PIMCO reports a Democratic sweep
Democrats captured both chambers of Congress and won nationwide by 13 points, according to PIMCO's November 4, 2026, post-election analysis. The firm characterized the midterm outcome as a historically decisive victory.
PIMCO projected Democrats would win the House by 40 to 45 seats, putting them near 260 seats in total and potentially giving them their largest House majority since 2008. In the Senate, it reported Democratic wins in seven states: South Carolina, North Carolina, Texas, Kansas, Maine, Ohio and Iowa. Democrats also led in Mississippi and Alaska, leaving open the possibility of a 56-44 majority.
The firm judged the result closer to 1974 than to the Democratic wave of 2006. In that earlier election, PIMCO noted, Democrats took both chambers by winning the House by 31 seats and the Senate by six seats.
The factors PIMCO cited
PIMCO attributed the Democratic wave partly to concerns about the cost of gas, groceries, housing and healthcare. It also pointed to concerns about presidential overreach on immigration, citing a finding that 65% of Texas voters believed Trump had gone too far.
The analysis identified two other factors: voters' rejection of political incivility and their response to the Supreme Court's decision on Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
The television coverage studies cited by Graham
In a separate column carried by 930 WFMD, Graham cited a Media Research Center study measuring negative coverage on the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts. For September 28 through October 26, 2026, the study counted almost 57 minutes of negative coverage of Trump and Republicans, compared with almost 19 minutes for Democrats—a three-to-one ratio.
Graham also reported on an MRC study of PBS NewsHour in NewsBusters. That review, covering political coverage from September 1 through 30, 2026, classified 94% of evaluations of Republicans as negative and 6% as positive. For Democrats, the split was 53% negative and 47% positive. The underlying counts were 102 negative evaluations and six positive ones for Republicans, compared with 10 negative and nine positive for Democrats.
The 930 WFMD column also cited MRC's review of the 2024 presidential campaign. From July 21 through October 25 of that year, the group classified 85% of Trump's coverage on the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts as negative, while 78% of Democratic nominee Kamala Harris's coverage was positive.
