One election day. Thousands of offices.
Explore who gets elected, where they serve,
and what their decisions can change.
Attorneys general, secretaries of state, judges, local councils, school boards and ballot measures can affect daily life. Offices and election schedules vary by state and locality. Federal judges and the president are not elected in these midterms.
Follow the stages. States administer elections under their own rules; there is no single national ballot.
Eligible voters choose their district’s House representative and, when a seat is up, a senator and governor statewide. These races do not use the presidential Electoral College. People can vote for different parties in different races.
Most contests use plurality: the candidate with the most votes wins. Alaska and Maine use ranked-choice voting for federal general elections; Georgia requires a majority for these offices, with a runoff if necessary. Registration, early voting and mail rules vary.
Check your state’s official rules ↗Try a hypothetical outcome. This explains institutional power; it is not a forecast.
Circles = seats outside this election; squares = seats elected this cycle. Democratic-aligned control requires winning 17 of the 35 contests (a net gain of four from the same-party baseline). 65 seats are outside this election: 34 Democratic-aligned and 31 Republican. At 50–50, Republican Vice President JD Vance breaks ties. D-aligned includes the two independents who caucus with Democrats. The model assumes that alignment continues and that all seats are filled.
A majority is not unlimited power. Most legislation can face a 60-vote Senate cloture threshold. Some budget measures use reconciliation; nominations have different debate rules. A presidential veto requires two-thirds of voting members in both chambers to override. Party labels do not guarantee how members vote.
The previous midterms show why “who won?” has several answers. These are historical results, not 2026 projections.
Won the open U.S. Senate seat over Mehmet Oz. The seat changed from Republican to Democratic control.
FEC official 2022 results ↗Defeated Herschel Walker in the December runoff, retaining his Senate seat. A runoff can extend the election beyond November.
FEC official 2022 results ↗Won a second term as governor. Democrats also won both legislative chambers, bringing the governorship and legislature under one party.
AP historical reporting ↗A curated mix of control battles, open seats and useful examples. Selection is editorial, based on the linked reporting—not a probability ranking or an endorsement.
Use different sources for different jobs: official rules and results, race analysis, local reporting, then national context.
A poll is a sample. Compare several polls, dates, methods and uncertainty. A two-point lead is not a guaranteed win. Early-vote totals are not vote results.
A rating is an assessment. “Toss-up” and “lean” describe competitiveness. They are not certified outcomes, and different analysts can disagree.
A race call is a projection. News organizations can call a winner before every ballot is counted. State and local officials certify the official result.
Researched October 22, 2026. This is a static educational snapshot, with no live results feed, automatic polling updates or forecast. Map coverage is the 50 states: all 435 voting House seats, 35 Senate contests (33 regular Class II elections plus Florida and Ohio specials), 36 state governorships and the 46 states with regular legislative elections. D.C. and territories are outside the tile map; territorial governorships, delegates, local offices and special legislative elections are not counted in its totals. Governor elections also occur in three territories.
The map indicates whether the selected office has a 2026 election; its colors do not predict a winner or show party control. Watchlist stars indicate curated coverage, not every competitive race. State tiles approximate geography and are equal-sized. House counts are district counts, not statewide winner-take-all contests.
Senate officeholder data comes from the Senate Daily Press Gallery’s July 14 snapshot, checked October 22. House membership shown in this guide comes from the official House gallery’s September 2 update: 218 Republican, 214 Democratic, 1 independent, 2 vacancies. These are dated membership counts, not 2026 election results. Candidate profiles use linked reporting through October 22 and may omit minor-party candidates. Official state ballots take precedence.
Watchlist selections emphasize national control, an incumbent defending a seat, an open seat, or state policy authority. No numerical win probabilities are assigned. “Start here” is an editorial learning path. Saved races stay in browser storage and are not synced. No personal political profile is collected.