Democrats Win Full Control of Congress as Midterm Candidates Make History
NPR reported that Democrats won the House and the Senate, while ABC News reported that Black candidates from both parties made history in the 2026 midterms.
Democrats won the House and the Senate in the 2026 midterm elections, taking full control of Congress for the first time since 2023, NPR reported in its newsletter on the midterms. The summary said history was also made in several states, and the newsletter's headline asked which candidates had made history.
NPR's summary did not identify the candidates or the states involved in those firsts, and it did not say how many races were affected.
ABC News reported that Black candidates from both political parties made history in 2026. According to the summary of that report, six governors are set to serve across U.S. states, with new key milestones in Congress. The summary did not name the governors or the offices involved in the congressional milestones.
The New York Times reported, in an article by Jia Lynn Yang, that several midterm winners broke barriers. Its summary said their campaigns focused on delivering "material change to the lives of Americans."
The three reports describe the midterms from different angles. NPR focused on party control of Congress, ABC News on the six governors and the congressional milestones, and The New York Times on the stated aims of the winners' campaigns. Taken together, the summaries describe a cycle in which Democrats gained full control of Congress and in which candidates from both parties made history, though no summary gave a combined count of the firsts.
Sources: NPR: Democrats seize full control of Congress. And, which candidates made history last night; ABC News: Black candidates from both parties made history in midterm elections; The New York Times: They Made History as ‘Firsts.’ That’s Not What They Ran On..