The Senate races to watch in 2026
Republicans control the U.S. Senate with a 53-47 majority. For Democrats to win back the chamber, they’d need to hold competitive seats while flipping four GOP-held ones.
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Grace Panetta
Politics Reporter (She/Her)
Latest from Grace Panetta
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It's Platner vs. Collins, and all eyes are on Maine in battle for Senate control
Graham Platner, a combat veteran and oyster farmer, has drawn national attention — and controversy — in his bid to unseat Sen. Susan Collins.
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Trump backed Pamela Evette over Nancy Mace. South Carolina Republicans followed.
Evette, the lieutenant governor, advanced to a runoff against Attorney General Alan Wilson in the GOP gubernatorial primary.
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Tulsi Gabbard is the latest woman to leave Trump’s Cabinet
Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, announced she is resigning to care for her husband, who was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer.
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Keisha Lance Bottoms is Democrats’ pick in high-stakes Georgia governor’s race
The former mayor of Atlanta could be the nation's first Black woman governor.
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Jasmine Clark is poised to be the first Black woman Ph.D. scientist in Congress
Clark, a Georgia state representative and Ph.D. microbiologist, won the Democratic primary to represent a safely blue House seat in Georgia.
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Georgia is the main character of 2026
Multiple Black women have a chance to make history in an election year shaped by affordability and the Supreme Court’s decision on political maps.
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Medication abortion is available — for now. But reproductive rights could still shape the midterms.
Even without a Supreme Court court ruling restricting abortion rights, Democrats in tight races are likely to keep the consequences of bans in their midterm campaigns.
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Supreme Court rules abortion pills can continue to be mailed
Mailed prescriptions have allowed people living in states with bans to continue getting abortions, contributing to an increase in abortions since the fall of Roe.
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The governor's races to watch in 2026
Multiple women candidates are running in this year’s many open governor races leading up to the midterm elections in November.