Skip to content
Bramble

US

CBS News and Wired list key 2026 midterm races to watch, with different selection criteria

CBS News picked nine Senate and 42 House races it says will likely decide control of Congress. Wired chose races through a tech-and-democracy lens: DOGE, Elon Musk's funding, the AI lobby, data centers and election denial.

2 outlets · 2L · 0C · 0R First reported Account updated
Image: CBS News
Image: Wired

1 / 2

The story, neutrally told

Left · 1CBS News identified nine key Senate and 42 House races that it says will likely decide the majority in Congress in the 2026 midterms, adding that all of them can change as the campaign continues. Left · 1CBS says Republicans, who hold the majority in both chambers, are vulnerable mainly because of the unpopular Iran war and continuing cost-of-living pressure. Left · 1In the Senate, Republicans hold 53 seats and Democrats 47. Democrats need a net gain of four seats for a majority, and most of the 22 seats the GOP is defending are in states Trump easily won in 2024.

Left · 1CBS's Senate list covers Alaska, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Ohio, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina and New Hampshire. Examples include Susan Collins against Troy Jackson in Maine, Ken Paxton against James Talarico in Texas, and Roy Cooper against Michael Whatley in North Carolina. Left · 1In the House, all 435 seats are up and 218 is the majority threshold. CBS describes the chamber as narrowly divided, with 218 Republicans plus an independent who caucuses with the GOP, 214 Democrats and two vacancies. Left · 1Its House picks include seats reshaped by redistricting, such as California's 45th, where Democratic Rep. Derek Tran's redrawn district was won by Kamala Harris by only 4 points, and Florida's 14th, 22nd and 25th.

Left · 1A CBS News Bay Area video segment, published a week or so later in the cycle, said Democrats are gaining ground in multiple key races as they look to take control of Congress with four weeks to go. Left · 1Wired's list is built around technology and democracy themes, labelling each race with what makes it 'a WIRED race', such as DOGE, Elon Musk, America PAC, the AI lobby, data centers and election denial. Left · 1Wired highlights Chris Gober, a former America PAC lawyer running in Texas's newly gerrymandered 10th district. It says he advised on the structure of DOGE according to the New York Times, and that a September poll showed him leading Rourk 48-41.

Left · 1Wired also covers governor's races, including Wisconsin (Democrat David Crowley led Republican Tom Tiffany 49-46 in a Marquette poll) and Georgia (a Rasmussen poll had Republican Rick Jackson ahead of Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms 48-45). Left · 2Both outlets cover Michigan's Senate race between Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers. Wired adds that Elon Musk–affiliated America PAC has put more than $4 million in, mostly negative ads against El-Sayed, and that if Democrats lose Michigan they would need to flip five Republican seats elsewhere.

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.

Left2 outlets

Framing
Both outlets present race guides. CBS frames the contest around control of Congress, with Republicans vulnerable on the Iran war and costs. Wired frames it around technology, Musk and AI money, and threats to election integrity.
Emphasis
CBS stresses seat counts, majority thresholds and redistricting. Wired stresses DOGE ties, data centers, super PAC funding and election denial.
Leaves out or plays down
CBS does not centre money or tech themes. Wired lists few races overall and says little about the national battle for control, and several of its races have no polls.
Charged language
“unpopular Iran war”“election denial”“baseless investigation”“Extremism, election denial”
For example
“Republicans, who currently have the majority in both chambers, are vulnerable primarily because of the unpopular Iran war and continuing cost-of-living economic pressure.” — CBS News
“WHAT MAKES THIS A WIRED RACE: Extremism, election denial” — Wired
“This year, he has warmly welcomed the FBI’s baseless investigation into the state’s elections.” — Wired

Centre0 outlets

No centre outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.

Right0 outlets

No right outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.