How many seats did Republicans win in the November 2025 elections nationwide?
Executive summary
Available sources do not provide a single, nationwide tally labeled “how many seats did Republicans win in the November 2025 elections” for federal and state offices combined; reporting focuses on specific contests (governorships, state legislative chambers, mayoralties, ballot measures and some congressional special races) rather than a single cumulative seat count (not found in current reporting). For example, Ballotpedia reports post‑election partisan control of state executive offices such as secretaries of state (Republicans 25, Democrats 22) and Ballotpedia’s state legislature summary gives Republicans 55.31% of state legislative seats nationally as of Nov. 16, 2025 [1] [2].
1. What “seats” are we even counting? — Narrow the question first
News outlets and data aggregators separate federal seats (House, Senate), statewide executive offices (governors, secretaries of state, attorneys general), state legislative seats, and local offices; none of the provided sources attempt a single, combined nationwide seat total across those categories for November 2025. The New York Times and AP focus on specific high‑profile races (governor, mayor, state attorney general) and the AP offers live calls rather than a cumulative seat table [3] [4]. Ballotpedia provides segmented tallies — for instance, secretaries of state after the election — and state‑legislature percentages, but not one unified “Republican seats won nationwide” number [1] [2]. If you mean just one category (e.g., U.S. House seats won on Nov. 4, 2025) say which and I will extract the available counts from these sources; otherwise, a single national total is not present in the reporting provided (not found in current reporting).
2. What the aggregated sources do report about partisan outcomes
Ballotpedia reports that after the 2025 contests Republicans held 25 secretaries of state to Democrats’ 22, which is a specific post‑election count for that statewide office category [1]. For state legislatures, Ballotpedia’s summary as of Nov. 16, 2025 shows Republicans controlling 55.31% of all state legislative seats nationally and majorities in 57 chambers versus Democrats in 39 — again, a percentage and chamber‑control snapshot rather than a raw nationwide seat gain/loss total for the single election day [2]. AP, NYT, NPR and PBS provide race‑level results and calls for key contests (e.g., Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races, New York City mayor) but do not consolidate them into a single “seats won” figure across categories [4] [3] [5] [6].
3. Federal seats: what the sources mention (special elections and context)
The 2025 cycle was an off‑year for regular congressional elections, so there were relatively few House contests on Nov. 4 and several special elections at other dates; Wikipedia notes special elections earlier in the year and that some special contests were held on or near Nov. 4, but it does not present a final national tally of House seats won on that date [7]. The 2026 House election page notes retirements announced as of November 2025 (16 Democrats, 22 Republicans) but that is pre‑2026 context, not a Nov. 4 result total [8]. In short: reporting highlights individual special or open‑seat contests but not a single nationwide Republican seat count for Nov. 4 (not found in current reporting).
4. State and local outcomes that shifted the partisan map
Coverage emphasizes several Democratic wins in marquee 2025 contests — for example, Democratic wins in Virginia and New Jersey governorships (New Jersey’s Mikie Sherrill won her race) and Democratic pickups in some state legislative races — and analyses (Brookings, NYT) interpret these as signals ahead of 2026. Ballotpedia records Democratic gains in the Virginia House (Democrats 64, Republicans 36), and the broader Ballotpedia state‑legislature snapshot shows Republicans still holding a majority of legislative seats nationally [1] [2] [3] [9]. These results complicate any simple narrative that one party “swept” the year.
5. Why a single nationwide Republican seat count is hard to produce from these sources
The provided reporting fragments numbers across jurisdictions and office types and does not aggregate them into a singular nationwide “Republican seats won” total for November 2025. Some outlets specialize in live race calls (AP, NPR), others summarize select post‑election office totals (Ballotpedia), and policy shops analyze implications (Brookings), but no source in the set publishes the unified figure you asked for (not found in current reporting) [4] [5] [1] [9].
6. How I can follow up to give you the exact number you want
Tell me which category you mean: (A) U.S. House seats decided on Nov. 4, 2025; (B) U.S. Senate seats (if any) decided that day; (C) statewide executive offices (e.g., governors, secretaries of state); (D) state legislative seats; or (E) a combined total across all categories. If you want a combined total, I will extract and sum the counts from AP, Ballotpedia, NYT and Wikipedia entries in the provided set and note gaps where the sources do not list specific race results [4] [1] [3] [7].