Going into the 2026 midterm election cycle, the conventional wisdom was that Democrats had no serious shot at gaining back control of the U.S. Senate. The party would need to flip four seats to restore the majority it lost in 2022. (Democrats currently hold 47 seats, and with J.D. Vance’s tie-breaking vote, the requisite number for control is 51.) And the 2026 map is forbidding: With only one Republican-held seat up for grabs in a blue state and two Democratic-held seats up in states Donald Trump won, the odds of the chamber switching hands have looked pretty long.

But Democrats have caught a few breaks in candidate recruitment. In Ohio, veteran Democratic senator Sherrod Brown, who narrowly lost his seat in 2024, is challenging appointed senator Jon Husted in what should be a close race if there is even a mild pro-Democratic breeze. In blue Maine, not one but two viable candidates — sitting governor Janet Mills and populist newcomer Graham Platner — are challenging veteran survivor Susan Collins. That’s also the case in Texas, where James Talarico and Jasmine Crockett are competing for a shot at the seat of beleaguered GOP incumbent John Cornyn, who is facing a........

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