Republicans, Democrats Battle for Senate Control in 2026

Thirty-five Senate races on the 2026 ballot will determine which party controls the chamber for the next two years, according to a live election tracker maintained by the New York Post and updated Nov. 3, 2026.

The tracker lists matchups in more than two dozen states, mixing incumbent-versus-challenger races, open-seat contests with no sitting senator on the ballot, and a handful of three-way fights that include independent candidates. The partisan math behind those categories — not any single call — is what will decide whether Republicans or Democrats hold the majority once the count is final.

How many Senate seats are on the ballot?

The Post's tracker identifies at least 26 of the 35 contested seats by candidate name, spanning states from Alabama to Ohio, according to the outlet's Nov. 3 posting. Of those 26, 15 feature a sitting senator seeking re-election, while the remaining 11 are open-seat races where neither major party has an incumbent on the ballot, per the tracker's listings.

That split matters because open seats historically draw more national spending and tighter polling than races where an incumbent is defending a record, though the tracker itself does not report spending or polling figures.

Which Republican-held seats are being defended?

Nine Republican incumbents are seeking new terms in the races listed, according to the tracker: Sen. Dan Sullivan in Alaska, Sen. Tom Cotton in Arkansas, Sen. Ashley Moody in Florida, Sen. Jim Risch in Idaho, Sen. Roger Marshall in Kansas, Sen. Susan Collins in Maine, Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi, Sen. Pete Ricketts in Nebraska and Sen. Jon Husted in Ohio.

Republicans are also fielding non-incumbent candidates in several open-seat races tracked by the Post, including Rep. Barry Moore in Alabama, Rep. Ashley Hinson in Iowa, Rep. Andy Barr in Kentucky, Rep. Julia Letlow in Louisiana, Mike Rogers in Michigan, Michele Tafoya in Minnesota, John Sununu in New Hampshire and Michael Whatley in North Carolina, per the tracker.

Which Democratic seats are in play?

Six Democratic incumbents appear in the listed races: Sen. John Hickenlooper in Colorado, Sen. Chris Coons in Delaware, Sen. Jon Ossoff in Georgia, Sen. Ed Markey in Massachusetts, Sen. Cory Booker in New Jersey and Sen. Ben Ray Luján in New Mexico, according to the tracker.

Democrats are running non-incumbents in open-seat races including Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton in Illinois, Josh Turek in Iowa, Charles Booker in Kentucky, Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan in Minnesota, Rep. Chris Pappas in New Hampshire and Roy Cooper in North Carolina, the tracker shows. In Ohio, Democrat Sherrod Brown is challenging incumbent Republican Jon Husted, per the same listing.

Where are independents running?

Three of the tracked races include an independent candidate, according to the Post's listing. In Idaho, independent Todd Achilles is running against incumbent Republican Jim Risch, with no Democrat listed in that race. In Nebraska, independent Dan Osborn is challenging incumbent Republican Pete Ricketts, also without a Democratic candidate on the tracker. Montana's race is a three-way contest among Republican Kurt Alme, Democrat Alani Bankhead and independent Seth Bodnar, per the tracker.

The presence of independent candidates in races that otherwise lack a major-party challenger — as in Idaho and Nebraska — means those contests effectively function as two-candidate races rather than traditional two-party fights, based on the candidate rosters listed.

Where can voters track the results?

The New York Post's live election tracker is updating in real time as of Nov. 3, 2026, and marks winners in bold as results are called. The version of the tracker reviewed for this article listed candidate matchups through Oklahoma's race, where Republican Kevin Hern is on the ballot, with additional states' results pending at publication.

Because the tracker is a live document, the incumbent and open-seat counts reported here reflect the candidate list as of the time this article was filed and are subject to revision as the Post adds results for the remaining contests.