Democrats Reach 255 Called House Seats, 44 Flipped, as 11 Races Remain Open

Nine days after the Nov. 3 midterms, the House picture is mostly settled. Associated Press race calls show Democrats at 255 seats and Republicans at 169, leaving 11 seats uncalled. Forty-four districts have flipped to Democrats and three to Republicans, a net Democratic gain of 41.

The latest call came today, Nov. 12, at 1:31 p.m. ET, when the AP gave Maine's 2nd District to Republican Paul LePage. Republicans also held or won seats this week in California's 40th (Ken Calvert), Florida's 26th and 27th (Mario Diaz-Balart and Maria Elvira Salazar), Arizona's 2nd (Eli Crane) and South Carolina's 2nd (Joe Wilson).

Safe seats that weren't

Several of the flips came in districts that Republicans won comfortably in 2024.

• New Jersey's 2nd: Democrat Zack Mullock beat Rep. Jeff Van Drew, who won by 16.9 points two years ago.
• Ohio's 10th: Democrat Kristina Knickerbocker ousted Rep. Mike Turner, ending a tenure of nearly 25 years. Turner won by more than 18 points in 2024.
• Indiana's 5th: Democrat J.D. Ford defeated Rep. Victoria Spartz, who carried the seat by just over 18 points last cycle.
• Missouri's 2nd: Democrat Fred Wellman unseated Rep. Ann Wagner, who won by 12 points in 2024. Republicans tried to redraw the St. Louis-area seat last year, but courts tossed out the new maps. The Cook Political Report still rated it solid Republican as recently as September.
• Wisconsin's 1st: Democrat Mitchell Berman beat Rep. Bryan Steil, first elected in 2018. No Democrat had held the seat in more than 30 years, and Cook rated it Likely Republican until late September.
• Nevada's 2nd: Democrat Teresa Benitez-Thompson defeated Republican David Flippo for an open seat in Northern Nevada, becoming the first Democrat to represent the region in decades.

The redistricting gambit

The mid-decade map wars did not deliver what Republicans wanted. Texas Republicans redrew their lines last year at President Trump's behest, aiming to pick up as many as five Democratic-held seats. One seat flipped to the GOP, and two Republican-held districts went to Democrats.

California went the other way. Voters approved a Democratic redistricting plan after Texas moved first, and Democrats won all five of the seats they targeted.

Texas also elected its first Democratic senator and governor in decades. In North Carolina, several House seats changed hands, including some in districts tilted toward Republicans in a redraw a few years ago. Roy Cooper won the state's Senate race decisively.

Below Washington, the losses run deeper

The damage for Republicans extends well past Congress. Democrats flipped 12 state legislative chambers on election night and afterward: 11 from Republicans, plus the Minnesota House, which had been tied. Democrats netted at least 330 legislative seats, according to commentary from Salena Zito of The Epoch Times, and the AP says the 12 chambers are the biggest gain for either party in a single election since Republicans took 20 chambers in 2010.

In Pennsylvania, Democrats took the state Senate for the first time in 48 years. They flipped four Republican seats, lost one in Lancaster County, and now hold a 26-24 majority. Combined with Gov. Josh Shapiro's win over state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, 60.4% to 38.3%, that gives the party its first trifecta in the state since 1993.

Shapiro spent the campaign's final 10 days on a bus tour through 29 counties, 14 of which voted against him in 2022. He told Zito his approach is to "show up, especially in communities that didn't vote for you." State Sen. Vincent Hughes, a Democrat, said Shapiro and Lt. Gov. Austin Davis "put it all on the line." Shapiro also shared campaign money with downballot Democrats. In the state House, Democrats now hold a 112-91 majority pending certification, up from 103-100.

Georgia flipped too. The AP determined Monday, Nov. 9, that Democrats had won the state House, which Republicans had held since 2005 and entered the election controlling 99-80. Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms won the governorship, but Republicans kept the state Senate. At the AP's last count, Democrats had won 91 House seats and Republicans 86.

Three Georgia House races were uncalled as of that count. In one of them, the secretary of state is investigating the late upload of a memory card containing nearly 400 votes.

What is still open

Democrats will hold trifectas in at least six states where they currently share power with Republicans once officials are sworn in later this year and in early 2027, according to the AP.

Two chambers remain unsettled. In North Carolina's state Senate, one uncalled race decides whether Republicans keep a 26-24 majority or the chamber ties, in which case Democratic Lt. Gov. Rachel Hunt would cast the tiebreaking vote. Both Alaska chambers, currently run by multiparty coalitions, also have uncalled races.

In Washington, the 11 House seats still uncalled will set the final size of the Democratic majority. The Georgia memory-card inquiry is one more result still hanging.