Susan Collins to Greg Abbott: Incumbents who lost their seats in the 2026 US midterm elections

Democrats scored one of their biggest midterm victories defeating several high-profile Republican incumbents and reclaiming control of both the House and Senate. The party also flipped multiple governorships, delivering a major setback to President Donald Trump and reshaping the political landscape ahead of the final two years of his second term.

Susan Collins to Greg Abbott: Incumbents who lost their seats in the 2026 US midterm elections (Bloomberg)The election saw long-held Republican strongholds fall to Democrats as voters cited inflation, the cost of living and dissatisfaction with Trump’s presidency among their top concerns, according to Fortune.

According to NBC News exit polls, only 38% of voters approved of Trump’s job performance, while 62% disapproved. Several prominent Republican incumbents lost races that many analysts had once considered safely in the GOP column.

One of the biggest upsets came in Maine, where six-term Republican Sen. Susan Collins conceded defeat to Democrat Troy Jackson, ending nearly three decades in the Senate. Collins had represented Maine since 1997 and was one of the longest-serving Republican senators.

In Kansas, Republican Sen. Roger Marshall lost to Democrat Adam Hamilton, marking the first Democratic Senate victory in the state in nearly a century. The Guardian described the result as one of the night’s biggest surprises.

South Carolina also produced a historic outcome. Republican Sen. Darline Graham, appointed after the death of longtime Sen. Lindsey Graham, lost to Democrat Dr Annie Andrews. Democrats had not won a Senate seat in the state for decades.

In Ohio, Republican Sen. Jon Husted, who had been appointed to the seat, also lost his first election. His defeat further expanded the Democrats’ Senate gains. Texas witnessed two major Republican setbacks. Republican Gov.

Greg Abbott lost his bid for a fourth term to Democrat Gina Hinojosa. Republican-backed Senate candidate and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, although not incumbent, was also defeated by Democrat James Talarico after a closely watched campaign.

The results pointed to Trump’s political influence. According to The Guardian, several candidates personally backed by the president failed to win despite extensive campaign support. Among them were Ken Paxton in Texas, Darline Graham in South Carolina and Michael Whatley in North Carolina.

Democrat Roy Cooper defeated Whatley in one of the night’s most closely watched Senate contests. Earlier in the campaign, Trump repeatedly urged Republicans to vote “as though I was on the ballot.” However, after the results, he argued the losses were not a referendum on his presidency.

“I wasn’t on the ballot and if I was, we would have won in a landslide,” Trump wrote on social media. He later repeated that argument in interviews, insisting voter turnout would have been higher had he been a candidate.

Fortune noted it was only the third time in the past 50 years that control of both chambers of Congress changed in the same election. Fortune also cited NBC's exit poll that found Republicans, who had relied on the economy for two years, were no longer in the lead.

According to AP exit polls, voters' top two concerns were government corruption and the expense of living. Democrats flipped seven Senate seats, more than two dozen House seats and expanded their hold on several governor’s offices.

Shirin Gupta is a content producer with the Hindustan Times. She covers everything between politics, entertainment and sports at the US desk. Shirin got interested in political journalism during her time as a web editor at her college newspaper NCC News in Syracuse when she first started seeing the effects of national politics in life of her fellow colleagues.

Shirin has worked on a wide range of fast-moving and developing stories locally when she was at NCC editing accessible reports for the audience. Her current role requires her to track real-time updates, verify information and present balanced coverage across diverse beats.

Covering US politics from an international newsroom perspective has further deepened her understanding of how domestic decisions can have far-reaching global consequences. With a keen interest in international affairs, Shirin continues to build her expertise in geopolitics, policy shifts, and cross-border developments.

She aims to learn and evolve her reporting in matters of geopolitics and international issues. Outside the newsroom Shirin writes about books and music for her personal blog. She is an avid consumer of pop culture and reveres literature.Read More