2026 midterm elections live updates: Democrats regain control of Congress in historic blue wave

Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) has reportedly requested protection from the U.S. Marshals Service after she received death threats over her endorsement of Michigan’s Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers.

According to a report from Axios, Stevens requested the protection, and a Trump administration official says she is expected to have her request fulfilled.

Stevens made a shock endorsement for Rogers on Sunday, flipping from her prior support for Democratic candidate Abdul el Sayed after their rifts over his criticism of Israel’s government boiled over. She has received a lot of blowback from Democrats for her last-minute backing of Rogers, including several members of her congressional staff who resigned over the endorsement.

Now that most of the results are in, the Washington Examiner is wrapping up its live coverage of the 2026 midterm elections.

As of Thursday morning, Democrats have 54 seats in the Senate and 240 seats in the House. The Senate races in Alaska and Mississippi still need to be called, and the same applies to 48 remaining House races. The Democratic-controlled Congress will start its session in January 2027.

Click here to read more of the Washington Examiner’s 2026 election coverage.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Wednesday gave his take on Republicans’ upset in the midterm elections, saying the GOP fell short on addressing voters’ concerns about the cost of living.

Cruz, who is a possible 2028 presidential candidate, shared a lengthy X post the evening after the elections, which he referred to as an “a** kicking” for Republicans. He noted polls taken prior to the elections that showed the cost of living was overwhelmingly the top concern for voters but acknowledged that the GOP didn’t put enough focus on the topic.

“The top issue, cost of living, is very real,” he said. “Too many in politics dismissed it. They didn’t understand. They pointed to the macro numbers showing the stock markets soaring, median income at record highs, and poverty at record lows. Those data are true, but they don’t tell all of the story.”

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Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) gave War Secretary Pete Hegseth an ultimatum Wednesday night, saying the Cabinet official can resign or face impeachment in the 119th Congress’s final stretch.

Massie’s move is unsurprising, as he previously disclosed his plans to force a vote on impeachment articles against Hegseth when the House returns following the midterm elections. But the idea carries new weight, as the GOP has moved to blame the Iran war for its historic loss Tuesday night.

“There is one contingency in which I won’t reintroduce the articles of impeachment: Hegseth resigns,” Massie wrote in an X post after telling CNN he would bring the measure forward next week when the House returns.

The idea of Hegseth’s impeachment is not far-fetched. In post-mortem reviews of the midterm elections in which Democrats swiped control of both chambers of Congress, several GOP leaders pinpointed the blame on the Iran war, including Vice President JD Vance.

“The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night,” Vance wrote Wednesday morning on X. “If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest. But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.”

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Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, saw his net worth fall by $33.5 billion on Wednesday as investors sold off shares in his companies in anticipation of the incoming Democratic majorities in Congress.

Musk, the CEO and largest shareholder of Tesla and SpaceX, saw the total value of his wealth decline by 3.7% in just one day, according to Bloomberg’s billionaires index, which tracks the wealth of the world’s richest people and updates it every evening.

Musk spent hundreds of millions of dollars backing Republicans against Democrats in the midterm elections and was one of the architects of the Department of Government Efficiency.

The blue wave raises the odds of Democratic investigations into companies seen as close to President Donald Trump.

And Musk’s businesses took a hit on Wednesday after already seeing declines in overnight trading. Tesla fell about 3.3%, while the total value of SpaceX declined by about 3.8% on Wednesday.

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The Department of Justice offered no new details Wednesday on its Alaska election investigations as Sen. Dan S. Sullivan (R-AK) and Democrat Mary Peltola remained locked in a Senate race too close to call.

As of Wednesday evening, Peltola led Sullivan 102,701 to 102,075 in first-choice votes, a 626-vote advantage, with an estimated 74% of votes counted. The Associated Press has not called the race.

Asked about next steps, a department spokesperson declined to comment on specific plans to the Washington Examiner but pointed to public civil filings and Attorney General Todd Blanche’s Tuesday Fox News interview, in which he defended preserving ballots to examine possible voter confusion over a spoiler candidate with the same first and last name as the Republican incumbent, who has garnered more than 3,500 votes.

Blanche on Tuesday described a scenario in which Sullivan “could lose, but really he didn’t lose,” if confusion between the incumbent and spoiler candidate Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. affected the outcome. “That’s why you need to preserve these ballots,” he said.

Sullivan’s campaign argues that Peltola’s narrow lead could disappear once voters’ backup choices are counted.

Under Alaska’s ranked-choice system, if no candidate wins more than 50% of first-choice votes, the last-place candidate is eliminated. Ballots for that candidate transfer to each voter’s next choice still in the race. The process repeats until someone has a majority of the remaining active ballots.

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Democrats have already begun seeking investigators and oversight counsel for congressional committees following a major election night sweep, as the party has promised to wield oversight power to target what they view as corruption in the Trump administration.

House oversight committee ranking member Robert Garcia (D-CA) sent out a warning to President Donald Trump on Tuesday night to “lawyer up” after election results made clear Democrats had won control of both chambers of Congress. Other lawmakers quickly followed suit, warning of numerous subpoenas.

By Wednesday, some committees began publishing job postings. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee posted three jobs within 24 hours after the election, seeking counsel and investigators for the incoming chairman.

One position is advertised as “counsel, anti-corruption” and would entail crafting “government ethics and anti-corruption legislation.” The posting notes that this role will include aiding in investigations.

Another position posted Wednesday was advertised as “investigators and oversight counsel,” and the posting did not detail how many employees the committee is seeking.

The committee is also looking for an adviser for “security and safety issues” related to artificial intelligence, as scrutiny of the technology is likely to be a key concern for Democrats in the coming months.

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Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), while reflecting on the election results in Texas, said the Lone Star State’s newly elected Democratic attorney general will investigate SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

“They’re going to go after Elon Musk. I guarantee you they will do that,” DeSantis said at a press conference on Wednesday. “Having the Gigafactory and all that there, I think it’s gonna be problematic for him because I think the political hostility is very, very strong.”

The corporate headquarters for SpaceX and Tesla are based in Texas. DeSantis referenced Tesla’s Gigafactory manufacturing facility near Austin.

Musk’s business empire could face investigations in the state, with Democratic state Sen. Nathan Johnson set to become its next attorney general after Ken Paxton. Johnson defeated Republican state Sen. Mayes Middleton by 6 points.

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) posted a three-point proposal that would, in part, help end the Iran war after Vice President JD Vance admitted the foreign conflict sank Republicans’ chances in the recent elections.

“I agree that the reason Republicans lost is the Iran war,” Khanna said on X in response to Vance’s statement on the election results. “I would add the corruption epitomized by the Epstein cover up.”

Khanna is one of the primary lawmakers in Congress who pushed for the release of the Epstein files. He is now calling on the administration to support the second iteration of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which is spearheaded by Khanna and outgoing Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY). The bill would allow state attorneys general to “prosecute the pedophiles who abused and trafficked young girls,” Khanna said.

The congressman also proposed a continuing resolution to prohibit future financing of U.S. military operations against Iran in an effort to end the eight-month war. He noted that cutting off aid to Israel could be included in the continuing resolution.

“Will you actually now do any of these three things?” the California Democrat asked, seemingly directing the question toward the vice president.

Earlier Wednesday, Vance directly blamed the Iran war for why Republicans lost the midterm elections. He acknowledged that the president also said something similar.

Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD), who won reelection to a second term on Tuesday, had a memo published by his campaign highlighting his active role in helping Democrats win the midterm elections this year.

Moore raised and donated up to $4.5 million while campaigning for Democratic candidates in numerous competitive races across the country, per the three-page memo. These races were in critical battleground states, including Texas and Ohio. He also made “strategic investments in non-competitive districts,” according to the document.

“Governor Moore’s dominant performance this cycle sends a clear message: he possesses the political muscle, the strategic discipline, and the popular mandate to lead Maryland—and help shape the national landscape—well into the future,” it concluded.

The memo appeared to hint at the Democratic governor’s long-term ambitions, including a possible entrance in the 2028 presidential race. Moore is among the top contenders speculated to run for president, but he has denied any interest in the national position.

Texas state Rep. Brian Harrison, a Republican, called on Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) to convene a special session for the state legislature to “rein in” executive emergency powers that the lawmaker fears will be abused by the Democratic governor-elect.

“We still have total power in Texas,” Harrison said on X, “and we must act like it by using the remaining ten weeks to restore separation of powers and limit the emergency powers that Governor-Elect Hinojosa is set to inherit, which would allow her to destroy liberty in Texas by executive fiat.”

The state representative has been pushing legislation to limit the executive emergency powers of Texas governors since 2022. He argues limits should be put in place, regardless of whether the governor is a Republican or Democrat.

Harrison renewed his call after Gina Hinojosa ousted Abbott on Tuesday, claiming she “will inherit the powers of a dictator” if she takes no action on the issue. Hinojosa will continue serving in the Texas House of Representatives until she becomes governor.

“Due to the absurd (and almost certainly unconstitutional) Texas emergency powers laws, Gov. Hinojosa will literally have the power to modify laws, ignore laws, or create and enforce laws – including criminal laws – on a whim,” Harrison said, urging every elected Texas Republican to demand a special session. Abbott hasn’t responded yet.

Harrison won reelection in the race for the Texas House of Representatives District 10, which he has represented since 2021. Abbott is leaving office after his third term ends in January 2027.

Republican Nino Mangione, a cousin of alleged killer Luigi Mangione, won the election for the Baltimore County Council.

The candidate narrowly defeated Democrat Shawn McIntosh by a 4-point margin for the Baltimore County Council’s 5th District, according to the election results. The victor started serving in a once-vacant seat in June.

Mangione, who has described himself as a conservative Republican, previously served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 2019 to 2026.

Meanwhile, his cousin is accused of stalking and killing former UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024. Luigi Mangione pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection with the killing. The defendant also faces state charges, but his lawyers are trying to dismiss that case on the grounds of double jeopardy.

House Democrats are holding their leadership elections from Nov. 18-19, over a week after House Republicans have their leadership elections scheduled.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) is poised to become the lower chamber’s speaker in January 2027 if his party caucus chooses him in the leadership elections. Elections for the committee chairs will happen later.

Former Alaska Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola is leading incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) by 0.3 percentage points, which is smaller than “Decoy” Dan Sullivan’s support.

The race is still too close to call, with 74% of the votes counted as of Wednesday. Peltola is slightly ahead with over 600 votes at 48.2% compared to Sullivan’s 47.9%, while the copycat candidate sits at 1.7% support.

The Alaska election is one of two Senate races that still need to be called. The other state is Mississippi, where Democrat Scott Colom is ahead of Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) by 65 votes.

Alaska’s highly competitive Senate race is at the center of a criminal investigation by the Department of Justice, which is probing whether Peltola’s campaign recruited “Decoy Dan” to confuse voters.

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) said he respected the midterm election results after losing to Democrat Adam Hamilton.

“The people of Kansas and America have spoken,” Marshall told the Washington Examiner. “God bless Kansas and God bless America.”

The incumbent failed to win a second six-year Senate term in a state that the president won by more than 16 points in 2024. Hamilton was one of the 54 Democrats to pick up a Senate seat so far. Only two Senate races need to be called.

Hamilton is the first Democrat elected to the Senate in Kansas since George McGill in 1932.