Election 2026: Democrats marching toward control of the U.S. House and Senate

Former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown beat Republican Sen. Jon Husted in Ohio Tuesday, a key pickup for Democrats in their quest to take control of the Senate. 

Mr. Brown, 73, will return to the Senate after a two-year hiatus following his 2024 loss and will have to work alongside Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno, who beat him in that race. He served in the Senate for 18 years before his 2024 loss. 

President Trump held several campaign rallies in Ohio in recent weeks to boost Mr. Husted, a former lieutenant governor, but it was not enough. 

This was Mr. Husted’s first race for Senate after he was appointed to temporarily fill Vice President J.D. Vance’s seat. 

Data centers were one of the key issues in the race, as Mr. Brown hammered Mr. Husted for backing “sweetheart tax cuts” that led to their explosion in the state. 

Mr. Husted tried to counter the attacks with a bill designed to protect consumers from data center-driven electricity rate increases.

Senate Democrats blocked the measure, arguing it had no teeth to force data center operators to pay for their own electricity needs.

Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa defeated Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in the Texas gubernatorial race Tuesday, a stunning upset that gives Democrats control of a majority of governorships for the first time since 2010.

Texas was one of three Republican-controlled states that were flipped by the Democrats. Keisha Lance Bottoms won in Georgia and Amy Acton was victorious in Ohio, ending Republican control of those states.

The Democratic victories in those states give Democrats control of at least 27 governorships come January. That number could go higher as several close races in Nevada and Iowa had yet to be called late Tuesday night.

Ms. Hinojosa’s victory ended more than three decades of Republican control of the Texas governor’s mansion. A former Austin school board president, Ms. Hinojosa is the first Democrat elected governor of Texas since Ann Richards in 1990. 

She will also become the first Latina governor of Texas, a historic breakthrough for Democrats in a state President Trump carried by nearly 11 points in 2024.

Ms. Hinojosa campaigned on lowering living costs, strengthening public education and challenging the influence of wealthy corporations in state government. She proposed sending $1,500 payments to Texas households, opposing the state’s private-school voucher program and imposing tougher regulations on data centers.

She also sought to capitalize on dissatisfaction with Mr. Abbott’s lengthy tenure, portraying the three-term incumbent as more responsive to wealthy political donors than ordinary Texans.

Mr. Abbott, a loyal Trump ally who was seeking an unprecedented fourth term, emphasized his record of economic growth, property tax reductions and conservative policies on immigration and education. His campaign spent heavily to portray Ms. Hinojosa as a liberal whose policies would undermine the Texas economy. 

Despite defeating his previous three Democratic challengers by double-digit margins, Mr. Abbott faced a more competitive contest this year, with Ms. Hinojosa showing strength in major metropolitan areas and traditionally Republican suburbs.

President Trump Tuesday night said if he was on the ballot, Republicans would have avoided the shellacking they suffered on Election Night.

“I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE! Thank you for your attention to this matter,” Mr. Trump said on social media.

Mr. Trump, who engaged in a monthlong campaign blitz across dozens of states for Republicans, routinely pleaded with voters at rallies to “pretend” he was on the ballot. Democrats, however, said that phrase also fired up their base to come out to the polls.

The president’s comment came not long after Democrats had flipped several Republican-held House seats on the East Coast in early returns and were poised to take control of the chamber.

Republicans’ apparent losses in North Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Kentucky, along with failures to take out vulnerable Democratic incumbents in Florida, had several television networks already projecting control would flip before the final polls closed at midnight.

DALLAS — Democrats stood on the brink of reclaiming the Senate majority on Tuesday night, flipping Republican-held seats in Texas, North Carolina and South Carolina.

They were also building big leads in several other battleground states in what was shaping up to be a disastrous midterm election for Republicans.

Several toss-up Senate races remained undecided late Tuesday, but the signs pointed to a crushing loss for the GOP in Kansas, which would provide Democrats with a fourth pickup.

Republicans received a significant gut punch in South Carolina, where the late Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham’s younger sister, Darline Graham, was defeated by Democrat Annie Andrews.

Just weeks ago, South Carolina was considered a relatively safe GOP seat. But Ms. Graham struggled in debates and on the campaign trail and started sinking in the polls amid voter dissatisfaction with the economy and President Trump’s job performance.

Texas was also once considered a safe GOP seat and had not elected a Democrat to the Senate in nearly four decades. But Republican Ken Paxton failed to win over young voters, Hispanics, women and independents. He was also dragged down by economic woes blamed on Republicans. By late Tuesday, Democratic state Rep. James Talarico was projected the winner.

In Kansas, where no Democrat has been elected to the Senate in nearly a century, Republican incumbent Sen. Roger Marshall was losing to Democrat Adam Hamilton late Tuesday by double digits.

A pick-up opportunity for Republicans in New Hampshire ended up a dud for the GOP.

Republican John Sununu was easily defeated by Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas in the Senate race and was on track to lose by double digits.  

The rout for Republicans began almost as soon as the earliest results were tallied. Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, who was once thought to be a vulnerable incumbent, easily defeated Republican Mike Collins in Georgia.

Democrat Roy Cooper, North Carolina’s former governor, quickly cruised to victory over former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley in the state’s Senate race, flipping the seat from GOP control.

Early returns hinted at the blue wave Republicans have feared even in deep-red Florida, where Republican incumbent Sen. Ashley Moody defeated Democrat Angie Nixon by just 3 points in the special election to finish the term vacated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Democrats needed four additional seats to win back the majority in the Senate. As of late Tuesday, they netted three and were on track to win in Kansas.

Races in Maine, Ohio and Alaska were too close to call, as was Michigan, a seat held by Democrats that Republicans are hoping to flip red.

In Maine and Alaska, ranked-choice voting could delay results for weeks.

Alaska also faces a federal and state investigation over a candidate known as “Decoy Dan,” who was recruited by Democrats to siphon away votes from Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan.

“There’s a scenario where the incumbent, the Senator Sullivan, could lose, but really he didn’t lose, really because of rank-based voting,” Mr. Blanche said Tuesday on Fox News.

Mr. Sullivan was trailing Democrat Mary Peltola by 2.4 points in the RealClearPolitics polling average, which is less than the 2.5 percent of the vote Decoy Dan won in Alaska’s open primary.

In Maine, incumbent Republican Susan Collins and Democrat Troy Jackson were battling to prevail in a toss-up race subject to ranked-choice voting.

If neither candidate wins more than half the vote on Tuesday, state officials will initiate ranked-choice voting tabulation that they said can take up to two weeks.

Ms. Collins, campaigning in Houlton on Tuesday, predicted she would be elected to a sixth term. Ms. Collins vastly outperformed polls predicting her defeat when she ran for a fifth term, and was confident she’d do it again.

“I’m very encouraged we are going to be celebrating a victory tonight,” Ms. Collins said.

Her opponent, Democrat Troy Jackson, who is endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, has run on an agenda aimed at stopping the Trump agenda and advancing government-run health care and paid leave.

“People are struggling like I’ve never seen before, and there is absolutely no reason for it,” Mr. Jackson said at a campaign stop in the Democratic stronghold of Portland. He said he does not expect to win the state’s Republican-leaning 2nd Congressional District. “But if we can stay close and do well down here, I think that’s the ball game right there.”

After late polls and prediction markets gave Democrats a higher probability than Republicans of winning control of Congress, Democratic lawmakers were nearly measuring the drapes in the majority office suites in the Capitol.

“We don’t want to count our chickens before they hatch, so I characterize our mood as nauseously optimistic,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, said. “A year ago no one thought we could do it. No one thought we would be even close to taking the Senate back.”

Mr. Schumer credited Democrats for focusing on the high costs of groceries, gas, housing and health insurance. “We also focused on the corruption of the Trump administration,” Mr. Schumer said.

In Irving, Texas, hundreds of voters had turned out at the Valley Ranch Library polling station by mid-morning Tuesday.

A 75-year-old retiree from Irving who grew up in communist Russia and came to the United States two decades ago said he doesn’t like Mr. Trump. But he is sticking with the Republican ticket in Texas because he doesn’t support the Democratic Party’s liberal agenda.

“I don’t want to go back,” said the voter, who only gave his name as Alexei.

Salman Abidi, 54, a music and media promoter from the Dallas area, said he voted for Mr. Trump in 2024 but planned to vote for Democrats in the Texas election.  

He still backs Mr. Trump but believes that “right now, there are things he’s not handling the right way,” which he said is dividing the country.

• Seth McLaughlin reported from Troy, Michigan.

Democrats flipped their second governorship Tuesday night as Amy Acton won Ohio’s gubernatorial election Tuesday, defeating Republican Vivek Ramaswamy in a major political upset that ended 16 years of Republican control of the governor’s mansion.

Earlier Tuesday, Democrats wrestled control of the Georgia governorship from Republicans as Keisha Lance Bottom became the nation’s first Black female governor.

Ms. Acton, the former state health director, became the first woman elected governor in Ohio history, delivering Democrats a significant victory in a state that has increasingly shifted toward Republicans. President Trump carried Ohio by more than 11 percentage points in the 2024 election.

Ms. Acton rose to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, becoming a familiar face alongside Republican Gov. Mike DeWine during the state’s daily public health briefings. She campaigned on lowering costs for working families, expanding access to health care and child care, and protecting abortion rights.

Mr. Ramaswamy, who briefly served in Mr. Trump’s government-efficiency initiative, emphasized economic growth, tax cuts and reducing government regulations.

The contest grew increasingly contentious in its final weeks, particularly after Mr. Ramaswamy’s campaign aired an advertisement featuring Ms. Acton’s estranged mother. The ad drew criticism from both parties, including by Mr. DeWine, a Republican, who had endorsed Mr. Ramaswamy.

Ms. Acton’s victory gives Democrats control of a key Midwestern governorship and strengthens the party’s position ahead of the 2028 presidential election.

Her win was particularly noteworthy because Mr. Trump carried Ohio by more than 11 percentage points in the 2024 election.

Republicans had controlled the governor’s office since 2011, and the state had not elected a Democrat to the position since Ted Strickland’s victory in 2006. Her win came despite Mr. Trump’s endorsement of Mr. Ramaswamy, a wealthy biotechnology entrepreneur and former Republican presidential candidate.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Xavier Becerra, a Democrat who ran on his decades of experience in public office, will take over from California Gov. Gavin Newsom as the next governor of the nation’s most populous state.

The victory by Becerra, a former state attorney general and Biden administration official, ensures California and the White House will remain adversaries for the final two years of President Donald Trump’s second term. Becerra repeatedly tied his opponent, Republican Steve Hilton, to the president and promised to defend California against Trump’s policies on everything from immigration to voting rights.

“In so many ways, this election is a choice between reaching higher for California’s golden dream or descending further down Donald Trump’s golden, infamous escalator,” Becerra said at a recent rally, referencing Trump’s 2015 announcement that he’d run for president.

Becerra argued he was best positioned for the job after serving more than 35 years in state and federal office, including as a congressman and health secretary in President Joe Biden’s administration. Hilton, a former Fox News host and adviser to former U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, has never held elected office.

Becerra will be California’s first Latino governor since the late 19th century.

He sustained Democrats’ 16-year winning streak in statewide California elections, which Hilton tried to break by arguing one-party rule was to blame for the state’s high cost of living and homelessness crisis. He argued Becerra would prolong his party’s failure to adequately address homelessness.

“This is what you get with one-party rule,” Hilton said at a news conference before Election Day. “You get a bunch of people in charge who think that they can get away with anything.”

The state Democratic leadership is likely to face greater scrutiny if Newsom, who was barred from seeking a third term, embarks on a bid for the presidency.

A chaotic primary gave way to a low-key general election matchup

The two candidates emerged from a large primary field with half a dozen prominent Democrats and two notable Republicans.

Becerra wasn’t considered a top contender for the first months of his campaign. He admitted at a recent rally that his campaign was “an afterthought, maybe even a punchline” at the time.

That changed when former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, who had been viewed as a front-runner, dropped out of the race and resigned from Congress following allegations he sexually assaulted several women. He’s denied the accusations. His departure caused the party establishment and voters to look for a more reliable alternative, and they found one in Becerra.

He sought to take advantage of Trump’s deep unpopularity in the state by tying Hilton to Trump, noting the president has endorsed the Republican. Becerra’s campaign launched a website that lists quotes of Hilton expressing support for the president and his policies. The site includes illustrations of the two Republicans standing side by side.

Hilton tried to break through by releasing splashy ads, sometimes with AI-generated content, to encourage voters who typically choose Democrats to try something new. He also tried to appeal to the public by making ambitious promises, including pledging to abolish the DMV and cut gas prices to $3 a gallon, a rate the state hasn’t seen in years.

Becerra will be state’s 1st Latino governor in over a century

Becerra was born in Sacramento to a mother from Mexico and a father who was born in California and raised in Mexico. He’s made appealing to Latino voters a key part of his campaign strategy, including by releasing ads and social media posts in Spanish.

“I’m running to be what the haters fear most: a proud son of immigrants with a law degree and a union card governing America’s most diverse and successful state,” Becerra said at a recent rally.

WASHINGTON — Democrat Sherrod Brown wins election to U.S. Senate from Ohio.

Democrats had flipped a handful of GOP-held House seats on the East Coast in early returns Tuesday and were poised to claim control of the chamber — and a platform to derail President Trump’s agenda.

Republicans’ apparent losses in North Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Kentucky, combined with their failures to take out vulnerable Democratic incumbents in Florida, had several television networks already projecting control would flip before the final polls closed at midnight.

NBC News projected Democrats would emerge with more than 250 seats.

Republicans went into the night with 218 seats to Democrats’ 214, with one independent and two vacancies.

The GOP had hoped to build a bit of a cushion through an unprecedented round of mid-decade redistricting, but those hopes weren’t panning out in the early going Tuesday, as Democrats survived the new lines in Florida and Texas.

“The Trump plot to steal enough seats to keep control of Congress — the will of the people be damned — was systematically dismantled, and, given the opportunity, voters instead chose to elect a new Democratic majority,” said former Attorney General Eric Holder, who heads the National Democratic Redistricting Committee.

Democrats were also projected to have flipped seats in New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Kentucky.

Key races were still to be called, but across the country GOP candidates ran well behind Mr. Trump’s margins — and their own tallies — from two years ago.

Exit polling signaled the growing dissatisfaction among voters with Mr. Trump and an eagerness to install formal checks on him inside Washington.

The president’s approval rating was below 40% in the exit polling done by the major broadcast and news networks. It had been at 45% in 2018, for the midterm elections during his first term.

That’s not to say voters were excited about Mr. Trump’s opponents, either. As of late Tuesday, exit polling showed 54% of voters had negative views of Democrats.

The GOP fared worse still, with 58% down on Republicans.

On the issues, Democrats generally came out on top, with voters giving them an edge in handling the economy, foreign policy and health care. Republicans still prevailed on immigration, and the parties were about even on tax policy.

Asked specifically about Mr. Trump’s actions, though, voters were dismayed.

Some 57% said he’d gone “too far” on immigration enforcement, 62% said it was the “wrong decision” to attack Iran, and 62% said the higher prices they are paying are “because of Trump’s policies.”

The final House breakdown might not be known for weeks, given the travails of counting ballots in places that run all-mail elections. California accepts ballots mailed by Election Day as long as they are received within a week, and Washington state accepts them up until certification, which is three weeks after Election Day.

Democrats’ taking control would follow a pattern.

President Obama enjoyed two years of unified government before losing the House in 2010. Mr. Trump enjoyed two years in his first term before losing control of the House in 2018. President Biden had two years of unified government, albeit only with Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote in the Senate, before losing it in 2022.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader, would have the inside track on becoming the first Black House speaker.

He’ll have his work cut out for him to manage his party, however, which was unified chiefly by an antipathy to Mr. Trump that papered over some significant divisions.

With Mr. Trump in the White House for two more years — and occasionally joking about serving a third term after that — Democrats likely will retain much of their unity.

Cracks may still show, however, as they navigate some thorny issues abroad, such as Israel, or social policy tests at home, including transgender rights.

Control of committees in the House would give Democrats a perch to pursue investigations of Mr. Trump and his administration.

Republicans did manage to Democrat-proof some of Mr. Trump’s immigration agenda by pouring tens of billions of dollars into the Department of Homeland Security’s enforcement agencies.

That includes money to complete the president’s border wall and to fund his mass deportation campaign.

Unraveling those would be difficult for Democrats, short of winning a government shutdown showdown.

Republicans had little room for losses, having operated for the last two years under one of the slimmest majorities in modern history.

They had hoped to pad their margin through an unprecedented push for mid-decade redistricting, drawing friendlier House maps in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas.

Democrats countered with a better map in California, but saw their hopes for a four-seat gain from a redraw in Virginia dashed by that state’s Supreme Court.

WASHINGTON — Republican Steve Scalise wins reelection to U.S. House in Louisiana’s 1st Congressional District.

New Jersey GOP Rep. Jeff Van Drew lost his reelection race Tuesday in an upset to Democrat Zack Mullock.

Mr. Van Drew, 73, was elected to the House in 2018 as a Democrat but switched parties the following year. 

Election forecasters had rated the race in his favor, but many Republican candidates across the country underperformed their polling numbers.

He called Mr. Mullock to concede before the race was officially called Tuesday night.

Mr. Mullock, 41, is serving his second term as the mayor of Cape May.

Mr. Van Drew told The Philadelphia Inquirer that his defeat was “a little bit of a surprise” but attributed it to the national landscape and a Democratic wave election.

“It’s nothing that we’ve done locally,” he said.

Mr. Van Drew said he is still proud he changed parties: “I am more Republican than I ever was a Democrat.”

DALLAS – James Talarico scored a long-awaited win for Democrats in Texas, notching a victory over Republican Ken Paxton in the high-profile Senate race that shattered spending records.

The win was historic — and shocking given President Trump carried the traditionally red state by nearly 14 points two years ago.

It marked the first time since 1994 that a Democrat captured statewide office in Texas. The victory immediately fueled debate over whether Mr. Talarico’s success was a political anomaly or evidence of bigger changes in a state Republicans have controlled for three decades.

It also turned attention to Gov. Greg Abbott, raising fresh questions about whether the three-term Republican governor’s political standing could also be vulnerable, along with other down-ticket Republicans.

Mr. Talarico, 37, a former middle school teacher, made his Christian faith central to his campaign, framing his policy agenda around Jesus’ commands to love God and love your neighbor as he pursues a divinity degree at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. He also ran against the longstanding Texas establishment that has ruled Austin for decades.

Mr. Talarico piled up huge margins in urban Democratic strongholds, including Dallas County and Harris County, home to Houston. He also ran strong in the suburbs.

The victory also marked a setback for Mr. Trump. He helped power Mr. Paxton, the state attorney general, to victory in the GOP runoff over veteran Sen. John Cornyn, despite looming public concerns among Senate Republican leaders that Mr. Paxton’s personal and political baggage made him a weaker general election candidate.

Mr. Paxton was running in his first nationally competitive general election race amid voter frustration over the economy and fallout from the Iran war. High gas prices, rising grocery costs and concerns among farmers about tariffs emerged as headwinds for Republicans.

In 2023, the Republican-led Texas House of Representatives voted 121–23 to impeach Mr. Paxton for bribery, abuse of office, obstruction of justice, and misuse of public funds tied to real estate developers. The Senate later acquitted him.

Mr. Paxton’s wife also filed for divorce last year on biblical grounds, alleging her husband had committed adultery. His wife, nonetheless, urged voters to support him in the closing weeks of the campaign.

Still, Mr. Paxton had the backing of the world’s richest man. Elon Musk funnelled more than $200 million into supporting his candidacy, according to a New York Times analysis.

Even that money was not enough to overcome broader political currents, including frustration among some voters who wanted to send Mr. Trump a message.

Salman Abidi, 54, a music and media promoter from the Dallas area, said he voted for Mr. Trump in 2024 but planned to back Mr. Talarico and Democrats in the Senate race.

He said he still supports Mr. Trump but believes “right now, there are things he’s not handling the right way,” and said the president’s approach is deepening divisions in the country.

• Seth McLaughlin reported from Detroit.

WASHINGTON — Democrat Debbie Dingell wins reelection to U.S. House in Michigan’s 6th Congressional District.

GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna scraped by with less than 50% of the vote in her Florida district to beat Democrat Leela Gray.

Ms. Luna’s margin of victory was less than 3,000 votes.

Florida’s 13th Congressional District shifted roughly 13 points toward Democrats compared with the 2024 presidential election, based on the vote counted so far.

Florida Republicans redrew the state’s congressional map this year in a rare mid-decade redistricting.

The new lines moved the Gulf Coast district north and made it about one point more Republican, based on President Trump’s 2024 margin of about 13 points there.

Democrats have called the map a gerrymander. Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, said it better reflects the state’s makeup.

Despite the tight race, Ms. Luna said she is honored to have been reelected.

“In politics there is no participation trophy. There are only winners and losers. And today, I won,” she said on social media.

New Jersey Republican Rep. Thomas H. Kean Jr. lost his reelection race Tuesday after missing four months of work in Washington this year while seeking treatment for depression.

Democrat Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot, flipped the seat, helping her party in its quest to retake control of the House. 

Mr. Kean, 58, stopped voting in early March, saying he was dealing with an unspecified health issue. He did not disclose until his return to the House at the end of June that he was receiving inpatient treatment for depression.

Democrats attacked Mr. Kean for not being more transparent with his constituents. 

Democrat Annie Andrews pulled off one of the night’s biggest surprises, defeating Sen. Darline Graham and becoming the first Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from South Carolina in nearly three decades.

The victory capped an underdog campaign that Democrats increasingly viewed as a rare opportunity in a state that has been reliably Republican at the federal level for years.

Ms. Andrews, a pediatrician who unsuccessfully challenged Rep. Nancy Mace in 2022, campaigned on lowering costs for gas, groceries, housing and healthcare.

Ms. Graham had never held elected office before Gov. Henry McMaster appointed her to complete the term of her late brother, longtime Sen. Lindsey Graham, who died suddenly in July.

Entering Election Day, some Republicans worried she would lose the seat.

Critics seized on her debate performance and media appearances, which raised questions about her command of key issues, including foreign affairs.

Republicans sought to shore up the seat in the closing weeks.

The Senate Leadership Fund, the party’s leading Senate super PAC, planned to spend $5 million to boost Ms. Graham’s candidacy, while President Trump traveled to the state twice last month to boost her bid.

Virginia solidified abortion rights and the right to same-sex marriage on Tuesday as voters in dozens of states decided ballot questions alongside their picks for Congress.

The abortion-related measure creates a “fundamental right to reproductive freedom” in response to the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and allowed states to restrict abortion if they chose.

Virginia voters approved it with over 60% support, while fewer than 30% voted against it.

Another measure, Question 2, erases the Virginia Constitution’s ban on same-sex marriage. It passed, 57% to 43%.

Some LGBT advocates were afraid the Supreme Court would revisit a 2015 ruling that forced states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Voters also weighed a third ballot question that would restore voting rights to felons after incarceration. It passed, 55% to 45%.

“I voted all ‘yes.’ There were a few little twinges I felt with some of the language, but nothing that stopped me from supporting the gist of each of the three,” said Deborah Fisco, a 67-year-old retired government attorney from Alexandria, Virginia.

Other voters at the Beltway-region polling site told The Washington Times they had voted against all three questions.

“I don’t think the Constitution needs to be changed,” said Rebecca, a woman in her 40s who only provided her first name.

Thirty-nine states put at least one ballot question before voters on Tuesday, a high-stakes subplot to midterm elections that will determine which party controls the House and Senate.

It’s official - Janeese Lewis George will be the new mayor of Washington, D.C. She practically ran unopposed in Tuesday’s general election after winning the Democratic primary earlier this year.

Now the question is what comes next for the 38-year-old politician who joins Zohran Mamdani in New York City and Katie Wilson in Seattle in a small club of democratic socialist municipal leaders.

Winning was easy as Lewis George breezed past an independent, a Statehood Green Party candidate and 11 write-ins lacking political clout. Now she faces her first potential heavyweight hurdles, including President Trump himself, who has inserted himself in local affairs and denounced the incoming mayor as a threat to the capital city.

“We will not let it be destroyed by a Communist adherent who has no intention to, MAKE WASHINGTON GREAT AGAIN!” Trump wrote on social media after her primary victory.

Lewis George, for her part, promised that she would work with anyone to keep the city safe “but I will also stand up to Trump.” Come Jan. 2, she will be sworn in as the city’s first new mayor in 12 years.

In an interview earlier this year, she told The Associated Press that her top priority will be addressing “the affordability crisis here in D.C., which the Trump administration has only made worse by unjustly firing federal employees en masse and militarizing our streets.”

WASHINGTON – Democrat Bennie Thompson wins reelection to U.S. House in Mississippi’s 2nd Congressional District.

Democrats flipped a critical governorship in Georgia Tuesday as former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms won a closely watched contest to break Republicans’ 24-year-old hold on the Peach State’s governor’s mansion. 

Ms. Bottoms defeated Republican billionaire Rick Jackson to succeed term-limited Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican.

The victory makes Ms. Bottoms the first Black woman to serve as governor in U.S. history. She joins Byron Donalds, a Republican, in Florida and Wes Moore, a Democrat in Maryland, as the only three Black governors in America. 

Ms. Bottoms served as Atlanta’s mayor and was a senior advisor to President Biden. She campaigned on expanding Medicaid, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour and improving access to affordable housing. 

Mr. Jackson, a healthcare executive making his first run for public office, pumped more than $200 million of his personal fortune into the campaign. He pledged to eliminate Georgia’s state income tax while addressing cost of living concerns.

Kentucky residents voted Tuesday overwhelmingly to limit the governor’s pardon power. 

Voters approved the ballot question, Amendment 1, by a margin of 70% to 30%.

The measure prohibits the governor from granting pardons or commuting sentences for a period running from 60 days before a gubernatorial election to inauguration day. 

It is intended to prevent an outgoing governor from using leniency as an election-season favor or granting a flurry of pardons or commutations on the way out the door.

DETROIT — Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg struck an optimistic tone Tuesday night as election results rolled in across the country, fueling hopes among Democrats that they were headed for a strong night.

“Folks, the results are still coming in, but to put it very, very mildly, I’d rather be us right now,” Mr. Buttigieg told supporters at Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s election night party.

The mood inside the ballroom here was buoyant as returns trickled in from red state races across the country and signs of Democratic strength began to emerge in key races.

Attendees watched television, viewing the early returns as a positive sign for Mr. El-Sayed’s chances of emerging victorious in a bruising race against Republican Mike Rogers.

Mr. Buttigieg cautioned that Democrats still have work to do and noted that Republicans will control the White House for two more years, no matter what happens. But he said the results, particularly in Michigan, would send a message that could not be ignored.

“They can ignore the American people no longer, because we have the last word when it comes to elections,” Mr. Buttigieg said.

Mr. Buttigieg is among the Democrats eyeing a 2028 presidential run, and the party’s performance Tuesday is likely to shape the debate over what kind of message and candidates Democrats want to rally behind. The results could help set the terms of the next Democratic presidential primary.

Mr. Buttigieg, a former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, moved to Michigan in 2022 after emerging as a national figure during the 2020 Democratic presidential race. During that race, he narrowly won the Iowa caucuses and finished a close second to Sen. Bernard Sanders in New Hampshire before later joining President Biden’s Cabinet.

WASHINGTON — Republican Jason Smith wins reelection to U.S. House in Missouri’s 8th Congressional District.

Rep. Byron Donalds, a Republican, defeated Democrat David Jolly in the Florida gubernatorial race Tuesday night. 

Mr. Donalds, 48, who has represented Florida’s 19th Congressional District since 2021, will succeed Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican. Mr. DeSantis is term-limited. 

The win against Mr. Jolly, a former Republican who switched parties ahead of his run for governor, was close, with Mr. Donalds winning by roughly two percentage points. 

It was the first gubernatorial victory for the Republicans Tuesday night. The first five gubernatorial races to be called were in reliably blue states and Democrats won handily. A Democrat has not won a gubernatorial race in Florida since 1994. 

WASHINGTON — Democrat Keisha Bottoms wins election for governor in Georgia.

WASHINGTON — Democrat Jamie Raskin wins reelection to U.S. House in Maryland’s 8th Congressional District.

WASHINGTON — Democrat Ned Lamont wins reelection for governor in Connecticut.

Democratic candidate Jamie Ager prevailed over Republican candidate Jennifer Balkcom in the race to replace outgoing Republican incumbent Rep. Chuck Edwards of North Carolina.

Republicans hold a slim majority in the House with 218 seats to 214 for Democrats, with one independent and two vacancies. Democrats need a net gain of three to take control.

Democrats flipped their first House seat with his win.

Mr. Ager, a farmer and small business owner, won despite a strong GOP voting history in the district, which has sent a Republican to Congress in every election since 2010.

The seat became an open race after Mr. Edwards, who has been in office since 2023, withdrew from his reelection bid following a recommendation for formal censure by the House Ethics Committee.

The committee found his conduct with female staffers “beyond inappropriate” but found no evidence he explicitly propositioned anyone or engaged in sexual activity with them. Mr. Edwards denied any romantic or sexual intent, and his attorneys argued the findings “exonerate” him.

WASHINGTON — Democrat Ritchie Torres wins reelection to U.S. House in New York’s 15th Congressional District.

WASHINGTON — Republican Byron Donalds wins election for governor in Florida.

WASHINGTON — Democrat Hakeem Jeffries wins reelection to U.S. House in New York’s 8th Congressional District.

Democrat Helena Buonanno Foulkes won Rhode Island’s gubernatorial election on Tuesday, defeating Republican Aaron Guckian and three independent candidates to keep the governor’s mansion in Democratic hands.

Ms. Foulkes secured the Democratic nomination in September by defeating incumbent Gov. Dan McKee, also a Democrat, winning 62.5% of the primary vote to his 37.5%.

Her victory Tuesday night marked a political comeback for the former CVS executive, who lost her first bid for governor in 2022 but returned four years later to claim the state’s highest office.

Of the first five gubernatorial races to be called Tuesday night, all five went for Democrats with Pennsylvania, Maryland, Illinois and Massachusetts all remaining blue.

Ms. Foulkes campaigned on housing affordability, proposing to build 20,000 homes and apartment units financed through a tax on millionaires. She also pledged to overhaul the state’s transportation department and improve access to healthcare.

WASHINGTON— Republican Harriet Hageman wins election to U.S. Senate from Wyoming.

Democratic governors in four states easily won another term on Tuesday, fending off Republican challengers in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Massachusetts as voters opted to keep their incumbent leaders in office.

The four races were the first gubernatorial races called on Tuesday night, with others to be decided later in the evening.

The races in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Illinois have national implications because the winning governors have been widely discussed as potential Democratic presidential candidates in 2028.

Gov. Wes Moore won decisively in Maryland against Republican Dan Cox in a rematch of their 2022 contest, which Mr. Moore won easily. Mr. Moore, Maryland’s first Black governor, campaigned on emphasizing public safety, education and increasing economic opportunity.

In Pennsylvania, Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, won a second term against Republican state Treasurer Stacy Garrity in a closely watched battleground state. Mr. Shapiro emphasized his record on economic development and willingness to reach across the aisle, while Ms. Garrity challenged his handling of state spending.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, won a third term against Republican Darren Bailey, whom he defeated by nearly 13 percentage points in 2022. Mr. Pritzker campaigned on abortion rights and his opposition to President Trump, while Mr. Bailey focused on lowering taxes and decreasing crime.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat, won a second term against Republican Michael Minogue and independent Andrea James. Ms. Healey centered her campaign on housing affordability and opposition to Mr. Trump’s tax policies. Ms. Healey was expected to win easily, as polls showed her with a nearly 20-percentage-point lead over Mr. Minogue. 

WASHINGTON — Democrat Rashida Tlaib wins reelection to U.S. House in Michigan’s 12th Congressional District.

Former Gov. Roy Cooper has flipped an open North Carolina Senate seat for Democrats. 

Mr. Cooper, 69, beat former Republican National Committee chair Michael Whatley for the seat that the GOP has held since 2008. 

He will fill the seat left vacant by retiring Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who has clashed with the second Trump administration.

National Republicans had stopped boosting Mr. Whatley in recent months to focus on more competitive races. 

Senate Democratic Leader Charles E. Schumer and Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, both of New York, congratulated Mr. Cooper, one of their top recruits, on his victory. 

“Roy has never lost an election because North Carolinians know he is a true leader and champion for his state,” they said. 

Mr. Cooper served two terms as governor, after time as attorney general and in the state legislature.

WASHINGTON — Republican Shelley Capito wins reelection to U.S. Senate from West Virginia.

WASHINGTON – Democrat Joaquin Castro wins reelection to U.S. House in Texas’ 20th Congressional District.

WASHINGTON — Democrat Eugene Vindman wins reelection to U.S. House in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District.

Florida Republicans’ redistricting gambit yielded disappointing results for the GOP on Tuesday.

Democratic Reps. Jared Moskowitz and Kathy Castor won reelection Tuesday despite Republicans redrawing their districts to try and defeat them.

Mr. Moskowitz defeated Republican Scott Singer in one of the redrawn districts. Ms. Castor defeated Republican Mike Beltran, even though her district’s boundaries were stretched into more rural and conservative areas to the west of Tampa.

Mr. Moskowitz is a moderate in his caucus who describes himself as a “DeSantis Democrat” due to his prior service in Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration.

Mr. DeSantis, a Republican, signed into law in May a redrawn congressional map favoring Republicans in four districts.

Mr. Moskowitz was drawn out of his previous district, forcing him to compete in the 25th, stretching from Palm Beach County to Miami-Dade County.

“I’ve worked across the aisle. I’ve delivered results for my community, and they spent $26 million trying to beat me,” said Mr. Moskowitz after his win. “They lit that money on fire tonight.” 

Democrat Pia Dandiya also won in Florida’s 22nd Congressional District, defeating Republican Casey Askar.

The district’s current representative, Democratic Rep. Lois Frankel, opted out of a reelection campaign after Florida redrew its map.

WASHINGTON — Republican Ashley Moody wins reelection to U.S. Senate from Florida.

WASHINGTON — Democrat Roy Cooper wins election to U.S. Senate from North Carolina.

WASHINGTON — Democrat Chris Pappas wins election to U.S. Senate from New Hampshire.

President Trump lashed out at Fox News on Tuesday after the channel flashed bad polling numbers for him.

He said their latest ratings are down because they spend too much time covering Democrats who attack him.

Mr. Trump, who is watching the election returns at the White House, said on social media: “Fox News Ratings are way down (27%!) because they’re spending too much time covering the Trump Deranged Dumocrats!”

He continued, “All of those people who used to watch Fox, and no longer do, get it. It’s them, not me — My numbers are better than they have ever been. The new CNN Poll stated that ‘TRUMP’ is at 99% among Republicans and, among Republican Presidents, ‘TRUMP’ is at 53%, compared to Ronald Reagan at 18%, and Abraham Lincoln at 8%!”

“Fox knows this, and so does everyone else! Also, why is Fox Corp. spending so much money donating to the Worst of the Worst,” he said before ticking off several Democrats such as House Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, Ted Lieu of California, Pete Aguilar of California and several national and state Democrat organizations.

“No wonder Fox News Ratings are collapsing, and they’re going to go down a lot further. They’re way down, not because of me, but because they are AGAINST me!”

He said, “This happened once before, and Fox almost collapsed. It’s happening again!”

Mr. Trump railed against Fox News after seeing national poll questions the network flashed on the screen and the results of the channel’s polling.

The poll numbers included a majority of voters who were blaming Mr. Trump for higher prices, saying he was not a strong leader, that he was not fighting for “people like you,” that he did not have the mental capacity to serve effectively, that he put his interests before the country’s and that he did not have the right priorities.

Janeese Lewis George made history Tuesday night as the first socialist elected mayor in the District, while Maryland Gov. Wes Moore strolled to a second term in a rematch against the man he beat four years earlier.

Ms. Lewis George secured a comfortable victory shortly after the final voters left polling locations, winning 84%  of the vote over Robert Gross, the candidate for the Statehood Green Party, and Rhonda Hamilton, the independent candidate. 

“I didn’t run for mayor to keep applauding how hard our people have to fight and how good we can fight. I ran for mayor so that government will fight for you.” Ms. Lewis George said in her victory speech in Southeast. “Tonight, our campaign ends. Tomorrow, our work begins.”

In Maryland, Mr. Moore was projected to win his race against Republican challenger Dan Cox almost immediately after polls closed at 8 p.m.

The deep-blue state’s voters are also projected to give the legislature’s Democratic supermajority permission to redraw congressional districts in a way that would put in jeopardy the lone Republican U.S. House member in the state.   

Back in the District, former D.C. Council member Robert White easily won the seat to become the federal city’s next nonvoting delegate, held for more than 30 years by the retiring Eleanor Holmes Norton. And several new Council members, including another self-described socialist, join the legislative body in a major sea change in city politics.

A D.C. ballot initiative to ban foie gras, the luxury duck and goose liver dish, throughout the nation’s capital in the name of combating animal cruelty is also projected to pass as well.

But Ms. Lewis George’s election brings the largest change to city politics.

The current Ward 4 Council member becomes the latest socialist to assume control of a major city. Last year, New York City voters backed Zohran Mamdani and Seattle voters supported Katie Wilson’s bid for mayor.

Once Ms. Lewis George assumes office in January, her left-wing agenda will be tested against revenue challenges and President Trump’s habit of dabbling in the affairs of the District, over which the federal government exercises far more power as the national capital.

The prospective mayor campaigned on using the government to tackle affordability issues. Her key promises include expanding rent control, building more than 70,000 housing units over the next five years, and ensuring no family pays more than 7% of its household income for childcare.

Ms. Lewis George aims to accomplish these goals by proposing a tax on out-of-state business owners in the District, while also auditing city agencies to trim administrative waste. 

But those plans are countered by the capital city’s funding shortage that is forecasted to last for years.

A combination of the declining value of downtown office space — a remnant of the workforce trends brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic — and the Trump administration’s downsizing of the federal government has local officials projecting a $736 million decline in revenue between fiscal 2027 and 2030. 

Mr. Trump’s presence looms over the District’s day-to-day functioning as well. The Department of Defense extended the National Guard deployment until the end of his second term, and federal agents are cooperating with the Metropolitan Police Department on patrols and criminal investigations. 

The president has not been shy about bashing Ms. Lewis George, either. Following her primary victory in June, Mr. Trump called the mayoral favorite a “communist” and said he would “take over” the District if she won office.

Ms. Lewis George promised to fight the president’s perceived overreach in court with the help of D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, but her rhetoric toward the commander-in-chief cooled as Election Day neared.

Last week, Ms. Lewis George said her only concrete goal was to end the police department’s cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Beyond that, she said she wanted to demonstrate that her administration can run the city competently on the public safety and financial fronts.

Maryland’s gubernatorial race was a repeat of the 2022 election, in which Mr. Moore soared past Mr. Cox.

Mr. Moore has tried to quiet speculation that his second term at the governor’s mansion is merely a pit stop on the way to the presidency, but the Democratic executive has become a frequent face on national television and on trips around the country.

He also has influential friends, such as actor and Democratic donor George Clooney, who have voiced their support for his White House bid, should he move in that direction.

When debate moderators asked Mr. Moore last month if he would commit to serving his full term if he won office again, the governor said, “I’m committed to the people of Maryland, and that’s why I’m running for reelection.”

WASHINGTON — Democrat Wes Moore wins reelection for governor in Maryland.

WASHINGTON —Democrat Donald Beyer wins reelection to U.S. House in Virginia’s 8th Congressional District.

Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Democrat, will return to the Senate next Congress for his second term after beating Republican Rep. Mike Collins on Tuesday.

Mr. Ossoff, 39, is the only Democratic incumbent who ran for reelection this year in a swing state. President Trump won Georgia in 2024 after narrowly losing it to Joseph R. Biden in 2020.

National Republicans had given up on winning the Georgia Senate race long before Election Day, as Mr. Ossoff had a massive fundraising advantage and consistently led Mr. Collins in public polls.

Mr. Ossoff raised more than $136 million, the second-largest haul of any congressional candidate this cycle, behind only James Talarico, the Democratic Senate nominee in Texas.

Mr. Collins raised $4 million.

Mr. Ossoff, in his victory speech, celebrated his and other early Democratic wins as a sign “the American people have rebuked the depravity, corruption, and incompetence of the failed lame-duck president Donald J. Trump.

“If at times these last two years, amidst the ceaseless onslaught of brutality and indecency, you doubted whether our republic would survive, let tonight’s results give you courage that the first light of dawn is on the horizon,” he said.

Mr. Collins did not congratulate Mr. Ossoff in his concession speech or even mention his name. Instead, he focused on thanking his supporters and reflecting on his accomplishments in the House. 

“The results may not be what we wanted tonight, but y’all, that’s OK,” Mr. Collins said. “I’m going to continue to serve in whatever capacity I’m afforded, and I look forward to whatever the good Lord has in store for us.”

WASHINGTON — Democrat Josh Shapiro wins reelection for governor in Pennsylvania.

WASHINGTON— Republican James Comer wins reelection to U.S. House in Kentucky’s 1st Congressional District.

ATLANTA — Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff was reelected Tuesday to a second term, holding a key seat for Democrats by defeating Republican Rep. Mike Collins in a race that catapulted the Senate’s youngest member to the forefront of his party’s national stars as it looks to stymie President Donald Trump in his final White House years.

Ossoff, 39, began the cycle as a top Republican target and the only Senate Democrat running for reelection in a state Trump carried in 2024. But from the start, the senator ran as an aggressive Trump critic, with blistering critiques of “a failed president” that became a staple of voters’ social media feeds across the country.

He became a fundraising juggernaut, pulling in more than $100 million and sparking speculation about a potential 2028 presidential bid to succeed the man he said has used the Oval Office to enrich himself and damage the U.S. political and economic system.

RICHMOND, Va. — Democratic incumbent Mark Warner won election Tuesday to the U.S. Senate representing Virginia, defeating Republican Bert Mizusawa.

Warner won a fourth term to the Senate, where he serves as vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Mizusawa is a retired Army major general and Afghanistan war veteran.

Warner’s victory comes in a state with some of the highest numbers of federal workers, who bore the brunt of President Donald Trump’s efforts to slash the government workforce early in his second term. The Associated Press declared Warner the winner at 7:00 p.m. EST.

A majority of voters disapprove of the U.S. war against Iran, but it was not the top motivating factor for those who turned out at the polls on Tuesday, exit polls show.

The Associated Press’s voter poll found 6 in 10 believe the U.S. made the “wrong decision” in taking military action against Iran.

However, only one-third of voters said the Iran war was a “crucial” factor in who they supported in congressional races.

Voters said they were more motivated by the cost of living and government corruption.

NBC News’ survey similarly found that 34% of voters said the Iran war was “crucial” to who they supported for Congress, while another 40% said it was a “major factor.”

Combining those responses, 62% of Democrats were motivated to vote by the Iran war, while only 35% of Republicans were.

CBS’s exit poll also found that most voters disagreed with the U.S. taking military action against Iran, including roughly one-quarter of Republicans.

MIAMI — Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz won election Tuesday to the U.S. House of Representatives representing Florida’s 20th Congressional District, defeating Republican Brent Andersen.

Wasserman Schultz’s switch to a new congressional district paid off as the former Democratic National Committee chair secured a 12th term in office. She is the first Jewish congresswoman elected from Florida and served in the state’s House and Senate before winning federal office. Andersen founded a commercial and property insurance company and said that experience gave him unique insight into lowering property insurance costs, a growing concern in Florida.

The Associated Press declared Wasserman Schultz the winner at 7:09 p.m. EST.

Antipathy to President Trump was a motivating factor for many voters Tuesday, according to early exit polls that showed him with abysmal approval ratings.

The polling conducted for a consortium of television networks found Mr. Trump with just a 38% approval rating. That’s down dramatically from other presidents over the past 20 years, who were all above 40%.

That includes Mr. Trump himself, who had a 45% approval rating in 2018.

Neither political party fared well. NBC said 54% of voters held an unfavorable view of Democrats, and 59% were down on the GOP.

They did trust Democrats more on most big issues, from the economy and health care to foreign policy.

The GOP still held an edge on immigration.

But issues may have mattered less in this election than past ones, with Mr. Trump making the vote so much about him — and his party may suffer for it.

The early poll returns said voters felt Mr. Trump prioritizes himself over the country’s interests, and blamed him for a worsening economy and higher prices they’re paying.

Three-quarters of voters said the economy is hurting, and about 80% said inflation is hitting them personally.