After giving Republicans control of the White House and Congress in the 2024 presidential election, voters have continued to swing their support toward the Democratic Party in races held since then.
In Tuesday's elections, that shift was on display for key races in Wisconsin and Georgia, where results saw a shift of nearly 20 percentage points away from GOP margins in 2024.
Liberals on Wisconsin's Supreme Court expanded their majority to 5-2 after Chris Taylor beat conservative Maria Lazar 60 percent to 40 percent. Trump carried the state by less than a point.
Taylor's win was even larger than liberal victories in 2023 and 2025 court races, which are officially nonpartisan, that attracted national attention from figures like billionaire Elon Musk and a surge in record-setting outside spending.
Georgia's 14th congressional district, one of the most conservative in the country, saw Republican Clay Fuller win a special election runoff with 56 percent of the vote. Democrat Shawn Harris earned 44 percent after getting less than 36 percent against former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in 2024.
Trump beat former Vice President Kamala Harris in the district by nearly 40 percentage points.
Shawn Harris will likely face off against Fuller again for a full term in November's general election that also features an open governor's race and Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff's reelection campaign.
According to the election analysis publication The Downballot, Democrats have improved upon their 2024 presidential election margins by an average of 11 percent in special elections so far in 2026 and roughly 13 percent since the start of 2025.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court race shows increased support for Democrats is not limited to special elections, either. Commanding Democratic victories in the New Jersey and Virginia governors' races and flipped municipal races across the country continue to highlight how unpopular Republican governance in Washington is with voters.
President Trump faces a record-low job approval rating average of 39 percent amidst an unpopular war in Iran, rising gas prices and generally sour views on the economy.
The party in power tends to lose ground in midterm elections, and 2026 is shaping up to likely be no different. Polls show more voters say they'd prefer Democrats to control Congress and Democratic voters have higher enthusiasm for voting in the election – even as the Democratic Party is also historically unpopular.
Some of that disconnect is driven by Democratic base voters who are dissatisfied with the way their current leadership is responding to Trump's policies coupled with a recent trend of Democrats being the party most likely to show up and vote in lower-turnout special elections, primaries and non-presidential races.
For statewide primaries that have occurred so far in 2026, that Democratic enthusiasm is on display: In Texas' primary last month, a record 2.3 million votes were cast in the Democratic contest. More people voted in the Democratic statewide primary in North Carolina than the Republican one. Mississippi saw a nearly 80 percent increase in Democratic primary turnout since the last Senate primary in 2018.
Copyright 2026, NPR
