With nearly 50 million Gen Zers eligible to vote in the 2026 midterm elections, it was clear well before Election Day that the youngest generation of voters could be one of the most powerful. But Gen Zers could also be considered one of the most unpredictable — Gen Zers are known to be progressive, but they also don’t like labels. And after their mixed-bag performance in the 2024 presidential election, this generation’s voting habits seemed to be a big question mark when it came to the 2026 midterms.
According to data from CIRCLE by Tufts University, young people (considered ages 18 to 29, an age group that is now entirely made up of Gen Zers) preferred Democratic candidates in the 2024 presidential election — but only by a narrow margin of 12%. And the age group’s left-leaning tendencies weren’t shared by all; in fact, young white men actively preferred Republican candidates in 2024.
That said, a lot has changed in the country since then. According to Her Campus’s survey of Gen Zers ahead of the 2026 election, 81% of respondents said they were unhappy with the current political system and governance, citing ICE and immigration, reproductive rights, the economy, and healthcare among the top concerns driving their votes this year. Considering both the executive and legislative branches of government have been controlled by Republicans since 2024, could that mean young voters would show up differently this time around?
The answer, it turns out, is a resounding yes.
The midterms were a blue tsunami. As of Nov. 6 (since some races are still being counted), Democrats gained seven seats in the Senate, 29 seats in the House of Representatives, and five governorships, with multiple traditionally red states going blue. History was made in several states: Georgia elected Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms as its new governor, making her the first Black woman in the U.S. to hold the position. Michigan’s Abdul El-Sayed is positioned to be the first Muslim senator. California and Texas elected Latinx governors Xavier Becerra and Gina Hinojosa, respectively. Deb Haaland from New Mexico became the country’s first Native American governor, among other nationwide milestones. And Gen Z played a huge part in making all this happen.
Across the country, young people represented 11% of total votes cast, according to CIRCLE. Voters of Tomorrow, the largest Gen Z-focused voting organization, estimates that youth participation in this election exceeded that of 2018 — aka, the midterms year during President Donald Trump’s first term, which previously held the record for the highest youth turnout.
And Gen Zers didn’t just show up big — they showed up blue. CIRCLE reports 66% of young voters voted blue, the highest support of Democratic candidates by young people since 2018. Young women and queer folks led the progressive charge (as they consistently do), with 70% of young women and 86% of young queer people voting blue. But even young men — who were previously on the right side of the Gen Z political gender divide — went left, with 59% of them supporting Democratic candidates. Altogether, young voters preferred Democrats over Republicans by a 35% margin.
So, what drove these Gen Z votes? “I think so many young people showed up because we are seeing that we have to get active to see change,” Danielle Cox, a 19-year-old Pace University student, tells Her Campus. “Not only that, but the issues on the ballots affect us directly. I think a lot of us got tired of the decisions being made about us without us.”
Sara*, a 21-year-old college student, shared some specifics that were top of mind for her: discontent with Trump and fear of ICE. “For the first time in my life, I feel genuinely scared at times,” she says. “I’m hoping [the midterms] will, at the very least, stop normalizing racism (which is exactly what [the current] administration has done).” She knows many of her peers feel the same. “I think most of us are relatively fresh out of civics and government classes and can clearly see how wrong everything that’s happening is,” she says. “I think we were all more than eager [to have] an opportunity to change what’s happening for the better.”
In response to their own turnout, young people are feeling cautiously optimistic about the future. On Her Campus’s Instagram Story following the election, community members wrote in to say they felt “inspired” and “hopeful” about the outcomes of the midterms. One reader shared, “I cried when we hit 51 [Democratic Senate seats].”
But, of course, Gen Z recognizes that midterm elections are a starting point, not the finish line. As Bre*, a Her Campus reader, put it, “[I’m] so hopeful but still cautious. This is only the first step for a lot of change that needs to come!”
*Names have been changed.