US elections 2026 live: Democrats flip four more House seats as Republicans trade blame for brutal midterms losses

Democrats tightened their grip on the House after the midterms, with four more districts going their way. The party now holds 247 seats, and 35 contests remain uncalled. The wins came in Montana's first district, where 32-year-old smoke jumper Sam Forstag beat conservative radio host Aaron Flint for a seat Ryan Zinke holds; in Arizona's first, where emergency room doctor Amish Shah defeated former NFL player Jay Freely; and in two North Carolina districts that had been redrawn to favor Republicans. There, Cyril Jefferson unseated Addison McDowell in the sixth, and attorney Paul Barringer ousted Brad Knott in the 13th, according to The Guardian.

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, speaking at the Center for American Progress, cautioned that many voters backed Democrats out of anger at Donald Trump rather than affection for the party. He said leaders had deliberately centered their campaign on three words: cost, chaos and corruption.

Separately, Justice Department lawyer Harmeet Dhillon is leaving. She told Fox News she had submitted her resignation three weeks earlier, and that White House chief of staff Susie Wiles asked her to hold off until voting ended.

Summarized by PolitiKool from The Guardian’s reporting. Read the full story at The Guardian →