Ohio Democrats Take Governor and Senate

Amy Acton defeated Vivek Ramaswamy to become Ohio’s first woman governor. She won the race on November 3, ending two decades of Republican control of the statehouse. Sherrod Brown also returned to the U.S. Senate after defeating Jon Husted in the same state. Don Leonard flipped Ohio’s District 15 House seat, which Republicans had held since 2011. These results marked a sharp reversal for the state’s political map.

Nationwide, the 2026 election produced a series of victories for Democratic candidates. The returns indicated a broad rejection of incumbent leadership across the country. Several states that had leaned Republican for years elected new governors and senators. The emerging electoral map showed a distinct shift in voter preference.

In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed won the open Senate seat. Trump and Republican allies attacked his Muslim faith and Arab heritage during the campaign. They circulated claims of extremism without providing substantiated evidence. Trump suggested El-Sayed should pass through a metal detector before taking office. El-Sayed reportedly agreed, provided Trump took a lie-detector test. The test was to answer two questions: what was his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, and who won the 2020 election.

The role of foreign policy, specifically regarding Gaza, influenced voter decisions. Candidates who spoke out on the conflict faced targeted attacks. In Maine, Troy Jackson defeated Susan Collins, ending her thirty-year Senate career. Jackson had described Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide and called Benjamin Netanyahu a war criminal. Collins had supported substantial U.S. military assistance to Israel.

Texas saw similar changes. Gina Hinojosa defeated Greg Abbott for the governorship, challenging Republican control dating back to 1995. James Talarico won the Senate race, ending decades of Republican dominance in statewide politics. Talarico engaged directly with Muslim voters and challenged Islamophobia during his campaign.

Other states recorded notable results. Annie Andrews defeated Darlene Graham in South Carolina. Hamilton won the Senate seat in Kansas, breaking a nearly century-long tradition. Keisha Lance Bottoms won the governorship in Georgia, becoming the first Black woman elected to that office in a U.S. state.

Financial spending played a major role in the campaigns. AIPAC and affiliated organizations spent substantial sums to influence congressional races. In Michigan alone, they spent over 350 million dollars to defeat El-Sayed. The group lost that race despite the heavy investment. The 2026 Democracy Perception Index showed the United States recorded a net perception score of -16. That score placed the country alongside Israel, North Korea, Afghanistan, and Iran in global favorability rankings.