Democrats do not currently hold the majority in the House of Representatives or the Senate.

Posted by The NPR Politics Podcast, Aug 28, 2026Checked Nov 2, 2026

Polygraph verdictTrue

Sources: 5 support1 context
Said: 1 time·
Confidence: 90%

The NPR Politics PodcastAug 28, 2026

As of 2026-08-28, Republicans held majorities in both the House and the Senate, so Democrats did not hold either majority, and the claim matches the post's point. Sources from October and early November 2026 consistently describe the same Republican majorities (Senate 53-47, House 218-214 with one GOP-aligned independent), and none indicates a change before the midterms.

A guest makes this claim. Listeners heard it, so it counts against the post, and on the guest's own record.

This claim is about the present, so it is judged as of the day it was checked.

What was said

… Eric, I want to ask about your reporting on Democrats, because they are doing all of this work to try to head off disaster, but they don't really have a lot of power. They're not in charge of the House, they're not in charge of the Senate, they don't have the White House. What can they actually do? I mean, they're saying that we've got loads, we Democratic lawmakers have loads of soft power that we can use to mobilize the public, to serve as the connective tissue between prominent election litigators, pro-democracy groups, …

The NPR Politics Podcast · Aug 28, 2026· from the transcriptPost →

What we found

Supports. Reuters (Nov 2, 2026) reports Republicans hold narrow 218-214 and 53-47 majorities in the House and Senate, with Democrats needing a net gain of four seats in each chamber to take control.[1]

Supports. AP's Senate results page lists the GOP holding a 53-47 Senate majority, with Vice President JD Vance's tie-breaking vote, and Democrats needing 51 seats to take control.[2]

Supports. BBC (Oct 13, 2026) states that both chambers of Congress are controlled by the Republicans, the president's party, with the House majority as thin as it gets.[3]

Supports. CountryWatch states that Republicans entered the 2026 general election controlling both chambers, with a 53-45 Senate balance plus two independents and a 218-214 House majority.[4]

Supports. ABC News (Oct 27, 2026) says Speaker Mike Johnson's Republicans hold slim majorities in both the House and Senate, with Democrats holding 214 House seats.[5]

Context. The House majority is razor-thin and Democrats were widely expected to gain it in the November 3 election, but that outcome was not yet decided on the claim's date, so the claim's present-tense statement holds as of August 28.[1][6]