Democrats win control of Congress in midterm sweep: ~248-255 House seats, five Senate gains; Asian stocks slide, U.S. futures pare overnight losses (Nov 4)
What happened
Democrats won control of Congress in the 2026 midterms, with projections putting them at roughly 248-255 House seats (NBC estimated 248; IBD's live coverage put the range at 250-255, versus 180-187 for Republicans) and a net gain of five Senate seats to about 54-55 seats, up from 47. Beyond the previously reported North Carolina flip and Georgia hold, Democrats flipped Senate seats in South Carolina, Texas — where James Talarico defeated Ken Paxton, the first Democrat to win statewide in Texas in roughly three decades — and Kansas, where Adam Hamilton beat incumbent Roger Marshall, the first Democratic Senate win there since 1932. Democrats also won the Texas, Ohio and Georgia governorships, with Keisha Lance Bottoms projected to become the first Black woman elected governor in U.S. history. Asian markets slid hard on the result: Japan's Nikkei fell 4.2% to a five-month low, South Korea's Kospi dropped 3.9% and Taiwan's Taiex 3.2%, while the dollar fell to its lowest in over a month and the 10-year Treasury yield dropped to around 4.90%, its lowest since early September. U.S. futures pared much of their overnight damage by 12:27 a.m. ET, with Dow futures off 0.3%, S&P 500 futures down 0.5% and Nasdaq-100 futures down 0.6%, well off lows beyond 2%; SpaceX was indicated down 4.5% and Tesla nearly 4%.
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Start your free 14-day trialWho’s affected
- Broad U.S. equities (S&P 500, Nasdaq-100 futures)
- Asian equities (Nikkei, Kospi, Taiex)
- U.S. dollar and Treasuries
- AI/tech megacaps (Tesla, SpaceX-linked names, Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta); crypto (Bitcoin); defence, healthcare, banking and crypto-related stocks facing tougher oversight