The results of the 2026 midterm parliamentary elections are still being tallied. However, the overall picture is already clear: the Democratic Party achieved a historic victory, while Donald Trump’s presidency faces a major setback, turning the White House leader into a president in his last two years in office without Congressional support.
CNN presents some of the most important winners and losers of the election.
Winners
Political representation of the Black population: Before Tuesday's elections, only three Black governors had ever been elected in the United States. Starting next year, five will simultaneously hold this office. This is the result of victories by Republican Byron Donalds in Florida and Democrats David Crowley in Wisconsin, Aaron Ford in Nevada, and Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia. The latter will become the first Black woman elected governor in U.S. history.
Also, Democrats won in southern states largely due to the mobilization of Black voters. If Democrat Scott Colom manages to defeat Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi, a state where Donald Trump won by 23 percentage points, his victory could become one of the most significant moments of the election, given the state's tense history regarding racial issues.
Religious left: Two Democratic candidates who exceeded expectations are Adam Hamilton, elected senator in Kansas and a pastor by profession, and James Talarico, future senator from Texas, who frequently speaks about his faith and delivers a message similar to that of a youth pastor. Democrats are expected to seek more candidates with similar profiles.
Jon Ossoff, a double winner: He was re-elected to the Senate with an impressive margin of 18 percentage points in a state considered competitive, thus consolidating his position on the national political stage. Furthermore, Keisha Lance Bottoms' victory in Georgia allows him to consider a presidential run in 2028 without facing a significant obstacle: the possibility that a Republican governor might succeed her in leading the state.
James Talarico: Although he benefited from a vulnerable opponent, Texas Attorney General Republican Ken Paxton, few expected Talarico to win by double digits. Currently, he leads by 12 percentage points in a state where Democrats have not won a statewide race since 1994.
Gina Hinojosa: She is another big winner of the Texas election. The future Democratic governor managed to attract voters from all social categories and all regions of the state, defeating Republican Greg Abbott, who was serving his third term and was not considered at risk of losing the election at the start of the campaign.
Annie Andrews: The future Democratic senator from South Carolina also deserves attention. The pediatrician took advantage of the problems of Republican Darline Graham, who was appointed to the Senate, but Andrews already had a favorable image in pre-election polls and ran a very good campaign.
Democrats' prospects for the presidential elections: Jon Ossoff, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, and other potential candidates for the 2028 presidential elections emerge strengthened from this election. Moreover, Democrats have demonstrated that they can compete electorally in almost all regions of the country.
If they manage to turn Texas into a competitive state, which remains difficult, the electoral calculations for the presidential election could radically change in their favor. Tuesday's results also suggest that the electoral alliance that supported Trump is beginning to unravel, especially as some of his supporters do not mobilize as strongly when he is not on the ballot.
Democratic power at the state level: Although some important results are still awaited, Democrats have taken full control of governance in at least six states. Until now, Republicans had a stronger position at the state administration level.
Liberal wing of the Supreme Court: The majority gained by Democrats in the Senate makes the possibility for Republicans to confirm a conservative judge to replace Samuel Alito and/or Clarence Thomas seem increasingly distant. Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis suggested Tuesday evening that such a change might not be possible even by the early 2030s.
Ron DeSantis: The results provide an argument for Republicans to seek a presidential candidate in 2028 outside the current Trump administration, not just among Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Florida is one of the few states where Republicans achieved significant victories, and DeSantis has recently distanced himself from Trump's political approach.
Another name to watch is Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, who is even less aligned with the Trumpist current. In fact, a post published Wednesday by JD Vance on platform X, blaming Republican losses on the war in Iran, suggests he is also trying to distance himself from some of the president's decisions.
Washington lawyers: The permissive approach of the Trump administration regarding ethics and the personal enrichment of some of its members has given Democrats numerous potential targets for investigations. Robert Garcia, the California Democrat who is set to lead the House Oversight Committee, sent Tuesday evening a short message, in two words: “Hire lawyers!”. Administration officials were already facing such warnings.
Losers
Donald Trump: He is the most obvious loser of the election, and the scale of his personal defeat is hard to underestimate. Not only does the election result turn him into a president without parliamentary support, but Trump made the entire Republican campaign revolve around himself.
The president personally took responsibility for the economy through tariff policy and involvement in the Iran war, decisions that backfired. He also got involved in the Republican primaries, supporting candidates with lower chances of winning, repeating the mistakes of 2018.
His behavior in the last days of the campaign was also unusual. Trump downplayed cost-of-living issues and frequently spoke about highly unpopular projects.
JD Vance: Donald Trump has become a political burden for the vice president. He may try to distance himself from the president regarding the Iran war and the relationship with Israel, as he began to do on Wednesday, but it will be extremely difficult.
Trump will not easily accept the vice president undermining his policies or what he considers important achievements of his term, such as the Iran war. Moreover, the president is not the type of leader willing to take criticism to protect other party members.
Elon Musk: The billionaire spent hundreds of millions of dollars supporting Republicans, including significant sums for one of the party's biggest defeats, the Texas Senate race. As with the 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court elections, his involvement seems to have given Democrats an electoral target, turning him into a sort of Republican version of George Soros.
Additionally, Musk moved Tesla to Texas in recent years, a state now governed by Democrats.
Tariffs: The tariff policy was one of the biggest mistakes of Trump and the Republicans. Voters initially seemed open to the idea, but it is unclear if they fully understood what tariffs entailed. Subsequently, Trump applied them unpredictably, with numerous changes and suspensions.
A recent study by the New York Federal Reserve showed that consumer goods prices would have decreased in 2025 if these tariffs had not been introduced.
Mike Johnson: The Republican Speaker of the House insisted for several weeks that the polls were wrong and that his party would defy history by retaining the House majority. Either he made unfounded statements or received very poor political information.
Now, Johnson will not even try to remain the Republican leader in the House and will not run for minority leader. However, he may see this withdrawal as an opportunity to step away from one of the most challenging roles in Washington politics.
Republican-favorable electoral redistricting: The Republicans' strategy to redraw electoral districts to their advantage may prove a failure. In North Carolina, the electoral map created by Republicans has backfired: the party risks losing or is trailing opponents in 10 of the 14 districts.
Moreover, Republicans might not win any of the five seats they reserved through redistricting in Texas and none of the four in Florida.
Thus, the Republican offensive to redraw electoral maps mid-decade seems to have brought them almost no advantage in this election. Furthermore, the control gained by Democrats in several states could allow them to redraw their own districts before the 2028 elections, using the precedent created by the Republicans themselves.
Darline Graham: Although it seems unfair to include her on this list, especially since she did not seem to want this responsibility after her brother's death, the appointed senator proved to be a disastrous candidate. Her promotion was also a controversial decision by Trump.
Most voters felt she did not have the necessary qualifications to hold a Senate seat. Her case serves as a warning to those who might be tempted to enter national politics without proper preparation.
Roger Marshall: It is difficult to identify the candidates who had the weakest performances, given that voters generally voted against the Republicans. However, Marshall is among the weakest. He had difficulties fundraising and only managed to build an effective campaign team very late.
Ken Paxton: His result was even worse. The Republican loses a state where Trump had won by 14 percentage points, being defeated by a margin of 12 points. This is a 26-point swing compared to the president's result.
Haley Stevens: The late decision by the Democratic congresswoman from Michigan to change her support, abandoning her former primary rival Abdul El-Sayed in favor of former Republican congressman Mike Rogers, does not seem to have had any effect. El-Sayed won the Senate race by seven percentage points.
On the other hand, Stevens' gesture seems to have compromised her chances of having a future in Democratic politics.
Controversial campaign tactics: The controversial campaign ad of Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, which featured the mother of Democratic candidate Amy Acton, did not yield results. Ramaswamy achieved a poorer result than any other Republican candidate in Ohio at the statewide level.
Democrats who made way for independent candidates: The defeat of independent Dan Osborn, who lost by six percentage points to Republican Pete Ricketts in Nebraska, suggests that the Democrats’ strategy of not fielding their own candidates in strongly Republican states did not pay off.
Independent candidates also lost in Idaho and South Dakota, where the margins exceeded 20 percentage points. In Montana, the fact that Democrats failed to convince their own candidate to withdraw led to about half of the votes being split between him and the independent candidate.
Tuesday’s results suggest that Democrats might achieve better outcomes if they support their own moderate candidates tailored to the voter profile in these states.