— Adam Wollner
5 things to know after election night
The dust is continuing to settle following a momentous midterm election, with Democrats securing stunning victories up and down the ballot after voters delivered a stark rebuke to President Donald Trump and his party.
asserted
voters → know → Trump
Here is the latest on where things stand.
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things → stand → ?
Redistricting fell flat: Republicans redrew more than a dozen congressional districts in states such as Texas, Florida, Ohio and North Carolina ahead of the midterms in an aggressive attempt to shore up their narrow majority in Washington.
However, Democrats may actually come out ahead in the 2026 redistricting war, or fight it to a draw, in part with massive upsets in some of these same states after overpowering the GOP maps, Ben Kamisar reports.
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Kamisar → fall → maps
Democrats will hold at least 11 of the 15 seats redrawn by Republicans before the election to benefit their party, with more gains possible depending on how the final votes fall.
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votes → hold → party
But that’s not all: They also picked up a seat in a Utah district that was redrawn by a court to their benefit, and they are poised to net as many as five seats in California, where Democrats did a redraw of their own.
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Democrats → ’ → own
Republicans, meanwhile, lost Texas’ 15th District after making it more vulnerable as part of an ill-fated attempt to topple Democratic incumbents in South Texas.
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it → lose → Texas
And they’re at risk of losing up to two more seats Republican lawmakers similarly watered down in other states.
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lawmakers → ’re → states
Democrats have so far gained a net of flipped 34 seats, giving them 242 seats to Republicans’ 150, with 43 races uncalled.
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races → gain → 150
A reordering in the House: Democrats are on the cusp of elevating Hakeem Jeffries to become the first Black speaker of the House.
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Democrats → elevate → House
Meanwhile, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told his staff this morning he will not stay on as Republican leader in the new Congress.
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he → tell → Congress
Democrats will face a tricky challenge when they take control of both chambers of Congress in January: carrying out aggressive an oversight of Trump and his administration while needing his signature to advance just about any legislative goal, Scott Wong and Sahil Kapur write.
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Wong → face → goal
Democrats could still expand their Senate majority: As things currently stand, Democrats flipped seven Senate seats, bringing their total to 54 compared to 44 for the Republicans.
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Democrats → expand → Republicans
Two Senate races remain uncalled: Alaska and Mississippi.
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races → remain → ?
In Alaska, Democrat Mary Pelotola has 48.2% support, while Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan has 47.9% with three-fourths of the expected vote in.
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Sullivan → have → vote
But if no candidate eclipses a majority, the race will go to a ranked choice tabulation.
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race → eclipse → tabulation
And that could take weeks to resolve, as mail ballots that were postmarked by Election Day can be counted up to 15 days later.
uncertain
that → take → Day
And in Mississippi, GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democrat Scot Colom are separated by less than 65 votes, with more than 95% of the vote tallied.
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% → separate → vote
According to Bridget Bowman, there is no mechanism for an election to undergo a recount under Mississippi state law, and both parties are signaling that they’re gearing up for a legal battle.
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they → accord → battle
Democratic gains extended to state level: In addition to flipping the House and the Senate, Democrats clinched a majority of governorships for the first time in 16 years, Adam Edelman notes.
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Edelman → extend → years
In five states, Democrats also secured a trifecta — winning control of the governorship and both chambers of the legislature — giving the party a level of power it hasn’t held in some of those places in years.
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it → secure → years
And Democrats swept the secretary of state races that were on the ballot in key presidential battlegrounds, per Jane C. Timm, while flipping the office in two red-leaning states.
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that → sweep → states
GOP blame game: It didn’t take long for the finger-pointing among Republicans to begin after polls closed last night.
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polls → take → Republicans
Some wondered whether the party would finally break from Trump, who told voters to “pretend” he was on the ballot in the midterms, Matt Dixon, Garrett Haake and Allan Smith report.
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Dixon → wonder → midterms
Vice President JD Vance said on X that the “real reason” for the GOP’s widespread losses was anger over Iran war.
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reason → say → war
Meanwhile, in his first post-election public appearance, Trump boasted about the White House ballroom under construction and largely skirted talk about his party’s performance, Rebecca Shabad writes.
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Shabad → boast → performance
That’s all From the Politics Desk for now.
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That → ’ → Desk
Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner.
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newsletter → compile → Wollner
If you have feedback — likes or dislikes — email us at politicsnewsletter@nbcuni.com
And if you’re a fan, please share with everyone and anyone.
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you → have → everyone
They can sign up here.
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They → sign → ?
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