2026 United States Midterm Elections

The 2026 United States midterm elections are scheduled for Tuesday, November 3, 2026. As in every midterm cycle, all 435 voting seats in the House of Representatives are up for election.^[2][3]

In the Senate, 35 of the 100 seats are on the ballot — 33 seats in the regular Class 2 cycle plus two seats being filled for unexpired terms to fill unexpired terms. Senate terms are staggered so that roughly one-third of the chamber is elected every two years.^[2][3]

A total of 39 gubernatorial races (36 states and 3 territories) are listed for 2026, and 5 of the 6 non-voting House delegate seats are also up, according to the encyclopedia compilation consulted for this document.^[3][6]

The two additional contests are in Florida — the seat vacated when Marco Rubio became Secretary of State — and Ohio, where the seat opened after JD Vance became Vice President. Both are being filled for the remainder of terms running to January 2029.^[3][7]

That two seats beyond the regular Class 2 group are on the ballot is confirmed by the state election authorities themselves: Florida and Ohio each list a U.S. Senate contest in 2026, and Ohio marks its listing as an unexpired term ending 1/3/29.^[3][7]

The primary calendar runs from March 3 to September 15, 2026, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center election calendar.^[2]

After Election Day, results are certified and recounts resolved between November 4, 2026 and January 3, 2027 (or later). The winners are seated in the 120th United States Congress, which convenes on January 3, 2027 or later.^[2]

This document covers structure and schedule only. It does not rate individual races or forecast outcomes.^[2][3]

The Senate is divided into three classes so that «one third may be chosen every second Year», which normally puts 33 or 34 seats on a midterm ballot. 2026 has 35 because two additional seats are being filled for unexpired terms — in Florida and Ohio — alongside the regular Class 2 contests.^[3][4]

These two are commonly described as 'special elections', but the official records are not consistent on that label. Ohio's county ballot listing states the office explicitly as «(Unexpired term ending 1/3/29)». Florida's Division of Elections candidate database, by contrast, lists the contest simply as «United States Senator» with no special-election designation.^[7]

The legal substance is the same in both cases — a seat vacated mid-term is being filled for the remainder of a term that runs to January 2029 — but if you are searching official state sources, querying for a 'special election' in Florida will not match how the state files it. Describing both as unexpired-term contests is the wording that fits the primary records.^[3][7]

The election date is not a convention but a statute: 2 U.S.C. § 7 establishes «The Tuesday next after the 1st Monday in November, in every even numbered year» as the day for electing Representatives and Delegates. November 1, 2026 is a Sunday, so the first Monday is the 2nd and election day is the 3rd.^[4]

The figure 435 has a more indirect origin than usually stated. The House Office of the Historian records that the Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929 «capped House Membership at the level established after the 1910 Census». The current statutory text does not name the number 435 itself — it refers to the then-existing number of Representatives — so 435 is the inherited result of that freeze rather than a figure written into law.^[5]

The seating date carries a similar caveat. The Twentieth Amendment sets the start at noon on January 3, but adds «unless they shall by law appoint a different day», and Congress has used that latitude before. January 3, 2027 is therefore the default rather than an unconditional date.^[3][4]