When Will We Know Who Won the House and Senate?
Reviewed:
Control of Congress is decided seat by seat. A party needs 218 of the 435 House seats and 51 of the 100 Senate seats (or 50 plus the vice president's tie-breaking vote). Follow both on the live results map and what changed.
Who "calls" a race?
No government office calls races on election night. News organizations such as the Associated Press declare a winner when their analysis shows the trailing candidate can no longer catch up. That's a projection, not an official result. The official result comes later, when each state certifies its count, usually several weeks after Election Day.
Why some races take days
- The margin matters more than the speed of counting. A race won by 15 points can be called with a fraction of the vote in. A race decided by half a point has to wait for nearly every ballot.
- Mail ballots take longer. Each envelope has to be opened and its signature checked before the ballot is counted.
- Late-arriving ballots. Some states, including California, count mail ballots that are postmarked by Election Day and arrive afterwards.
- California and Alaska are usually last. In California, millions of mail ballots are dropped off on Election Day itself. Alaska was the last state to count 95% of its ballots in 2024, and its House race wasn't called until November 20.
What to watch
- The results map shows every race as it's called, with the seats each party has won so far.
- Runoffs and recounts lists races too close to call and Georgia races heading to a runoff.
- Each race page shows the share of the expected vote counted.
Sources: Associated Press; NPR, "The real reason it's going to take a while to know who won in some midterm races" (October 2026).
Questions and answers
How many seats does a party need to control Congress?
218 of the 435 House seats, and 51 of the 100 Senate seats (or 50 plus the vice president's tie-breaking vote).
Who calls the winner on election night?
News organizations such as the Associated Press, when their analysis shows the trailing candidate can no longer catch up. A call is a projection; the official result comes later, when states certify.
Why do California and Alaska take so long?
Both count many mail ballots, each of which needs its envelope opened and signature checked. California also counts ballots postmarked by Election Day that arrive later, and millions are dropped off on Election Day itself.