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The 2026 blue wave, in charts

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Cite

Manthey, G. (2026, November 5). The 2026 blue wave, in charts. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/2026-elections-blue-wave-charts-data/

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

CBS News · collected 2026-11-05 · by Grace Manthey

Quick Summary

The article reports on the results of the 2026 U.S. midterm Senate elections, noting that Democrats won 20 out of 33 projected races, with significant gains in states previously leaning Republican. In West Virginia and Alabama, Republican incumbents won but by smaller margins than expected compared to Trump’s wins in those states. Conversely, Democratic candidates won by larger margins than the presidential candidate Kamala Harris did in similar swing states. The article provides charts showing detailed comparisons of election results between 2024 and 2026.
Written by AI on 2026-11-05, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

As of November 5, 2026, Democrats won control of both the House and the Senate in the U.S. midterm elections, marking a significant shift from the Republican majority previously holding power. The outcome is seen as a rejection of President Donald Trump's policies, including his war with Iran which contributed to rising gas prices and inflation. In Texas, Senator Ted Cruz called the results a “Watergate-level repudiation” of the GOP and warned that Democrats could push radical agendas harmful to states like Texas if not resisted strongly. The election results have also led to celebrations among American expatriates in London, with many viewing it as a sigh of relief for potential policy reversals on issues such as tariffs affecting countries like the UK.

Written for “US Midterm Election Results” on 2026-11-05, grounded in this article and the 608 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 US Midterm Election Results
Politics · 609 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 8% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Al Jazeera
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 6 of 82 claims Outlet record 60/100
“Article A discusses key races to watch in the upcoming midterm elections, while Article B reports on the actual results of those elections.”
Washington Examiner
Hedges 2 of 2 claims Outlet record 69/100
“Article A describes a poll showing late deciders favoring Republicans in key Senate races, while Article B provides an overall summary of election results and projections.”
Washington Examiner
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 0 of 3 claims Outlet record 69/100
“Article A reports on polling data prior to Election Day showing Democratic leads in seven Senate battlegrounds, while Article B discusses post-election projections of actual results and trends.”
Los Angeles Times
Hedges 21 of 48 claims Outlet record 95/100
“The articles discuss different stages of the election results and analysis; Article A is about what to watch on Election Day, while Article B reports on projected outcomes after many races have been counted.”
CBS News
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 5 of 35 claims Outlet record 65/100
“Article A covers live updates on Election Day itself, while Article B provides analysis and projections after most of the votes have been counted.”
Al Jazeera
Hedges 1 of 27 claims Outlet record 60/100
CBS News
Hedges 0 of 2 claims Outlet record 65/100
“The articles discuss Senate races but cover different aspects and timelines of the election outcomes.”
Washington Examiner
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 5 of 20 claims Outlet record 69/100
“Article A focuses on the unresolved Senate races in Alaska and Mississippi, while Article B provides a broader overview of Democratic gains across multiple states and mentions that Alaska and Mississippi are still toss-ups but doesn't focus specifically on those two races.”
Fox News
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 3 of 21 claims Outlet record 68/100
“Article A focuses on a single poll released just days before the midterm elections in seven battleground Senate races, while Article B provides an overview of election results and projections across multiple states after more of the votes have been counted.”
Times of India
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 3 of 28 claims Outlet record 59/100
“The articles describe different stages of the election outcomes and do not focus on the exact same specific moment or outcome.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
13
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
8%
1 of 13 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
65/100
CBS News's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
609
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-11-05 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

CBS News · 4714 article(s) · 7 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 7 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Grace Manthey
2 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Of the 35 Senate races on the ballot, 33 have been projected so far and 20 of those went blue.
2026-11-05 · assertive framing · The 2026 blue wave, in charts
Also by Grace Manthey
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

Topics

Democrat Democrats Republican Senate West Virginia

Subjects

Senate ORG · 7× Trump PERSON · 5× Democrats NORP · 3× Republican NORP · 3× Alabama GPE · 1× Barry Moore PERSON · 1× Democrat NORP · 1× Florida GPE · 1× Shelly Moore Capito PERSON · 1× West Virginia GPE · 1×

Narrative

In fact, in states where Democrats won Senate races in the 2026 midterms, average margins were twice as large as Harris' winning margins in the 2024 presidential election.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-11-05
🔮 Of the 35 Senate races on the ballot, 33 have been projected so far and 20 of those went blue.
2026-11-05 · CBS News
The 2026 blue wave, in charts · assertive framing

Claims (13 extracted, 1 hedged)

Of the 35 Senate races on the ballot, 33 have been projected so far and 20 of those went blue. asserted
20 → project → those
Eight of them were in states that voted for President Trump in 2024. asserted
that → vote → 2024
Voters in seven states flipped a previously Republican-held Senate seat to a Democrat. asserted
Voters → flip → Democrat
Senate elections in and are still considered toss-ups. asserted
elections → consider → ?
But even in states where Republican senators won, the margins were lower than might have been expected. uncertain
margins → win → states
For example, in West Virginia, Mr. Trump won in 2024 by 42 percentage points. asserted
Trump → win → points
In this year's midterms, Republican incumbent Sen. Shelly Moore Capito won by about 20 points — the winning margin was cut in half. asserted
margin → win → half
Alabama's Barry Moore won his Senate race by about 9 points in a state Mr. Trump won in 2024 by more than 30 points. asserted
Trump → win → points
In Florida, where Mr. Trump won by 13 points in 2024, won reelection by just 3 points. asserted
Trump → win → points
Kamala Harris won Rhode Island in 2024 by about 14 points, but Sen. Jack Reed won reelection in the 2026 midterms by 37 points. asserted
Reed → win → points
In fact, in states where Democrats won Senate races in the 2026 midterms, average margins were twice as large as Harris' winning margins in the 2024 presidential election. asserted
margins → win → election
Republicans' average margins were half as large as Mr. Trump's winning margins in 2024. asserted
margins → win → 2024
In states where voters changed sides between the 2024 presidential election to the 2026 Senate elections, all went to Democrats, who gained roughly 20 points. asserted
who → change → points
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