Winners and losers of 2026 US Midterms

Add us on Google

Americans brought about a ‘blue tsunami’ in this year’s midterm election as Democrats won control of the US Congress by a landslide.

Join the Premium Times WhatsApp Community For Quick Access To News and Happenings Around You.

Open in WhatsApp

With the results tallied, the country is arguably divided into two camps. One is celebrating the victory and the shift in power in Washington. The other is disappointed and concerned about what it means for the country’s direction.

Here are some of the winners and losers in this year’s US midterm elections.

Winners

Democratic Party

The blue party is the primary winner of the election. It won twin victories in the House and Senate, securing full control of Congress after suffering a devastating defeat in the 2024 presidential election.

The Democratic Party is estimated to have won a Senate majority, with 54 seats to 44 for the Republicans as of the time of this report. In the House, the Democrats have 245 seats to 145 for the Republicans.

They flipped six Republican-held Senate seats, winning races in Texas, Ohio, Kansas, Iowa, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

The election gives Democrats the power to hamstring President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda. They can scrutinise executive decisions and challenge the administration’s priorities.

Stay Ahead with Premium Times

Follow us on Google News and never miss breaking stories, investigations, and in-depth reporting.

Add as a preferred source on Google

American voters

The Democratic rout in the midterm election reflects American dissatisfaction with Mr Trump.

The poll has been described as a historic rebuke on a scale not seen since 1974, as Democrats won places they hadn’t carried in decades.

Celebrations spread across many parts of the country and social media, especially over certain historic wins.

For instance, Abdul El-Sayed’s win in Michigan was celebrated wildly among his supporters. When he took the stage to mark his victory, the crowd gave deafening cheers and phones were held up to capture this moment of history.

Mr El-Sayed is the first Muslim man elected to the Senate.

The former public health administrator campaigned on a left-wing platform that included universal health care and a wealth tax on billionaires.

Observers said Americans voted for candidates whose campaigns centered on economic affordability, healthcare, immigration, and political accountability.

Obama

Although not on the ballot, the victory also benefits former President Barack Obama. It validates his political legacy and enduring influence as a Democratic strategic leader.

Mr Obama campaigned actively for candidates in the final weeks of the race. His presence as the Democratic Party’s most formidable orator raised anti-incumbent sentiment.

Observers describe the decision to deploy Mr Obama in the campaign as a calculated gamble. The former president maintained a selective public profile until the final weeks.

Mr Obama has also opposed the policies of the Trump administration, particularly its foreign policy adventures in the Middle East.

“This election is our last, best chance of at least reining him in, reining in some of the foolishness of this administration. It is the circuit-breaker in the system, and we need to flip it,” he said during campaigns in Georgia last month.

Massie and MT Greene

The midterm result vindicated outgoing Kentucky congressman Thomas Massie and former Georgia Representative Marjorie Greene.

The two Republicans were allies of Mr Trump during his re-election campaign but became his outspoken critics based on the policies he implemented. They vehemently opposed the war in Iran, the administration’s foreign military interventions, and the rising cost of living that they say the president has neglected.

They also joined forces to push for the release of the Epstein files, and both paid a political price for breaking ranks.

ALSO READ: Huge loss for Trump as Democrats take control of Congress

Ms Greene resigned from Congress in January after a falling-out with the president, and Mr Massie lost his primary in May to a Trump-backed challenger.

Iran

The midterm election has left the Iranian government gloating. Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf said the results showed Americans were opposed to war.

“Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message.

“If the US govt betrays their public will to serve international paymasters and blackmailers, it will learn our NO comes with a Nightmare,” Mr Ghalibaf wrote on X.

Although the US and Iran are still technically at war, intense fighting has been halted as both sides claim control of the Strait of Hormuz.

Mr Trump had threatened to resume attacks on Iran after the midterms but his plans could be derailed by the massive Republican loss.

Democrats rode the wave of voter dissatisfaction with the US war against Iran. As such, control of Congress could affect Mr Trump’s ability to sustain the war in the Middle East.

Although the president retains considerable authority as commander-in-chief, Congress can use its budgetary powers to restrict, condition or refuse additional funding for particular military activities.

Rest of the World, including Nigeria

The midterms also have implications for the rest of the world, particularly trade partners and strategic allies.

Mr Trump’s policies have included imposing random tariffs on countries, including American allies like Canada; delegitimising international institutions like the UN and the WHO; and making false claims against countries in order to achieve his aims, like the claim of Christian genocide in Nigeria and White genocide in South Africa.

Although the American president still has a lot of executive powers to continue his foreign policies, the loss of control of Congress could limit such actions.

The rest of the world could also look at the American elections as a vindication that most Americans do not support Mr Trump’s controversial foreign policies, and that things could return to how they were once he leaves office in two years.

Losers

Trump

The greatest loser in this election is, without doubt, Mr Trump. The president struck his neck in the elections and even asked voters to pretend he was on the ballot, so they could massively vote for his party’s candidates, many of whom he handpicked.

The majority of voters heard his cry and rejected him and what he stands for.

The midterms also made clear that voters were unhappy with Mr Trump’s foreign policy adventures in the Middle East.

Mr Trump admitted that the Iran war contributed to the losses. He said voters were probably unwilling to accept the short-term consequences of a rise in petrol and diesel prices caused by the Iran war.

Republican Party

The Republican Party is also sore about the loss. The BBC reported that Party members were first shocked by the results and then grew angry.

Their ire is focused on Mr Trump, whom they say dragged them down with his unpopular policies and obsession with construction projects in Washington.

Party members have argued that the US leader focused on his legacy and ignored voter concerns.

Republicans have described the result as a disaster of the first magnitude.

Since Mr Trump returned to office, he has tried to rebuild the Republican Party in his image, with little or no resistance from establishment Republicans. It was only in the build-up to the elections that a few Republican candidates and leaders started separating themselves from him.

The party will now have to lick its wounds for failing to stand up to Mr Trump.

JD Vance

The midterms are also a loss for Vice President JD Vance, who is likely to launch a 2028 presidential campaign.

Mr Vance has said the war in Iran is the real reason behind the sweeping victory of the Democratic Party candidates.

In his first public comments on the election, Mr Vance asked Republicans to be honest about the war’s impact on their campaigns.

The vice president said many voters who backed President Trump in the presidential election were induced by the promise not to start any new wars, to focus on the cost of living and inflation, put America first and change the US’s relationship with Israel.

As vice president, Mr Vance is believed to have opposed the Iran war but could not prevent his principal from launching the war, nor publicly criticise him for it.

Although he is still seen as a frontrunner for the Republican ticket in the next presidential election, the Democratic Party’s victory in the midterms and the rejection of the Trump administration by American voters may affect his electoral fortune.

Haley Stevens

A Democrat for whom the midterm election is a loss is Haley Stevens, Mr El-Sayed’s former opponent in the Senate primary in Michigan.

She stunned party officials on Sunday by endorsing Republican Mike Rogers against her party’s candidate.

Ms Stevens endorsed the Trump-backed candidate after attending a Detroit church service with him.

She had hoped that her last-minute decision to endorse Mr Rogers would swing many of her Democratic Party supporters to his side. The move backfired as Mr El-Sayed cruised to victory.

There are now talks that Ms Stevens could be expelled from the Democratic Party.

Benjamin Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bet on Mr Trump in the midterms and lost.

This came after his right-wing coalition failed to secure a majority in Israel’s parliamentary election, which was held last week.

Both leaders had ordered a joint military attack against Iran that triggered the Middle East war that lasted about nine months.

Before the elections, they endorsed one another and urged each other’s supporters to vote for their ally.

A Congress that could hamstring Mr Trump’s legislative agenda could also affect Mr Netanyahu, who is eager to sustain the war in the region.

AIPAC

By extension, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) also suffered a major defeat.

AIPAC is the largest pro-Israel group in the US.

The group was an early supporter of the war and a major funder of campaigns antagonising House and Senate candidates calling for aid to Israel to be cut off.

It spent over $55 million in the midterm race but failed to achieve its goals.

Many Americans continue to oppose AIPAC and other Israel-affiliated lobby groups. The public pressure against AIPAC led it to recently announce that it would no longer directly fund pro-Israel American candidates but would instead urge its backers to send the funds directly to the candidates.

Elon Musk

The world’s richest man and only trillionaire put all his eggs in the Republican basket for this year’s midterms.

He spent almost $500 million to ensure Republican candidates win elections in several states. Over 20 per cent of that amount was spent in Texas, to ensure the state remains red. It turned blue as Democratic candidates caused major upsets, winning in districts they had not won in decades.

Mr Musk had raised concerns that his businesses and activities could be probed by a Democratic Party-led Congress. His fears may now become reality.