What do the Midterms Results Mean for the US Culture Sector?
The US Democratic Party has flipped the House and Senate in the Midterm elections
The U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C. Photo: Courtesy of the European Union, 2026, CC BY 4.0
Democrats have taken control of Congress following the midterm elections last night, picking up at least 29House seats and seven Senate seats to secure majorities in both chambers from January.
The wave extended far beyond Washington: Democrats grabbed a majority of state governorships for the first time in 16 years, flipping seats in long-held Republican strongholds like Texas and in states Trump carried in 2024 like Georgia. NBC News exit polls placed President Donald Trump’s disapproval rating at 62 percent.
The election marks a major electoral test of Trump’s second term which has aggressively reshaped the nation’s cultural landscape. From ideological and financial crackdowns at the Smithsonian to the controversial plan of a 250-foot Triumphal Arch near Arlington National Cemetery and the purge of the Kennedy Center leading to a two-years shutdown, federal policy towards the arts sector has sparked intense debate nationwide.
For the cultural sector, the rebalance of power is a potentially major shift. Congress controls funding for federal cultural institutions, including the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), both of which faced proposed spending cuts under the current administration. With majorities in both chambers, Democrats will have the authority to set funding levels and exercise legislative oversight over federal arts policy for the next two years.
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