Control of Congress Hangs in Balance as 2026 Election Begins

Over fifty-four million people have already cast ballots for the 2026 midterms. That total is nearly half of all votes cast in the last midterm election. Democrats enter Election Day holding a narrow two-hundred-fourteen to two-hundred-eighteen disadvantage in the House. They need to flip only three seats to take control of that chamber. The math in the Senate is tougher. Democrats need to pick up four seats there to gain control. And here is the catch. Republicans hold a five-seat advantage in the Senate map on GOP turf in states Donald Trump won by double digits in twenty-twenty-four. Voters are also watching foreign policy and the economy. The Associated Press and NPR will rely on county-by-county data and historical voting methods to make race calls. But counting all those votes could take days or even weeks.