Yesterday’s midterms are still being counted, so here’s the full history for context: every midterm election since 1934, and how the president’s party did in the House and Senate. Numbers are the seat change for the president’s party (source: the American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara).
Yesterday — Nov. 3, 2026 (tentative, races still being called)
Democrats have won control of both chambers. The House stands at a Democratic net gain of about 38 seats, and the Senate at a net gain of at least 7 — with two Senate races and dozens of House races still uncalled, so these numbers can still move.
The full record — House / Senate change for the president’s party
1934 — FDR: +9 / +9
1938 — FDR: −72 / −7
1942 — FDR: −45 / −9
1946 — Truman: −56 / −12
1950 — Truman: −28 / −6
1954 — Eisenhower: −18 / −1
1958 — Eisenhower: −48 / −13
1962 — Kennedy: −4 / +3
1966 — Johnson: −47 / −4
1970 — Nixon: −12 / +2
1974 — Ford: −48 / −5
1978 — Carter: −15 / −3
1982 — Reagan: −26 / +1
1986 — Reagan: −5 / −8
1990 — G.H.W. Bush: −8 / −1
1994 — Clinton: −54 / −8
1998 — Clinton: +4 / 0
2002 — G.W. Bush: +8 / +2
2006 — G.W. Bush: −30 / −6
2010 — Obama: −63 / −6
2014 — Obama: −13 / −9
2018 — Trump: −41 / +2
2022 — Biden: −9 / +1
2026* — Trump: −38* / −7* (*tentative)
What the pattern shows
Losing House seats in a midterm is the norm, not the exception: since 1946, the president’s party has lost House seats in 18 of 20 midterms, averaging about 26 seats. Only three times has the president’s party actually gained House seats — FDR in 1934, Clinton in 1998, and George W. Bush in 2002.
The biggest House losses in this whole span: FDR in 1938 (−72), Obama in 2010 (−63), Truman in 1946 (−56), and Clinton in 1994 (−54).
The Senate is a different story — the president’s party has actually gained Senate seats in 7 of these 23 midterms, because only about a third of Senate seats are on the ballot and the map matters as much as the mood. That’s why 2018 stands out: the president’s party lost the House by 41 but gained 2 in the Senate. In 2026, both chambers moved the same direction.
One bit of history: this is only the second time a president has served two non-consecutive terms — the first was Grover Cleveland, whose 1894 midterm cost his party 125 House seats, still the largest midterm loss ever.
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