November 5, 2026, by Eric Ness
Democrats flipped four Senate seats Republicans had held for decades, one of them since 1919
Democrats flipped seven Senate seats on Tuesday, CBS News projects, enough for at least 54 seats and control of the chamber. Two more Republican seats are too close to call. Scott Colom led in Mississippi by 1,138 votes and Mary Peltola led in Alaska by 637 as of Wednesday night.
This site has every Senate race since 1976, so I looked up how long each of those seats had been out of Democratic hands. A state’s two seats have separate histories, so the chart follows the seat that was on the ballot this year.
- Democrat won
- Republican won
- Not called yet
Show the numbers (9 rows)
| Earlier elections for the seat, oldest first | 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Kansas (Republican since 1919) | 1978 R, 1984 R, 1990 R, 1996 R, 2002 R, 2008 R, 2014 R, 2020 R | D |
| Texas (Republican since 1961) | 1978 R, 1984 R, 1990 R, 1996 R, 2002 R, 2008 R, 2014 R, 2020 R | D |
| South Carolina (Republican since 1964) | 1978 R, 1984 R, 1990 R, 1996 R, 2002 R, 2008 R, 2014 R, 2020 R | D |
| Maine (Republican since 1979) | 1978 R, 1984 R, 1990 R, 1996 R, 2002 R, 2008 R, 2014 R, 2020 R | D |
| Ohio, special election | 1980 D, 1986 D, 1992 D, 1998 R, 2004 R, 2010 R, 2016 R, 2022 R | D |
| Iowa | 1978 R, 1984 D, 1990 D, 1996 D, 2002 D, 2008 D, 2014 R, 2020 R | D |
| North Carolina | 1978 R, 1984 R, 1990 R, 1996 R, 2002 R, 2008 D, 2014 R, 2020 R | D |
| Mississippi, not called (Republican since 1978) | 1978 R, 1984 R, 1990 R, 1996 R, 2002 R, 2008 R, 2014 R, 2018 special R, 2020 R | not called |
| Alaska, not called | 1978 R, 1984 R, 1990 R, 1996 R, 2002 R, 2008 D, 2014 R, 2020 R | not called |
In Kansas, Texas, South Carolina and Maine, Republicans won all eight elections for this seat from 1978 to 2020. Mississippi would make five states. Republicans won all nine there, counting a special election in 2018.
The site’s data starts in 1976, but the Senate’s own lists show these streaks are older. Kansas’s seat had been Republican since 1919, the longest of the five, and NPR reports that the state hadn’t elected a Democrat to either seat since 1932. Texas’s seat had been Republican since 1961, when John Tower won a special election after Lyndon Johnson became vice president. South Carolina’s had been Republican since 1964, though no Democrat lost it that year. Strom Thurmond, who had won it as a Democrat, changed parties. Mississippi’s has been Republican since 1978 and Maine’s since 1979.
Following the seat changes some answers. Texas and Maine both elected a Democrat in 1988, but Lloyd Bentsen and George Mitchell held the states’ other seats. Ohio elected Sherrod Brown in 2018, also to the other seat, and he lost it in 2024. This year’s Ohio race was a special election for the seat JD Vance left, and a Democrat last won that one in 1992.
The 2026 results are unofficial, and the two open races could go either way. The streaks count elections, so appointed senators such as Jon Husted and Darline Graham don’t appear in them. And none of this says why these seats moved or whether they’ll stay. Brown has to run again in 2028.
References
- Al Jazeera. What’s delaying the US Senate election results in Mississippi and Alaska? November 5, 2026.
- Ballotpedia. United States Senate special election in Ohio, 2026.
- Hubbard, Kaia. 2026 Senate midterm election results as Democrats win control, Schumer vows “legislative razor wire” against Trump. CBS News, last updated November 4, 2026.
- MIT Election Data and Science Lab. U.S. Senate statewide returns since 1976, the data behind the chart, via electiondata.dev senate-results, version 2026-10-25.247421eda6.
- NPR. Adam Hamilton becomes the first Democratic senator from Kansas in nearly a century. November 3, 2026.
- U.S. Senate. Senators from Kansas, Maine, Mississippi and Texas. Read November 5, 2026.
- Wikipedia. List of United States senators from South Carolina, for the date of Strom Thurmond’s change of party. Read November 5, 2026.