Election Day is here. Voters nationwide will decide control of the U.S. House and Senate. Democrats must flip four seats in the Senate and three seats in the House to wrest control of the chambers from Republicans. Control of Congress would give Democrats a way to push back against President Donald Trump’s agenda during the final two years of his term. The battle for control is playing out mostly in states and districts Trump previously won by wide margins.
All eyes are on Senate contests in Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Ohio and Texas, while House battlegrounds are scattered across the country.
Democrats have homed in on Trump’s poor approval rating, public dissatisfaction with the war in Iran and affordability concerns. Republicans have focused on social issues, while Trump has made himself the central character of the midterms.
The latest:
For some voters, Trump is either doing the right thing or he’s a threat to democracy
Patricia Witt, 82, is a registered Democrat in Raleigh, North Carolina. But the retired information technology worker voted for Trump’s handpicked Senate candidate, Republican Michael Whatley, because she wants to maintain GOP support in Congress for Trump and his policies.
“And I do not want to go through what we went through before with the Senate and the House fighting against the man, rather than fighting for what they should be doing — representing us as citizens,” she said.
But David Kastenberg, 65, a physician living in Philadelphia, wants the opposite. He said he voted for Democratic candidates in part over concerns that American democracy is at stake.
“I’m extremely upset with what’s happening in Washington with President Trump’s policies,” he said. “And I want to see Congress change.”
LA, DC could follow NY with democratic socialist mayors
Voters in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., are considering candidates for mayor aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America.
If Nithya Raman captures the mayoralty in LA and Janeese Lewis George wins in Washington, the two cities would follow New York’s lead, where democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor in 2025 after promising to transform city government to restore power to the working class.
Both cities are heavily Democratic.
Raman is trying to oust Mayor Karen Bass, who’s fighting to keep her job after a rough first term that included the deadly Palisades Fire, which ignited when she was out of the country and caught the fire department unprepared. The former political allies are progressive Democrats.
In Washington, Lewis George is favored after winning the Democratic primary. Her victory would signal a break with a quarter-century of centrist governance in Washington. It would place her in the vanguard of democratic socialists that also includes Katie Wilson, who won an upset victory to lead Seattle last fall.
Kansas voter trusts Trump will bring fuel prices down
Daryl Compton, a 73-year-old retired UPS worker, attended a rally in Topeka, Kansas, last week headlined by Vice President Vance wearing a red “Make America Great Again” cap.
Compton said he’s concerned about illegal immigration, the economy and national security, particularly the threat posed by Iran.
He also said fuel prices are too high, “but I put my trust in Trump that they are going to come down.”
“And I think they’ll come down a lot further than we even expect,” he said.
Compton said he’s motivated to vote for Republican Sen. Roger Marshall because if Democratic challenger Adam Hamilton wins, that could put Democrats in charge of the Senate.
“I don’t like Democrats,” he said. “They’re basically not Democrats. They are more like Communists, and I’m against Communism.”
Voting in one Florida county delayed due to bar code issue as polls open
Voting was delayed for 20 minutes at voting sites across Broward County as polls opened because a new safety feature malfunctioned, officials said.
During a news conference, Supervisor of Elections Joe Scott apologized to voters who had to wait and said some left before they were able to vote. The problem was solved by 7:20 a.m., and Scott encouraged those who left to return. He did not have an estimate of how many voters left.
Scott said the state’s late redistricting meant some people within the same precinct voted on different ballots, and the new bar code feature was meant to ensure poll workers did not give people the wrong one.
Some people received an error message that they were voting on the wrong ballot, but they were not, Scott said.
“Nobody voted on the wrong ballot,” Scott said. “None of the counts were impacted.”
Millions of voters face new laws at ballot box
More than three dozen voting laws passed in Republican-controlled states are taking effect for the first time this year, many of them containing elements of proposals that Trump tried unsuccessfully to get through Congress.
At the state level, the changes include new requirements to show proof of citizenship. College students in New Hampshire won’t be using college IDs. Iowa voters without ID can’t count on other voters to vouch for them, and some voters in Mississippi might need birth certificates or passports for verification. Naturalized citizens might get to polling places and learn they’ve been purged because databases used to check their citizenship against voter registration lists are outdated.
Opponents say the restrictions make it harder for eligible voters to vote. Republican lawmakers who support the tighter voting laws, especially around voter ID, say they help build trust in elections.
The Texas governor’s race has focused on a new lightning rod: data centers
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who has comfortably held the governor’s mansion since 2014, is in one of his tougher fights. He faces Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa in an election year favoring her party.
The race, still an uphill slog for Hinojosa, has revolved around the standard concerns of high costs and public education, but the hulking structures that power artificial intelligence butted in. Data centers have drawn bipartisan anger from Americans who live by them and concerns that the buildings guzzle too much water and electricity.
Last year, Abbott celebrated Google’s investments partly to build data centers in the state. Hinojosa hammered him for it, arguing that it represented the influence of wealthy people over everyday Texans. The governor has since shifted his position, ordering the pause of data center permits and saying, “Texans come first.”
Flooding prompts relocation of some polling places in Florida
Some voters in Florida were being directed to cast their ballots in new places on Tuesday after their polling sites were relocated due to continued rain and flooding.
Florida elections officials said 21 polling places in eight counties were moved. The relocations were mostly along the central and southern Atlantic coast, with some inland counties included. County officials said they notified voters by text and email, and signs were posted at voting locations directing people to the new sites.
Some residents expressed frustration and concern on social media that some voters may not be able to get to the polls because of flooding.
Amy Keith, the Florida state director for Common Cause, said the flooding is a big issue.
“Today it has already been a pretty challenging morning,” she said, urging voters to double-check their voting locations with election supervisors.
Schumer says he’s ‘nauseously optimistic’
After casting his vote at a Brooklyn school, Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer said he was optimistic that when polls close, “there will be a new Democratic majority in the United States Senate.”
“We don’t want to count our chickens before they hatch. So I’d characterize our mood as nauseously optimistic,” Schumer said.
He predicted that Democrat Abdul El-Sayed would win the U.S. Senate race in Michigan, despite the decision by his former primary opponent, U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, to endorse Republican Mike Rogers.
“She’s one vote,” Schumer said. “He’s going to win tonight because he’s talking about what Michiganders care about.”
Schumer said that a year ago, no one thought the Democrats might be in a position to retake the Senate. But he credited the party’s “relentless” focus on affordability and “chaos overseas in a war with Iran that nobody wants” with making Democrats more competitive.
A look at recent midterm election results
Midterm elections generally favor the party that doesn’t hold the White House, but the two most recent cycles generated a mixed result.
When Joe Biden was president, Republicans won control of the House in 2022, picking up nine seats and assuming a slim majority. But Democrats maintained control of the Senate and even picked up a seat in the chamber.
A similar dynamic occurred during Trump’s first term, though the gains were much larger for Democrats in the House. They netted 40 seats in the 2018 midterms and took the majority for the first time in eight years. Still, Republicans expanded their Senate majority by two seats.
Some analysts see similarities between this midterm political environment and that of 2006, when President George W. Bush and Republicans faced headwinds from high fuel prices and the war in Iraq. That year, Democrats added 30 House seats and six Senate seats to take the majority in both chambers.
Massive spending and presidential visits signal Ohio is back in play
After years of having its storied bellwether status written off, Ohio is competitive again.
Republicans should have run away with critical contests for U.S. Senate and governor, based on Trump’s three consecutive sweeping victories in the state. Instead, they headed into Election Day in close contests with their Democratic rivals.
Democratic former Sen. Sherrod Brown has mounted a comeback bid against Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, appointed last year to the seat formerly held by Vice President JD Vance. Both Trump and Vance visited Ohio in the campaign’s closing weeks to rally voters, as did former President Barack Obama for Democrats.
The governor’s contest pits Republican biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy against Democrat Dr. Amy Acton, the state’s former COVID-era health director.
An ad Ramaswamy ran featuring Acton’s estranged mother became a flashpoint in the race and across the U.S.
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy warns of massive Russian strikes as the world focuses on US midterms
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that Russia will step up massive drone and missile strikes on his country’s energy facilities this week while international attention is focused on the U.S. midterm elections.
“The world will be watching the American midterms, and what is happening here in Ukraine, along with our difficulties with air defense and Patriot missiles, will be overlooked,” he said in an evening video post.
Russian ballistic missiles and drones damaged energy facilities in 10 Ukrainian regions Tuesday — part of a campaign by Moscow to pressure Kyiv over the winter months.
General mood of the country from AP-NORC polling
Americans have been in a sour mood about the country’s direction for several years, according to AP-NORC polling.
About 7 in 10 U.S. adults say the country is heading in the wrong direction, according to AP-NORC polling from September. Only about one-quarter of U.S. adults say things are headed in the “right direction.” Democrats and independents are much likelier than Republicans to say things are not going the right way.
Roughly 6 in 10 U.S. adults say they are feeling “very” or “somewhat” pessimistic about the state of politics in this country, according to an AP-NORC poll from October. About half are feeling negatively about the future of democracy in the U.S.
US will halt $4B in aid to Israel as ally shifts to buying military hardware, Trump says
The Republican president told Fox News Channel during an Election Day telephone interview that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had approached him about the idea and that they have been talking about it for a couple of years.
Trump said Israel doesn’t need the aid and that it’s a lot of money for the U.S. to spend. But Trump also said the aid had become a Democratic talking point for candidates such as Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed.
“We give them $4 billion of things and money, and they don’t need it,” Trump said.
Netanyahu’s office had no immediate comment.
The United States has sent tens of billions of dollars in military aid to Israel over the past few years.
Trump has spent months trying to overhaul how US elections work, without much success
This year’s midterm elections are being run by state and local officials, in much the way they’ve always done it — but that’s not for lack of trying by Trump.
The Republican president has been trying to expand his influence over the way U.S. elections operate ever since returning to office, largely unsuccessfully, through executive action, lawsuits and legislation.
The Supreme Court in September closed the chapter on one of his boldest efforts — a plan that would have demanded a dramatic overhaul of the nation’s mail voting processes. Trump also failed this year to coerce the Republican-led Senate to pass his SAVE America Act, which would have required documentary proof of citizenship for anyone registering to vote.
Still, some of his administration’s efforts have succeeded in reshaping the midterms, including a redistricting push that convinced multiple Republican-led states to pass partisan congressional maps to minimize potential losses.
Trump says midterm results will be ‘better than you think’
Trump says Tuesday’s midterm results will be “better than you think” for Republicans, declaring that “inflation is solved” and “everything’s going good.”
Trump’s closing day message conflicts with frustration many voters are feeling with the economy, as the cost of groceries, gas and healthcare has climbed despite the president’s promise to bring down prices.
Inflation is running at 3.7% annually, up from 3% when Trump’s second term started.
Trump didn’t acknowledge concerns about prices in his Tuesday morning interview with “Fox and Friends.” Instead, he touted his administration’s immigration enforcement and said U.S. manufacturing was expanding.
“I think the results are going to be better than you think,” he said.
Talarico takes Democrats’ biggest swing in years at winning Texas
Texas hasn’t elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1988, but the party is brimming with hope that it has the perfect storm to do so this year: a well-spoken candidate in James Talarico, an opponent saddled with scandals in Republican Ken Paxton, and an election favoring Democrats nationwide.
Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian and state lawmaker, has focused on Texans’ struggles against everyday costs, which he squarely blames on uber-wealthy people corrupting politics. Paxton, Talarico argues, is the flag-bearer of that corruption.
Paxton is the Lone Star State’s longtime attorney general and conservative culture warrior. He’s lived under a cloud of ethical questions, which led to his own party impeaching him on corruption allegations in the statehouse. Paxton has repeatedly hammered Talarico on his past statements, including “God is nonbinary,” insisting that he’s too “woke” for Texas.
Voting continues in suburban county outside New York City, despite machine issue
Voters in Westchester County continue to cast ballots at polling locations despite a countywide issue with machines that aren’t accepting paper ballots.
The Westchester County Board of Elections said ballots are being placed in designated orange emergency ballot bags as they resolve the issue. The board said the ballots would remain secure and monitored and would be counted.
Some voters in the county are deciding a competitive U.S. House race between Rep. Mike Lawler and his Democratic opponent, Cait Conley. Both candidates posted statements on X, urging voters to stay in line.
State Attorney General Letitia James said her office is in contact with state and local election officials.
The county includes the cities of Yonkers and White Plains. It is located north of Manhattan along the Hudson River and has more than 1 million residents.
Paxton’s past split this Texas couple’s vote
Liz Tabor, 62, and her husband, Mark Bauer, 59, cast their early vote for Republicans at Buda City Hall in Texas, though Tabor’s GOP ticket had a few exceptions.
“I did not vote for Paxton,” she said of the Republican Senate candidate, who was impeached by his own party but acquitted and has faced allegations of extramarital affairs. “I just can’t. There’s so much with his past.”
“It’s an accumulation of his shady behavior,” she added.
She didn’t vote for his Democratic rival, though, either. She instead opted for the Libertarian candidate.
Bauer voted for Paxton, saying it was more important to have a Republican in office.
The two have lived in Texas for 26 years and said that what Republicans have done at the border is a good thing, and that they hoped to see more of it.
The nation’s longest Senate winning streak is at stake in Kansas
Sen. Roger Marshall is trying to fend off an unusually strong challenge from Democratic megachurch pastor Adam Hamilton in a race that’s generated a Kansas record for spending on advertising.
A Democrat hasn’t won a Senate race in the state in 94 years.
But Marshall is seeking a second term at a moment of deep frustration with Trump’s handling of the economy, and Hamilton made affordability a key issue while positioning himself as a moderate who could work with Republican colleagues in Washington.
Hamilton is the founder and senior pastor of the Kansas City-area Church of the Resurrection. With 25,000 members, it’s the nation’s largest United Methodist congregation.
DeSantis urges Trump, Republicans not to ‘gaslight’ voters
In a Monday interview with commentator Stephen A. Smith, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Trump originally promised not to start new wars in the Middle East, but is currently in an “open-ended” conflict in Iran, which has driven up fuel prices.
DeSantis said some Republicans have tried to blame former President Joe Biden for the higher prices, but he urged them to be honest.
“Gas is higher and it hurts people, working-class people,” he said. “And it’s higher because of this conflict. That’s just a fact. If you can’t admit that to voters, then you’re gaslighting them and they’re not going to listen to you on other things.”
DeSantis unsuccessfully competed with Trump for the 2024 presidential nomination and could run again in 2028.
