Democrats gain 258 state seats as US election count continues

Democrats gained 258 seats in US state legislatures in Tuesday’s midterm elections, according to State Navigate director Chaz Nuttycombe. His tally, reported on 5 November, also showed the party taking 11 chambers from Republicans.

Votes from the 3 November 2026 election were still being counted. Nuttycombe said Democrats had secured six new states where they would hold the governor’s office and both legislative chambers.

He said the party also broke Republican supermajorities in 10 states.

Democrats won governor races against Republicans in Georgia, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio and Texas, the Guardian reported. The party won a majority of governorships for the first time since 2010.

The gains also put Democrats on course to take the Texas state House for the first time since 2002. Associated Press said the party had taken the chamber.

Democrats regained full control of state government in Michigan and Minnesota after losing it following the 2024 election. Minnesota’s results remained unofficial.

In Arizona, Democrats had not held the governor’s office and both chambers for 60 years, the Guardian reported. In Pennsylvania, the gap stretched back to the 1990s; in Wisconsin, to 2010.

Greta Neubauer, set to lead Wisconsin’s state assembly, said Democrats would consider redrawing congressional district boundaries. She also said they would examine wider access to Medicaid or other public healthcare and free school meals.

Wisconsin Democrats won a 53-seat assembly majority, the Guardian reported. These plans have yet to become law.

In North Carolina, Democrats regained the state House while Republicans retained the state Senate. Close contests were still being counted.

Nuttycombe said economic concerns and discontent with President Donald Trump drove most of the gains. Mandara Meyers, director of the States Project, called it the biggest shift in state legislative power since 2010. Her group backed Democratic candidates.