the memomentum continues into 2028. This year is an important first step forward but that’s all it is or can be, just a step.
As an Arkansan, I was really hoping we’d get rid of Traitor Cotton, but it was not to be. We’ve got a lot of misogynists (“I don’t hate women, I just believe they should never be in leadership above a man.”) and Cotton still resonates with many of the people that voted him in the first time. I voted against Lincoln in the primaries because of how she fucked with ACA / Obamacare, but I’ve never liked Cotton.