---
title: Democrats Win the House and Senate as American Women Break Records From Georgia to Minnesota
description: Democrats won the House and Senate in the 2026 midterms. What it means for women, from historic governors to abortion votes and the courts.
author: Dr Marina Nani (Editor-in-Chief)
date: 2026-11-04T12:22:12.753Z
updated: 2026-11-04T12:24:36.767Z
canonical: https://richwoman.co/article/midterms-2026-democrats-win-what-it-means-for-women
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/pexels-19574310.webp
categories: Female leadership, Culture & Society
content_type: Analysis
region: United States
publication: Rich Woman Magazine
---

On Tuesday 3rd November, American voters gave the Democratic Party [control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate](https://richwoman.co/article/us-midterms-2026-democrats-win-house-senate), according to race calls by The Associated Press. Democrats needed a net gain of three seats in the House and four in the Senate. By the early hours of Wednesday they had taken seven Republican-held Senate seats, in Ohio, Iowa, South Carolina, Maine, North Carolina, Kansas and Texas, and Republicans had not taken a single Democratic seat in either chamber.

The last time a sitting president lost both chambers in a midterm election was 2006. Less than six years ago, on 6th January 2021, a mob stormed the US Capitol to stop Congress from certifying an election that Donald Trump refused to accept he had lost. This week the same Congress changed hands the way a democracy is meant to work, through ballots cast, counted and called. For millions of American women, and for many of us watching from Europe, that is the headline worth celebrating.

## Women make history in the governors' races

The [most striking firsts of the night](https://richwoman.co/article/women-make-history-us-midterms-2026) came in the state capitals. Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta, won the race for governor of Georgia and will become the first Black woman elected governor of any American state. She is also the first Democrat to win the Georgia governorship in more than two decades.

In New Mexico, former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, who is of Pueblo descent, will become the first Native American woman to serve as a governor. She has already been one of the first Native American women elected to Congress and the first Native American cabinet secretary.

Ohio elected Dr Amy Acton, the state's former health director, as its first woman governor. Acton defeated Vivek Ramaswamy after a campaign in which an attack ad built around her estranged mother drew national criticism. She is the first Democrat to lead Ohio in twenty years. In Minnesota, Amy Klobuchar won the governorship and will be the state's first woman governor. In Texas, Gina Hinojosa will be the first Latina governor of the state and only the third Latina governor in American history.

The glass ceiling broke on both sides of the aisle. In Tennessee, Republican Marsha Blackburn became the first woman to win a race for governor in that state.

## A paediatrician wins in South Carolina and Minnesota sends a Native woman to the Senate

The Senate result that surprised many analysts came from South Carolina, a state that had not sent a Democrat to the Senate in decades. Dr Annie Andrews, [a Charleston paediatrician](https://richwoman.co/article/democrats-win-house-senate-what-it-means-for-mothers), defeated interim Senator Darline Graham, the sister of the late Lindsey Graham. 'I think we just made some history,' Andrews told supporters after her win. Before polling day, two former South Carolina governors from opposing parties, Republican David Beasley and Democrat Jim Hodges, had endorsed her together.

In Minnesota, Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan, a citizen of the White Earth Nation, was projected to win the open Senate seat left by the retiring Tina Smith. Her victory makes her the first Native American woman to serve in the United States Senate. In Alaska, former Congresswoman Mary Peltola, a Yup'ik woman who was the first Alaska Native elected to Congress, was still waiting for her race against Republican Senator Dan Sullivan to be called.

## Voters defend abortion rights in Missouri and Nevada

Abortion was on the ballot in several states, and voters in two of them chose to protect access. In Missouri, voters rejected Amendment 3, a measure placed on the ballot by the Republican-led legislature that would have reimposed a near-total ban and overturned the abortion rights Missourians had written into their constitution in 2024. The measure was paired with a ban on gender transition care for minors, a pairing abortion rights campaigners described as misdirection.

In Nevada, voters approved Question 6 for the second time, the step the state requires before a constitutional amendment takes effect, which will enshrine the right to abortion in the state constitution. The picture was not uniform. In Idaho, an initiative to repeal the state's near-total ban was defeated.

## Young women voted Democratic by a wide margin

[Women have outvoted men in every American national election for decades](https://richwoman.co/article/democrats-win-congress-how-men-voted), and this year young women made their preferences especially clear. According to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University, 77 per cent of young women voted for a Democratic House candidate, compared with 65 per cent of young men. Among young Black women, the figure was 96 per cent.

Women were also on the ballot in record numbers. The Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University counted 590 women filing to run for the House this cycle, beating the previous record of 583 set in 2020 and matched in 2022. Before the election, women held 152 of the 535 seats in Congress, about 28 per cent. The gap between the parties is wide: women make up around 42 per cent of congressional Democrats and about 15 per cent of congressional Republicans, so a larger Democratic majority is likely to mean more women in positions of power. CAWP is still finalising its count of women elected to the new Congress.

## What control of Congress lets Democrats do

From January, Democrats will chair the committees in both chambers. That gives them the power to decide which bills reach a vote, to hold hearings, and to issue subpoenas to the administration. In the House, Hakeem Jeffries is poised to become the first Black Speaker in American history once the new Congress elects him.

Control of the Senate matters for women in a particular way. The Senate confirms federal judges and senior officials, and since [the Supreme Court ended the national right to abortion in 2022](https://richwoman.co/article/2024-elections-a-crucial-turning-point-for-women-s-rights), the courts have decided much of what American women can and cannot access. A Democratic Senate can refuse to confirm nominees it sees as hostile to reproductive rights.

There are limits. The president can still veto legislation, and the Senate filibuster means most bills need 60 votes to pass, which Democrats do not have. In practice, the new majorities give Democrats the power to block, to investigate and to set the agenda for the final two years of this presidency, rather than to pass laws on their own.

## The count is not finished

Several races, including Alaska's Senate contest, were still being counted on Wednesday, and the final number of women in the new Congress will be confirmed in the coming days. The new members take their seats in January. What is already clear is that American voters chose a change of direction, and that women, as candidates and as voters, led it.