Major Democratic victories in the 2026 midterms are to be celebrated but also recognized as just the beginning of the work needed to restore civil rights in America, said Keith W. Byrd Sr., president of the Progressive National Baptist Convention.
Keith W. Byrd Sr.
“Elections end, but our calling does not. The issues that brought our communities to the polls remain before us: Health and healing, economic justice, safe neighborhoods, quality education, and the protection of the vote,” Byrd said in a Nov. 5 news release. “I call on our churches to pray for our nation, to pursue unity across our differences and to stay engaged long after Election Day. As the prophet Amos declared, ‘Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.’”
American voters handed President Donald Trump and his Republican allies a major defeat in the highly anticipated elections. Democrats gained control of both houses of Congress, flipped six governorships and turned Texas, Kansas and five other states from red to blue. The outcome has been described as a comprehensive rejection of the president’s handling of the economy, the war in Iran, immigration, civil rights and more.
Voters were highly motivated to make their voices heard. An estimated 124 million ballots were cast, up from 112 million in 2022 and from 118.6 million in 2018. Voter registration jumped from 153 million in 2018 to 196 million in 2026 despite attempts by the federal government to impede voting access across the country.
Registration and voting trends followed waves of voter registration and poll chaplain trainings, strategy sessions, bus tours and pro-democracy rallies conducted by numerous faith, civil rights, labor and advocacy groups including the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Vote Common Good and Interfaith Alliance.
PNBC — the spiritual home of Martin Luther King Jr. — joined forces with the Rainbow PUSH Coalition and AFL-CIO for an initiative called The People’s Revival, a voter education and mobilization that included events in churches in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas. Georgia went on to elect the first Black female governor in U.S. history, and Texas elected the first Latina governor in its history.
“We call on Congress to restore and strengthen the full protections of the Voting Rights Act.”
The Democratic achievements came the same year that the U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision in Louisiana v. Callais eviscerated Civil Rights Act protections and “weakened the voice of Black voters,” Byrd noted.
“This year our voters persevered in the face of real obstacles. The right to vote was won through prayer, sacrifice and blood, and it must not be quietly eroded. We call on Congress to restore and strengthen the full protections of the Voting Rights Act, and we will continue to defend every citizen’s right to vote and to have that vote count.”
Byrd added the denomination’s prayers are with elected leaders regardless of party: “You are called to serve all the people, not some of the people, and especially ‘the least of these.’ We will measure your service by how you treat the poor, the sick, the stranger and the forgotten, and we will hold you accountable to justice.”
Liz Shuler
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said the “blue wave” that swept Democrats into office also was “union made.”
“Across the country, working people organized and turned out to elect candidates who will put us first by fighting alongside us to lower costs, raise wages, create an economy that actually works for working people, and put a check on the Trump administration’s attacks on our freedoms,” she said.
The labor movement also helped muster tens of thousands of voters in swing states nationwide, she added. “This election was a watershed moment for working people and our families — but we know the hard work has just begun. The mandate from the American people to the new Congress is clear: Get to work ending the status quo that has for too long benefited the wealthy and build an economy that works for the people who make this country run.”
Derrick Johnson
The 2026 elections results also should be attributed to Black Americans standing up to the pre-election intimidation tactics of the federal government, NAACP President Derrick Johnson said.
“Once again, Black voters have proven that we are not bystanders in this country, we are its builders,” he said. “The Trump administration tried every trick in the book to block voters from the polls, but we showed up and showed out, and we voted.”
But Johnson echoed others who said this election is merely the starting point for social and racial justice work in the U.S. in the months and years to come. “This election’s outcomes are not the finish line. They’re a reminder that we the people have the power. And keeping that power requires us to vote, hold elected officials accountable and fight for our freedom.”
Interfaith Alliance President Paul Raushenbush said the fair and safe election was a crucial victory for multi-faith democracy in the U.S. and a major rejection of authoritarianism, bigotry and fear.
“Through our ‘The Vote is Sacred’ bus tour over the past month, Interfaith Alliance rallied with faith leaders and communities in 17 states nationwide, helping train them to protect our democratic process, and making absolutely clear that so many people of diverse faiths and beliefs stand on the side of inclusion and tolerance.”
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Bus tours are rolling across America to get out the vote