US midterm elections 2026 live: Democrats eye historic upset in Mississippi Senate race as Republican blame game begins

The results of America’s historic midterm elections reverberated around the world on Wednesday, with front pages reflecting on a night that saw Donald Trump dealt a punishing blow by the US electorate.

“Trumped” was the Guardian’s headline on Thursday’s edition, with reporter Ed Pilkington noting that, with the president’s party stripped of control of Congress, the country was waking up to a “radically altered political landscape”.

A late edition of the New York Post captured the scale of Trump’s defeat on Wednesday. Riffing on Hokusai’s Great Wave artwork, the paper notes it was a “historic romp for Democrats”, under the headline “Blue Tsunami”.

The English-language Tehran Times, which is closely aligned with the government, said in its headline: “US hegemony crumbling; Iran will never surrender”.

With a selection of midterms stories across the front page, the paper quotes senior figures under a subhead that reads “Iranian officials link Republican election defeat to US war against Iran”.

Welcome to our continuing coverage of the 2026 midterms where almost 24 hours after Democrats secured their historic sweep of the US Congress, two Senate seats remain in play.

Counting in Alaska is expected to continue into Thursday, while in deep red Mississippi, Democrats could be close to pulling off another almighty upset. Currently, Democrat Scott Colom is leading his Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith by just 1,138 votes with almost 96% of the vote counted.

In the last few hours, votes for Colom have been outpacing those for his Republican opponent, although new batches of votes have not been reported for several hours now.

Although a race this close would automatically trigger a recount in some states, Mississippi has no law on the books for initiating a recount.

Democrats haven’t won a US Senate seat in Mississippi since 1982, and Donald Trump carried the state by 22 points in 2024. It’s been much longer – not since 1875 – that the state elected a Black person to that office.

Colom is a seventh-generation Mississippian, whose father was a Republican who campaigned for Ronald Reagan and was friends with Thad Cochran, a longtime state politician. In 2015, he unseated a nearly 30-year incumbent when he was elected the first Black district attorney for the 16th circuit. As district attorney, he had a 94% success rate for convictions.

Meanwhile, after Democrats secured their historic wins in last night’s midterm elections, Republicans are beginning the blame game:

Donald Trump claimed Republicans fared poorly because he was not on the ballot – after repeatedly urging voters to pretend he was on the ballot.

JD Vance pointed to Trump’s ongoing war in Iran as the “obvious” culprit for the loss.

Pete Hegseth’s role leading the unpopular war could lead to him taking the fall – despite Trump publicly backing him. Republicans including Trump foe Thomas Massie have criticized the defense secretary.

Ron DeSantis, Florida’s governor, said the “close to an extinction-level event for Republicans” was caused in part by his party failing to target their ad spending on issues that would motivate voters.

According to exit polls from the Associated Press, voters said the cost of living and government corruption were their two top issues. But how will Trump cope with this new political reality?

The Guardian’s David Smith explores that – and whether these elections mark the beginning of the end for Trump – this analysis piece here: