US Midterm Elections 2026 Live Updates: Democrats continue to stack wins in House as Republicans start blame game after midterm rout

Democrats have taken control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, handing President Donald Trump a heavy midterm-election defeat, US networks have projected. The party won the House first, then flipped Senate seats in at least four states, including Republican strongholds Texas, Kansas and South Carolina.

Most results have been called, but counting continues in a few seats. The outcome sets up a tense final two years of Trump's time in the White House, with Democrats now able to block or challenge his plans in both chambers.

Trump has said he accepts the result. Trump says the Iran war played a part in the loss: As more House races went to Democrats, Trump said it was "largely true" that the war in Iran added to his party's heavy loss. Vice President JD Vance made similar remarks.

Voters have shown unhappiness with the war, but Trump told reporters he isn't considering replacing Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. Republicans split on why they lost: Senior Republicans gave their own reasons. Senator Thom Tillis, who is retiring, pointed to policies that were meant well but badly carried out over the past 18 months.

Outgoing Senator John Cornyn said his party had forgotten the basic rules of building a winning coalition, according to the same report. Follow the latest updates on the 2026 US Midterm Elections Results here. This live blog tracks the key developments as the final days of campaigning and voting day unfold.

The headline, introduction, and Top Developments section will be refreshed throughout the day to reflect the most important news from the vote. US President Donald Trump backed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday, a day after Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress in midterm elections that reflected voter anger over the Iran war.

Asked whether he was considering replacing Hegseth, whom he has described as a champion of the war, Trump told reporters: "No, I think he's doing a very good job." The response contrasted with then-President George Bush, who fired Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld the morning after the 2006 midterm elections, when voter discontent over the Iraq war helped Democrats win control of Congress.

But sources said Trump could still replace Hegseth as Republicans assess their losses. One Trump adviser said Hegseth "could be on the chopping block" because of the war. "Someone is ⁠going to ​get blamed for this and you know it's not going to be him (Trump)," the adviser said.

For Delhi, the unpredictability of Donald Trump became more pronounced ever since he claimed to have brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan following hostilities in May 2025, his whims and diktats sending bilateral relations on a roller coaster.

On Wednesday, there was a collective sigh of relief in Delhi as Democrats seized control of both the Senate and House of Representatives, placing guardrails on the President’s unchecked powers so far in the two years of his Presidency.

South Block officials, who had been tracking the elections through the night Tuesday, told The Indian Express that they were “cautiously optimistic” about the results after a year-and-half of turbulence in bilateral ties.

read more Democratic US Senator Chris Van Hollen has called for an immediate end to the war in Iran after his party’s landslide victory in both houses of the US Congress in Tuesday’s midterms. Van Hollen told The Lever podcast, “Democrats should not advance spending to continue to fund this war” beyond the December 11 funding cut-off approved by Congress in September.

“This is an illegal war, and we need to make sure taxpayer monies are not used to continue an illegal war,” he said. Van Hollen has publicly withheld immediate support for Senator Chuck Schumer to reclaim his position as Senate Democratic leader after Tuesday’s midterm landslide, arguing the party needs commitments to ensure their “bold agenda” before giving Schumer the role.

Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed has set out his four main aims ahead of taking his Senate seat in January, CNN reports. He said he did not expect the race to “get so big” when he entered it, and he told CNN what he wants to do first.

Ari Fleischer, who was press secretary to former US President George W Bush, has rejected Vice President JD Vance’s suggestion that the war on Iran caused the Republican Party’s midterm defeat. In a statement on X, Fleischer wrote: “The problem was not the Iran War.

It was the cease-fire.” He argued that a country that starts a war must finish and win it, and he criticised the administration’s approach, saying the US was close to a more peaceful Middle East before it backed away.