US midterm elections 2026 live updates: Democrats win control of Congress as voters punish Trump

In another historic first, the Democrats are projected to win Nevada’s second congressional district for the first time since its creation in 1981. Democrat Teresa Benitez-Thompson is in the lead ahead of Republican David Flippo, although the race has not yet been called by the Associated Press. If she holds on to that lead and flips the House seat, it will mark the first time since 1947 that Nevada has had an all-Democrat congressional delegation. Democrat incumbents have swept all of Nevada’s three remaining House seats, whose races have been called by AP. “One of the biggest upsets in Nevada history, a district never held by a Democrat in its 45 years of existence,” said Jon Ralston, founder and CEO of the Nevada Independent, of Benitez-Thompson’s projected win. Democrat James Talarico has won the US Senate race in Texas, breaking a 38-year drought for his party in the Republican stronghold and delivering a stunning blow to Donald Trump. Talarico defeated Republican Ken Paxton, the state attorney general and a staunch ally of the US president, in one of the most closely watched contests of the midterm elections to decide control of Congress. “We just took back Texas!” the 37-year-old told jubilant supporters at an election night party in Austin, the state capital and his home city. “We just proved that all the money in the world is no match for the people of Texas. We have just shown that a politics of division is no match for a politics of love.” Read more: Nevada has elected Democrat Aaron Ford as its next governor, making him the first black person to hold the office in the state’s history. His win toppled the Republican incumbent Joe Lombardo in a closely watched race, and delivered an important victory for the Democrats in one of the country’s key battleground states. Ford ran his campaign with the backing of California governor Gavin Newsom and former vice-president Kamala Harris, focusing on the cost of living, housing affordability and student debt. There’s a certain freedom in low expectations. Going in to Tuesday’s midterm elections, forecasts were so grim for the Republicans that poll watchers started trading a kind of knowing joke: that the results would either mean the end of the Trump era, or the end of the polling profession. Amid those sorts of predictions, any Republican victories would have seemed like a minor miracle. The expectation was that Democrats would have a blowout; Republicans, counting on the final tally to be a bit more mixed, would therefore almost certainly have the freedom to claim that they’d done better than anyone had thought they would. It will be difficult to credit those spins today. The electorate issued the president a message of dissatisfaction with the second Trump term, and voted decisively to curb his power. Now, with a Senate majority, Democrats will be able to investigate the president and his cabinet members, draw public attention to their own agenda items, assert Congress’s constitutional prerogatives, and block Republican judicial appointments. In the coming days and weeks, Trump will alternately say that the Republican losses were fake – the result of fraud by a nefarious but ill-defined conspiracy of Democrats and illegal immigrants – and that they were real, but somebody else’s fault. His administration has signaled over the past weeks that it could make efforts to contest the certification of especially close Senate races, notably Alaska. But the wind may have gone out of the sails of that plan for now: for what it’s worth, which isn’t much, Trump told the New York Times on Tuesday night that he would accept the results of the midterms. What’s certain is that he will rail into microphones and complain in all caps on social media. But it is not likely that any of that will go anywhere. Because Tuesday night – almost exactly 10 years after he won the presidency in an upset victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016 – the Trump era effectively came to an end. Read more: Former US president Barack Obama has welcomed the midterm election results as a clear rejection of divisive politics. In a statement on X, he said: Tonight, the American people sent a clear message – they want a politics that brings people together rather than divides them, and leaders who offer concrete solutions to the challenges they face. These results were only possible because outstanding candidates stepped forward in every region of the country – including in areas once considered long shots. They came from different backgrounds and represented a range of political perspectives, but were united by shared values, a belief in public service, and a commitment to putting the people of their districts and states first.” Spain’s socialist prime minister, Pedro Sánchez – who has been Donald Trump’s most vociferous European critic – is celebrating last night’s results, hailing them as proof of a progressive fightback and of the “crumbling” of what he called the “ultra wave”. “Yesterday, the American people voted against policies that only serve to impoverish people,” he posted on X. “Against hate. Against sexism. Against climate denialism and against the privileges of the elites.” Sánchez, who faces an uphill battle to secure another term in office in Spain’s general election at the end of the month, added: “It happened in Brazil. It just happened in the US. And it will happen soon in Spain.” The incumbent Democratic governor of Oregon, Tina Kotek, has won her re-election bid against Republican Christine Drazan. It is the second time Kotek has defeated Drazan, after the two faced off in the 2022 governor race. Republican senator Pete Ricketts has won his re-election bid in Nebraska, defeating independent candidate Dan Osborn. Ricketts, a former Nebraska governor, was appointed to the Senate in 2023 to replace Republican senator Ben Sasse and won a special election in 2024 to serve the final two years of his predecessor’s term. History was made in Michigan as Abdul El-Sayed, an Egptian American doctor, became the first Muslim ever elected to the US Senate, beating Mike Rogers for the key battleground seat. His victory is all the more remarkable given the ugly campaign of anti-Muslim rhetoric that sought to undermine his candidacy, led by Donald Trump and his Republican allies. The Democrat’s faith was weaponised throughout the race, with Trump calling him a “jihadist” and Rogers questioning his loyalty to the US. El-Sayed met the attacks with defiance, telling Trump that he could “just go on and call me senator after November”. In his victory speech, El-Sayed told a jubilant crowd: My name is Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed, and I am so proud and honoured to stand here as your Senator-elect from the great state of Michigan. Up until right about now, you might have noticed I always say inshallah, or God willing, whenever the outcome of this race was mentioned. But today, tonight, we can turn that inshallah into an alhamdulillah (praise be to God).” My colleague Joseph Gedeon has more: It’s 3am ET in Washington/8am GMT, and as people start seeing their phones ping with notifications, here are where things stand at the moment. Democrats have won control of Congress in a stunning rebuke of Donald Trump’s agenda, delivering an astonishing result and a widely predicted “blue wave” across the country. As of now, Democrats have clinched 54 seats in the Senate (they needed 51 to reclaim the majority) and 225 House seats (they needed 218 to take control of the lower chamber). We’re still awaiting the results for several races – namely in Alaska. There were several seismic and historic wins in federal and state races for Democrats. James Talarico became the first Democrat in 38 years to win a US Senate seat in Texas; Adam Hamilton is now the first Democrat to win a US Senate seat in Kansas since 1932; In Maine, progressive Troy Jackson unseated Susan Collins after a thirty-year grip on the state’s US Senate seat; and Abdul El-Sayed won the US senate race in Michigan – on of the cycle’s most closely watched competitions. We’re waiting on a number of nail-biting races to be called. The race for US Senate in Mississippi is extremely close, and could see a Democratic upset, and it’s still to early to call the Senate contest in Alaska. Demcocrats also made history in a number of gubernatorial races. Keisha Lance Bottoms’ victory in Georgia means that she will the first Black female governor in US history. Gina Hinojosa makes history as Texas’ first Latina governor, and the first Democrat to occupy the governor’s mansion since 1990. Meanwhile, David Crowley became Wisconsin’s first Black governor after winning his race tonight. Donald Trump said he was “absolutely willing to accept those results” in an interview with the New York Times. He added: “We’ll, you know, look forward to working with them [Democrats] … We’ll probably work something out.” Abdul El-Sayed has won the US Senate race in Michigan, defending a Democratic seat, in one of the most closely watched competitions this midterm cycle. El-Sayed beat former Republican congressman Mike Rogers in his bead to fill Michigan’s open Senate seat. While El-Sayed yoked Rogers to Trump, Rogers sought to cast El-Sayed, a former public health official who ran on a platform of Medicare for All, as too extreme for Michigan. The race was also a source of late consternation after Haley Stevens, the Democratic congresswoman who El-Sayed beat in the August primary, issued a last minute endorsement of Rogers. Elon Musk brushed off the swathe of Republican losses in these midterm elections, by joking about his historic spending this cycle – where he spent an estimated $445m to support GOP candidates in various marquee races. “Guess my election-interfering space lasers didn’t work this time,” Musk posted to X. The billionaire founder of Tesla and SpaceX was the biggest donor in these elections, dwarfing any outside spending to support Democrats. Many Democrats have vowed to investigate Musk and his work with the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), which hollowed out several federal agencies, when they take control of Congress. The Democratic Socialists of America said that more than 50 DSA candidates won their races in tonight’s midterms. “Workers deserve more and a reality where all of us live with dignity and hope is closer than we think,” the organization wrote in a social media post. “The job’s not done, though. Tomorrow, we continue organizing, fighting, and winning for the working class!” in Los Angeles, California Supporters of Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass appeared hopeful the incumbent could pull off a victory over challenger Nithya Raman. Close to 11pm, a group of attendees at a LA county Democratic Party event at Loews Hollywood Hotel were dancing as they waited for more results and chanting “four more years”. Early returns showed Bass with a narrow lead in the polls. Bass had addressed supporters earlier in the evening, praising what she described as a critical day for the city and the country as Democrats saw huge wins across the US. “Our country has spoken. The city is speaking,” Bass said. “Let me just say from the bottom of my heart, thank you Angelenos.” Bass faced a tough fight for re-election given her low approval ratings and Angelenos’ broad dissatisfaction with the state of the city. While her opponent Raman, an LA city councilor and one time ally, was leading the polls for weeks, Bass made gains in recent weeks. Democrat Melissa Gonzalo said people were feeling ecstatic about the blue wave across the US, and “cautiously optimistic” about the mayor’s race. “This is a very unique situation,” she said. As an LA county resident she can’t vote for Bass, but has convinced friends to back the mayor. Bass cares about the city and has rectified past errors, Gonzalo said. “I don’t feel like it’s time for someone new at this moment,” she said, particularly with the upcoming Olympics. Kevin Garrity, another Bass supporter, was hopeful given Bass’s momentum in recent weeks. “It’s too close to call, but if I were betting on it I would vote on Karen. She’s the best candidate. She has experience. She loves this city.” Democrat Denise Powell has won the House race for Nebraska’s second congressional district, flipping the open seat after moderate Republican incumbent – Don Bacon – announced that he would retire. Powell beat Republican Brinker Harding in the contest, which includes Omaha – the “blue dot” of the state. The district is only one in Nebraska that Kamala Harris won in 2024. Donald Trump answered a phone call from Politico anchor Dasha Burns on air tonight, telling the outlet that he is open to working with Democrats. “We’re going to work with the Democrats to make sure things go well for our country,” he said, adding “I’ve already spoken to certain leaders of the Democrat party.” “If I think it’s not good, I’m just going to veto it,” Trump added. Democrat Katy Padilla Stout has flipped Texas’ 23rd congressional district, beating Republican Brandon Hererra for the open seat. Turmoil beset the race after the GOP incumbent Tony Gonzales withdrew from the race amid allegations of sexual misconduct and an investigation by the House ethics committee. Democrats are continuing to react with enthusiasm to tonight’s election results. “Tonight, the American people sent a clear message — they want a politics that brings people together rather than divides them, and leaders who offer concrete solutions to the challenges they face,” former president Barack Obama wrote in a social media post. “While this administration has another two years in office, our job now is to roll up our sleeves, make changes wherever we have the power to do so, prevent further damage, and lay the groundwork for the future.” “The American people just impeached Donald Trump,” senator Mark Kelly of Arizona wrote in a social media post. “They are going to need to plant new forests for all of the subpoenas we’ll be printing,” Massachusetts senator Ed Markey wrote in a social media post replying to a comment about tech company executives. In a later post he wrote, “WHO WANTS MEDICARE FOR ALL?” Jamie Raskin, the congressman from Maryland, quoted Tom Paine, writing in a social media post: “Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered, but we have this consolation: The more difficult the struggle, the more glorious in the end will be our victory.” “A great night for the rule of law. A great night for democracy. America is back,” Minnesota governor Tim Walz wrote in a social media post. in Portland, Oregon Oregon’s Democratic governor, Tina Kotek, declared victory in a speech to supporters in Portland late Tuesday, although the race has not yet been called by the Associated Press, and her Republican challenger, Christine Drazan, refused to concede with close to a third of the votes still to be counted. “I am proud to stand here as your next governor of the beautiful state of Oregon,” Kotek told supporters in downtown Portland after two other media outlets (CBS News and Decision Desk) projected that she would win re-election. She led 52.3%-45% at the time. “Tina Kotek, as I’ve heard, has gone on stage and declared victory. Now all the votes haven’t been counted and I am continuing to pray for the victory for us,” Drazan said about 30 minutes later in Hillsboro, Oregon. “This race isn’t over.” More than 100 Democratic women have been elected to the House of Representatives, marking a 60% increase in their representation since 2016. “Women have borne the brunt of the Trump administration’s recklessness and Republicans’ extremist agenda, and on Tuesday they made it clear they have had enough, senator Teresa Leger Fernández, the chair of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, said in a statement. “The millions of women who showed up at the polls voted for a better future for all women and girls. Their rights to healthcare, childcare, and even their right to vote was on the line,” she added. Democrat Jocelyn Benson, Michigan’s secretary of state, has won the state’s gubernatorial race. Benson beat her Republican opponent, Congressman John James, to succeed the term-limited governor Gretchen Whitmer. in Detroit, Michigan Abdul El-Sayed declared victory in Michigan’s US Senate race early Wednesday, saying he would become the first Muslim to serve in the upper chamber of Congress. However, the Associated Press has yet to call the race. As of now, 79% of votes have been counted, and El-Sayed is leading his Republican challenger, Mike Rogers, by five points. “You welcomed me in your homes, your churches, your synagogues,” El-Sayed told supporters at the Democratic headquarter election party in Detroit. He credited a movement built over a year and a half of campaigning in Michigan’s biggest cities and smallest towns, and said voters gave him strength in his lowest moments. His opponents, he said, chose to divide rather than address the cost of gas and groceries, pointing to his name and faith as if to say he was “a little different.” “They want an America that is too small for some of us,” El-Sayed said. “We know that America is big enough for all of us.” Donald Trump told Fox News that he planned to veto Democratic legislation after tonight’s midterm results and repeated his belief that he didn’t “consider it a defeat for me, I wasn’t on the ballot”. Trump added that he hoped he could work with Democrats on immigration, and said that he “shouldn’t feel guilty” about the loss, noting that the president’s party typically fairs poorly in midterm elections. Although he echoed claims that he’d secured historic foreign investments in the United States, he acknowledged that voters didn’t see that because of gasoline prices, “and the gasoline was caused by Iran”. Asked if he’d accept the results of the election, Trump said, “Yeah, sure, I’ll accept them.” in St. Paul, Minnesota Peggy Flanagan addressed a roaring crowd of supporters at around midnight, after winning her race for US Senate. “All across the state and all across this country, people are saying ‘enough is enough’,” Flanagan said. “You just beat Donald Trump. America did too.” Flanagan won with over 54 percent of the vote, surpassing Republican Michele Tafoya. “You said no more war, no more healthcare cuts, no more taking away food from children and seniors,” Flanagan said. “And you said no more masked goons shooting our neighbors,” referring to the surge of immigration officials that descended on Minnesota early this year. Operation Metro Surge, an aggressive immigration enforcement operation led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol in Minnesota, gained international attention. The operation led to the shooting deaths of two US citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti. “We will rip ICE apart,” Flanagan added to cheers and applause. Republican Congressman Max Miller has lost his re-election bid for Ohio’s seventh congressional district. Democrat Brian Poindexter, a union organizer and ironworker, won the race after Miller faced allegations of domestic abuse from his ex-wife, the daughter of US Senator Bernie Moreno. Senate majority leader John Thune said he stood by Republicans’ work in the Senate over the past two years and added that “Senate Republicans will not stand idly by” when Democrats take control of the chamber in January. “Thankfully, we still have President Trump in the White House, and we’ll work with him to stop the worst impulses of Democrat extremism. We cannot let their fringe positions become the mainstream,” Thune wrote in a social media post. Democrats have officially clinched 219 House seats in this midterm cycle, which means they will now have control of the lower chamber. Along with the Senate they will now have complete control of Congress. We will continue to bring you the latest race calls as they come through. In Indiana, Democrat JD Ford has flipped the state’s fifth congressional district – a seat that Donald Trump carried by 17 points in 2024. Ford beat the Republican incumbent, Victoria Spartz, in another Democratic pickup in this election cycle. Amy Klobuchar, the senator for Minnesota, won the state’s governorship on Tuesday, beating out the Republican candidate. “Tonight, you chose to put your trust in me,” Klobuchar said during her victory speech in downtown Saint Paul to roaring applause and chants from supporters. “I’m going to be working, not just for everyone who voted for me, but for all Minnesotans.” “I will give you my best,” she added. Klobuchar, a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), the state’s affiliate of the Democratic Party, beat out Republican Lisa Demuth, the current state’s House speaker. Demuth called Klobuchar to congratulate her on her win, the latter told the crowd. Klobuchar will now be the first woman to serve as governor in Minnesota after receiving over 55 percent of the state’s vote. Klobuchar announced her candidacy for governor in January of this year after Democratic incumbent Tim Walz withdrew from the race. Walz withdrew his candidacy after investigations alleged fraud in social services in the state. Wisconsin Democrats have won a trifecta in state leadership tonight, as the party claimed control of the governor’s office, the state Senate and the state Assembly for the first time since 2010. “Voters have sent a resounding message that they are tired of a broken political system, where politicians put billionaires, special interests, and their own self-interest ahead of working families,” state Democratic Party chair Devin Remiker said in a statement. “The fair maps movement fought for years to end the legislative gerrymander, Governor Evers held firm for maps that reflect the will of the people, and Attorney General Kaul argued the case against the GOP’s unconstitutional maps,” he added. in Detroit, Michigan VoteHub projects an Abdul El-Sayed victory at almost 1am ET – but there is no official call. The club music is still bumping at the Michigan Democrats’ election night party. As it stands El-Sayed is up nearly 100,000 votes, with 65% of the vote tallied, and a majority of Wayne County (where Detroit sits) has yet to be counted. The Mississippi US Senate race is neck and neck, with 97% of votes counted. Democrat Scott Colom is currently leading Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith by just 28 votes. Colom would be Mississippi’s first Black senator since the post-Civil War Reconstruction era. While Hyde-Smith, a staunch ally of Donald Trump, is vying for her second full term. Menawhile, the independent candidate Ty Pinkins has just over 2% of the vote at present. In another win for Democrats in Iowa, Christina Bohannan has unseated Republican incumbent Mariannette Miller‑Meeks in the state’s first congressional district. This was a rematch for Bohannan, a former state representative, who lost her 2024 race against Miller-Meeks by a single point. Josh Turek celebrated his win in Iowa’s US Senate race as a feat of making the impossible possible, detailing how a former US senator, Iowa’s Tom Harkin, changed his life as a child with disabilities by passing the Americans with Disabilities Act. He brought Harkin to the stage, saying he represented everything that’s right about public service. Turek said he will fight to end the war in Iran and trump’s tariffs while working to improve affordability in housing and healthcare. Most importantly, he said, he wants to fight corruption and overturn citizens united. “All along I have said that Iowa was the center of the political universe and boy did we prove that tonight,” Turek said. “We have changed the state of Iowa tonight. … Iowa, this is where our comeback begins.” Mary Jo Pitzl in Phoenix, Arizona Within an hour of the first drop of voting returns, Democratic governor Katie Hobbs sealed her bid for a second term in this increasingly swingy state. Hobbs was projected to clinch another four years at the helm of Arizona government, outpacing Republican Andy Biggs by double digits in early returns. It was the first in a string of apparent Democratic wins up and down the statewide ballot, including the possible takeover of the state Legislature after decades in the minority. Oscar de los Santos, leader of the minority Democrats in the House of Representatives, hedged his bet, but barely, as he said he wasn’t calling any races....yet. But he proceeded to proclaim a “Democratic trifecta in 2027,” with control of both law-making chambers and the Governor’s Office in Democrats’ hands. The Arizona House has been controlled by Republicans since 1966. Even as Democrats narrowed the margin in the 60-member chamber, their boasts of an overthrow fell short year after year. In the state Senate, Democrats had control for two years in 1991-92. But bouyed by widespread disapproval of president Donald Trump and his policies, legislative Democrats savored a return to power even as ballots were still being counted, “We are achieving this by kicking Turning Point’s ass,” de los Santos said, referring to the conservative organization that backed many GOP campaigns. “Because in Arizona, the voters decide, not the corporations, not the billionaires and certainly not the sore losers.” Further underscoring the Democratic dominance, attorney general Kris Mayes claimed early victory as she was leading her Republican opponent by more than 10 points. “As you know, we won our last campaign by 280 votes,” Mayes said. “It’s going to be a whole lot more than that.” Democrat Sarah Trone Garriott has won Iowa’s third congressional district, beating Republican incumbent Zach Nunn, who was running for a third term. Trone Garriott is a state senator, and flipped a seat in the Hawkeye state after a winning for evening for Democrats in a number of state races: including for US Senate and the governor’s mansion. in Mississippi Cheers echo across the room at Scott Colom’s campaign watch party as Mississippi, four hours after polling precincts closed, is still too early to call. Even as it nears midnight, supporters are jubilant. Colom, a Democrat, challenged Cindy Hyde-Smith, a Republican, for a seat in the US Senate. And, in a shock to many, the race is competitive. Colom just told supporters, hundreds of whom are still at the campaign watch party, that the race will not be called tonight. He promised to fight for everyone’s vote to count. Mississippi had long been written off as a potential win for Democrats, but it was clear that the race was tight by late October, when Trump stumped for Hyde-Smith in the state. If he wins, Colom, who ran on the promise that “Mississippi Matters,” would be the first Democrat to secure the position since 1982 and the first Black man to do so since Reconstruction. Hundreds of supporters are still crowding Colom, clamoring for a photo or video with the candidate as he makes his way through the building. Democrats Rebecca Cooke and Mitchell Berman have won their House races in Wisconsin, defeating two Republican incumbents. Cooke, a waitress and nonprofit leader, defeated incumbent Derrick Van Orden in her race to represent Wisconsin’s 3rd congressional district. Berman, a nurse and first-time candidate, defeated incumbent Bryan Steil in his race to represent the state’s 1st district. In the weeks leading up to the election, Donald Trump made clear that he would place some blame on Fox News if his party did poorly in the midterm elections. Even before the results were in on Tuesday, Trump took to his Truth Social platform to criticize the network for featuring a prominent Democratic commentator and re-stated his long-held criticisms of the network’s polling operation. At 7 pm, Trump mocked Fox News for some recent ratings softness, and alleged that the network was “AGAINST” him because it regularly featured Democratic candidates in interviews. Just before midnight, he directly blamed the network, writing: “Fox News bears responsibility for these losses by constantly and consistently putting on the Dumocrat opposition, and worse.” Then, in a surreal moment, Trump called into Fox’s election coverage and shared his contention that he was not to blame for the Republican Party’s losses. Trump directly criticized Fox’s polls, saying: “The Fox polls are terrible. You ought to get yourself a good pollster, because your pollsters are the worst.” Fox News anchor Bret Baier pointed out that “tonight, actually, the results are pretty close to what the Fox polls showed.” in Los Angeles With early results showing Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass with a narrow lead, the mood was celebratory outside the Greek Theatre where supporters of Nithya Raman gathered Tuesday night. The event erupted in cheers as it emerged Democrats across the US were victorious in their races, and the cheers grew louder over the prospect of a Raman win. The progressive LA city council member is facing off against her one time ally Karen Bass, and has pitched herself as the candidate best suited to solve the city’s problems. Her campaign has gained major ground in recent months as Angelenos grow increasingly frustrated with the direction of the city, affordability and housing and homelessness. Max Rico, a high school teacher from South Central Los Angeles who came to the event wearing his ballot box Halloween costume, supported Raman because of her positions on affordable housing. He has frequently seen students leave mid-year as their families relocate to areas with lower costs of living. Rico had previously supported Bass but was left disappointed by her tenure and said her policies ultimately didn’t help communities that needed it. Though early returns showed Bass in the lead, he felt hopeful Raman would pull ahead as ballots from young voters were tallied. Democrat Bobby Pulido has won his race for the House of Representatives in Texas’ 15th congressional district. Pulido, a Tejano music star, defeated the Republican incumbent Monica De La Cruz. Democrat Troy Jackson has won election to the US Senate in Maine, defeating longtime senator Susan Collins. The race has been one of the most closely watched contests of this midterm cycle, after progressive lumberjack Jackson mounted a breakneck 101-day campaign, against Collins, the entrenched Republican incumbent seeking a sixth term. Jackson began his campaign after the former Democratic nominee, Graham Platner, withdrew after a series of controversies, culminating in a sexual assault and rape allegation that he denied. in Iowa Rob Sand’s parents told the Guardian they are proud of their son and happy for their state. Sand just won the Iowa gubernatorial race and flipped the seat to Democrats. His parents, Kevin and Leslie, knocked doors for him - his mom more than his dad. “His mother has worked much harder than I,” Kevin Sand said. Asked how she felt about Rob Sand’s win, Leslie Sand said: “proud, excited, elated, glad it’s over. Proud, proud, proud.” And, his parents added, they’re thrilled for Iowa. “I’m so happy for Iowa because he’s going to do a great job doing the very best he can to turn things around and get them to where they need to be,” Kevin Sand said. Carol Sand, Rob’s aunt, said that as a public school teacher, she is relieved that Rob Sand will be in the governor’s office, as a product of the public education system himself. “He’s going to right the ship in Iowa and bring some accountability,” Carol Sand said. in Portland, Maine Troy Jackson has declared victory in Maine after a stunning upset victory over the five-term Republican incumbent Susan Collins. The Associated Press has not yet made a projection in this Senate race. Jackson was great by ecstatic cheers by Democrats as he entered the watch party event at Portland’s Holiday Inn Hotel, moments after Collins called him to concede. He had to wait several minutes before speaking as chants of “Troy, Troy” reverberated through the ballroom. As the cheers eventually subsided, he said: “We we did it. Working people won. And I’m feeling damn proud to be standing here with you all tonight, or this morning, I guess now.” Amid his message of economic populism. Jackson drew the biggest cheer of all when he declared: “I will fight to abolish ICE (the immigration, customs and enforcement agency). “Mass agents terrorizing our neighbors and ripping families apart should never be accepted in the United States of America. “Nobody, nobody should have to wonder whether the Constitution still applies to them. And when federal agents abuse their power, they need to be held accountable.” Addressing Donald Trump “and the billionaires”, he added: “I don’t owe them a damn thing.” The comment drew more resounding cheers. James Talarico told supporters at his watch party in Austin that “all the money in the world is no match for the people of Texas.” “We just sent a message to every billionaire mega-donor, every trillionaire mega-donor, every corrupt defender of this broken political system, in this state, in this country, power belongs to the people,” he said. “The richest man in the world, the most powerful man in the world and the entire DC establishment.” “The people of Texas were my slingshot, and tonight we defeated Goliath,” Talarico said. James Talarico is speaking now at his victory party in Texas. New Mexico congressman Gabriel Vasquez has been re-elected to the House of Representatives. Vasquez defeated his Donald Trump-backed Republican challenger, Gregory Cunningham. in Portland, Maine Cheers of excited expectation have rippled through the Democrats’ watch party as Troy Jackson has extended his lead over the Republican senator, Susan Collins, with nearly 60% of ballots counted. A win for Jackson, a former logger who was drafted in as a late replacement for the scandal-hit former candidate Graham Platner, would be a major upset in Maine, which Collins has represented in the Senate since 1997. Democrats have shared an array of celebratory statements as their party celebrated historic wins in Texas and Kansas this evening, and secured control of the Senate. “It’s been a long, dark night. But today I hear in a new way the echoes of Scripture. Weeping endures for the night, but joy comes in the morning,” senator Raphael Warnock, of Georgia, wrote in a social media post. “Five words for the American people: relief is on the way,” Democratic leader Chuck Schumer told reporters. “The size of the blue wave is bigger than I ever imagined,” New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand told The Associated Press. “It’s unbelievable.” “It’s a new day for Texas and the nation,” Texas congressman Joaquin Castro wrote in a social media post. Bernie Sanders, meanwhile, tepidly celebrated that Democrats will “be able to hold Trump accountable” but cautioned that they “must do more” and “aggressively fight for working families. No more excuses.” The results of 2026 US midterm elections are rolling in, and Democrats are poised to retake control of Congress after flipping key swing states and congressional districts. We’ll be hosting a live Q&A on Friday 6 November at noon ET breaking down the results. The Guardian’s political reporters will take questions on everything from how key races shook out, surprising results, what power Democrats will have, and what this all means for Donald Trump. If you have questions about the midterm results, what they mean and what’s next, we’d like to hear from you – and be sure to tune in live on our site for the Q&A, where reporters may answer your question. Send us your questions: Shomari Figures, a Democratic congressman from Alabama, has been re-elected, despite redistricting intended to favor Republicans. Figures defeated Trump-backed Republican Rhett Marques. “We had the deck stacked against us,” Figures said at his victory party. in Columbus, Ohio “What a night for Ohio!” Sherrod Brown said as he took the stage at the Ohio Democrats election watch party. Brown’s comeback victory in the Ohio Senate race brings Democrats closer to taking control of the Senate and proves that Ohio can’t be written off as reliably red. “This is your victory,” said Brown. “Corporations and billionaires tried to buy this election but it turns out there’s a whole lot more of us than them.” Brown promised that the first thing he will aim to do as senator is ban members of Congress from trading stocks. “Starting today, Ohioans have a senator who puts working people first,” Brown said. Republicans Jon Husted and Vivek Ramaswamy conceded in their respective races. Though the ballroom slowly began to empty before midnight, the cheers remained loud. People walked out of the room exhausted but skipped and smiled nonetheless. “Tomorrow the work begins,” Brown said. Democrat Peggy Flanagan won her US Senate race in Minnesota, defeating Republican Michele Tafoya. Flanagan, a member of the White Earth band of Ojibwe, is currently the state’s lieutenant governor. She will succeed Democratic senator Tina Smith, who did not seek reelection. Amy Klobuchar has been elected the governor of Minnesota. Klobuchar, a Democrat, has represented the state in the US Senate since 2007, and announced her bid for governor after the incumbent governor, Tim Walz, dropped out of the race in early January. Democrat Ilhan Omar has won re-election to the House of Representatives in Minnesota’s fifth congressional district. Omar has been subject to many attacks by Donald Trump over the course of her career in Congress, with federal agents raiding her residence last month. Closing out the night is Alaska and Hawaii, where now most polling places have closed. Alaska is also one of Democrats’ key pickup opportunities. Former congresswoman Mary Peltola has led Republican incumbent Dan S Sullivan in recent polls as frustration with the Trump administration has grown and voters contend with soaring energy prices in the wake of the Iran war. The race has drawn scrutiny from the Trump administration and the president himself, who have accused Peltola and Democrats of recruiting a namesake candidate to siphon votes from Sullivan. The justice department even sought to delay certification if the Trump-backed Sullivan lost, though a federal judge recently rejected that effort. Peltola’s campaign denied recruiting Dan J Sullivan, but a recent New York Times report suggested otherwise. in Dover, New Hampshire At a gathering of progressive organizers and campaign volunteers, the young crowd was abuzz over Democratic wins across the nation. One partygoer passing by announced, “Texas went blue!” The party was also celebrating a historic night in New Hampshire politics with record turnout. Its secretary of state described the process as “incredibly smooth” and “really good”, not exactly a given in many states. And as in Texas, Democrats won big in New Hampshire. On top of winning both House seats and its open Senate seat, Democrats flipped both chambers of its 424-person state legislature as well as its executive council, which shares controlling power with the governor over state appointments, budgets, expenses, and more. Democrats won all five seats. While the governor’s race is still too close to call, with the incumbent Republican Kelly Ayotte in the lead, it seems it’ll be the only major seat not held by a Dem. Though they were tentatively optimistic going into today, and Chris Pappas in particular had the edge in his senate race, the outcome came as a shock for many state Democrats. New Hampshire voters are known for close calls in their federal elections. It wasn’t clear how it was going to go – and then it was basically all over by 8.30. Now the party is full of chattering about what might be possible. The state government has been controlled by Republicans for years, who have passed anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that voters at multiple polling locations brought up as concerns today. One Granite state political expert compared the sweep to that of the Republican party in the 2010 midterms, when the Tea Party movement made its splash. This year, it seems possible that Democratic campaigners’ efforts to highlight Republican senate candidate John Sununu’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein – which he denies – spoke to a broader sentiment. On Election Day, faux Sununu campaign signs were put out reading “Sununu/Trump for the Epstein Class”. Multiple college campuses were stickered and flyered, drawing attention to the connection. At a polling location in Manchester, multiple voters stopped to say that they were Republicans, but this year, they were voting Democrat. Democrat Elaine Luria has won Virginia’s second congressional district, beating Republican incumbent Jen Kiggans. The seat has flipped over recent decades, and Luria lost the race for the district to Kiggans back in 2022, after the boundaries were redrawn. in Des Moines, Iowa Rob Sand, the winner of the Iowa governor race who just flipped the state’s top office blue, took the stage in Des Moines as Enter Sandman played. He emphasized balanced government and crossing political divides, saying he would strive to listen to everyone, including those who didn’t vote for him. He thanked people who crossed party lines to vote for him. “To Iowa Democrats, we’ve had a hard few years here in Iowa, but balanced government has been restored,” Sand said, as the crowd cheered. He had the crowd sing America the Beautiful together, a feature of his hundreds of town halls as he crisscrossed the state. He thanked the state’s voters and focused in on how he intends to bring people to the table to improve water quality, accountability and the political process. “Come January, we will be forced to work together,” he said, later adding: “Left wing, right wing, same bird”. Donald Trump shared a photo of a red Maga hat, with the word Maga replaced with “VETO” in a social media post this evening, as Democrats secured historic wins in tonight’s midterm elections. In a series of posts, Trump wrote: “I’m going to become a Political Pundit, both good and bad, on the reasons these Candidates won and lost!” He added that Greg Abbott, the Republican Texas governor, would not have lost his bid for re-election if he “hadn’t become a RINO in the last six months of his Political Life”. Democrat David Crowley has won the Wisconsin gubernatorial race, making history as the state’s first Black governor. He beat Republican challenger Tom Tiffany, a US representative. Crowley re-entered the campaign and snagged an endorsement from outgoing governor Tony Evers, before beating a progressive challenger in his August primary. in Columbus, Ohio Just before 11pm, the ballroom at the Hilton downtown hotel exploded with the loudest screams heard all night so far. CNN reported that Democrat Amy Acton won the race for Ohio governor. The room stayed loud, as attendees chanted, “Amy! Amy!” It would be the first time a Democrat had won the governorship since Ted Strickland, who left office in 2011, and the first woman Ohio has ever elected governor. Voters in the room told me that the win also shows that Ohio is more competitive than its recent reputation suggested. As Acton took the stage, she pumped both fists in the air then formed a heart with her hands. “I am honored to be the next governor of Ohio,” she said. The crowd clapped and she thanked Ohioans their support over the past two and a half years but especially over the past few weeks. “We love you governor Acton!” Someone yelled from the crowd. Acton continued: “This entire campaign has been a movement by and for the people. This win is for every Ohioan who has longed for public servants again, who solve problems instead of making them and do not mistake kindness for weakness.” Acton said the race was “tough” but that the campaign is over. “Ohio has chosen unity and decency over division and hate,” she said. “The healing begins today.” Acton acknowledged that the path forward wouldn’t be easy. “I look forward to working with my colleagues in the legislature to ensure a smooth transition,” she said. “It is time for a statehouse that works for Ohioans.” But about 10 minutes into her speech she paused and all of the lights in the ballroom were turned on. “Someone has passed out,” Acton said. Democrats have now won control of the US Senate, according to the Associated Press. With historic wins in Texas, Iowa, Kansas and South Carolina, the party now has 51 seats – the magic number needed to win the upper chamber of Congress. Democrats are also poised to take control of the House, and we’ll keep you updated as we learn more. Democrat Josh Turek, a state lawmaker and paralympian, has won the US Senate race in Iowa, beating Republican congresswoman Ashley Hinson in a nail-biting contest. Turek’s victory is the first time that a Democrat has won a US Senate seat in the Hawkeye state since 2008. in Des Moines, Iowa As the US Senate race was called for Democrat Josh Turek on Steve Kornacki’s show, the crowd at the Iowa democrats’ watch party lit up with cheers. Chants of “USA” rang out as Fishing in the Dark played on the speakers. The crowd is excited to the point of disbelief at the level of democratic wins nationwide so far tonight. Adam Hamilton, the methodist pastor, has become the first Democrat to win a US Senate seat in Kansas in nearly 100 years. He beat the Republican incumbent, Roger Marshall, in a stunning victory that became an 11th hour battleground this midterm election. in Overland Park, Kansas As Adam Hamilton was declared the protected winner by CNN, the crowd at his watch party in Overland Park erupted in piercing screams of joy. The crowd chanted his name. They wept. They leapt to embrace their neighbors. Hamilton is now poised to take the stage for a victory speech. The AP has called the Senate race in Kansas for Democratic candidate Adam Hamilton, a pastor of the Resurrection Methodist congregation, who has branded himself a centrist candidate in once reliably ruby red Kansas. It’s a stunning victory for Democrats here, who haven’t won a Senate seat in nearly a century – since 1932. Hakeem Jeffries, who will be the first Black speaker of the House if Democrats secure control of the chamber, said “America is back” at an event celebrating his re-election. “Today begins the great American comeback,” he said. “The American people have spoken all across the land.” He added: “They’ve had enough of the extremism, enough of the corruption. They want a Congress that’s going to deliver for the American people, and that’s exactly what House Democrats will do as soon as we get into office in January.” Democrat Rob Sand has won the governor’s race in Iowa, beating Republican businessman Zach Lahn. Sand, Iowa’s state auditor, ran on a moderate platform, courting voters who were disillusioned by the Trump agenda affected by the administration’s sweeping tariffs and the hike in fuel prices as a result of the Iran war. Sand is also the first Democrat to be elected to the governor’s mansion in the Hawkeye state since 2006. Democrats have seen historic victories in tonight’s midterm elections. Although Donald Trump has blamed Republican losses on the fact that he was not on the ballot, he said will accept the results of tonight’s elections. Here are the latest results: Democrat James Talarico has won the US Senate race in Texas, securing an astonishing and historic victory. Talarico, a state representative, beat the scandal-plagued attorney general, Ken Paxton in the most expensive race of this midterms cycle. Talarico is also the first Democrat to win a US Senate seat in the Lone Star state since 1988. Democrat Gina Hinojosa has won the governor’s race in Texas, beating the Republican incumbent Greg Abbott – who is serving his third-term. Hinojosa makes history as Texas’ first Latina governor, and the first Democrat to occupy the governor’s mansion since 1990. Democrat Sherrod Brown has won the US Senate special election in Ohio, beating Republican incumbent Jon Husted. Brown, who lost his 2024 race, launched a comeback this year to finish out the rest of JD Vance’s Senate term – which ends in 2029. Democrat Amy Acton has won the Ohio governor’s race, beating Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, the Donald Trump-backed Republican nominee. It’s a stunning blow to Republicans, after the gubernatorial race turned rancorous just weeks ago when Ramaswamy released an ad featuring Acton’s estranged mother – who hasn’t seen her daughter since she was removed from her custody when she was 12. Deb Haaland, the former interior secretary under Joe Biden, has been elected governor of New Mexico and will become the first Native American woman to govern a US state. Democrat Janelle Stelson has won the race for Pennsylvania’s 10th congressional district, beating hardline conservative Scott Perry – the four-term incumbent. Democrat Paige Cognetti has won Pennsylvania’s eighth congressional district, beating Republican incumbent Rob Bresnahan – who flipped the seat in 2024. Democrat Gina Hinojosa has won the governor’s race in Texas, beating the Republican incumbent Greg Abbott – who is serving his third-term. Hinojosa makes history as Texas’ first Latina governor, and the first Democrat to occupy the governor’s mansion since 1990. It’s the second stunning upset of the night in the Lone Star state, after James Talarico made history as the first Democrat to win a US Senate seat in nearly 40 years. Democrat Sherrod Brown has won the US Senate special election in Ohio, beating Republican incumbent Jon Husted. Brown, who lost his 2024 race, launched a comeback this year to finish out the rest of JD Vance’s Senate term – which ends in 2029. Texas governor Greg Abbott has conceded his race for re-election. The Associated Press has not yet called the results of Texas’ governor’s race. “After looking at all the details of every county in the entire state, I made the decision to go ahead and call Gina Hinojosa and congratulate her on winning this race for governor of the state of Texas,” Abbott said at his watch party. “There are still votes to be counted, but mathematically we’re not going to be able to win this election.” in Portland, Maine Chellie Pingree, the Democratic representative for Maine, is celebrating being elected for a 10th term in an election she told celebrating fellow Democrats felt” “different” to what she had previously encountered. Talking to the Guardian, she said widespread disgust with Donald Trump’s policies had united Democrats with disaffected Republicans and independents in a groundswell that could lead to the unseating of the state’s long-serving GOP senator Susan Collins, who was trailing her Democratic challenger Troy Jackson in early returns. “Donald Trump has uniquely managed to make Republicans, Democrats, and Independents mad at him, and so it’s not just Democrats who are voting tonight,” Pingree said. “It’s Republicans who are so mad they’re not coming out. Independents who are voting for Democrats and people who are just saying we’ve got to have some change in our country, and the Republicans haven’t been fighting back. So we’re seeing a real repudiation of the presidents and the Republicans who’ve gone along with him.” Referring to Collins, who has been a senator for 30 years and has fought off previous robust challenges when polls indicated she was vulnerable, Pingree said: “Mainers have been very engaged and very angry, and have come out to vote in record numbers and I think if she loses tonight, is because people feel that we’ve been armed by the policies of Donald Trump, and the Republicans haven’t done enough to fight back.” Asked if a Democrat-run Congress would try to impeach Trump, who was impeached twice during his first presidency, she said: “I don’t think impeachment will be the first thing we try to do. I think there are so many important things we need to investigate. So many funding streams we need to reverse. I just think people will feel like we have a big agenda, and unless we’re confident of convicting him in the Senate, I doubt that we’ll bring up impeachment.” Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic former House speaker, said “the American people have changed the course of our country”, in a statement tonight. “By electing a Democratic House Majority, they have broken Washington’s Republican monopoly on power and restored a constitutional check on a President who has governed as though none should exist,” she said. Pelosi added, “With tremendous personal pride, I congratulate our next Speaker, Hakeem Jeffries. Exactly twenty years after I became the first woman to hold the gavel, he will make history as the first Black Speaker of the House.” in Commerce City, Colorado With a big American flag as his backdrop and a jubilant crowd, Manny Rutinel started his victory speech saying: “This election was decided at kitchen tables.” The 31-year-old democrat, who’s slated to cinch a victory for a toss-up congressional seat in Central Colorado, looked over at his mom standing next to him on the stage and said it started 20 years ago at a kitchen table with her – as they sorted through bills trying to figure out how to make ends meet. “Do people like us count?” Rutinel said. “In the wealthiest nation in the world, do people like me and my mom matter?” The crowd went wild. Rutinel, who ran his campaign on affordability and fighting corruption in Washington, said that hundreds of thousands of Colorado voters sat at kitchen tables and filled out their ballots. He had to pause, filled with emotion. “Neither a trillionaire nor the president of the US could buy this election,” Rutinel said, alluding to the millions in Super Pac funding from Elon Musk, Donald Trump and Charles Koch that poured into his competitor Gabe Evan’s campaign. “Colorado, from the bottom of my heart, thank you,” Rutinel said. Democrat James Talarico has won the US Senate race in Texas, securing an astonishing and historic victory. Talarico, a state representative, beat the scandal-plagued attorney general, Ken Paxton in the most expensive race of this midterms cycle. Talarico is also the first Democrat to win a US Senate seat in the Lone Star state since 1988. Polls have now closed in California, where former health secretary Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, has defeated Republican Steve Hilton, a former adviser to British prime minister David Cameron, in the race for governor. Most polls will also close in Oregon, along with all polls in Washington state. In Washington, two-term Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, who has frequently broken with her party on key issues, is hoping to hold on to her seat in a district that Trump carried in each of the last three presidential elections. Donald Trump says he will accept the results of tonight’s elections. In an interview with the New York Times, Trump said he was “absolutely willing to accept those results.” “We’ll, you know, look forward to working with them,” he said of working with Democrats. “We’ll probably work something out.” Deb Haaland, the former interior secretary under Joe Biden, has been elected governor of New Mexico and will become the first Native American woman to govern a US state. Haaland, a Democrat, defeated her Republican opponent Gregg Hull, a businessman and the longtime mayor of the city of Rio Rancho. Democrat Amy Acton has won the Ohio governor’s race, beating Republican Vivek Ramaswamy, the Donald Trump-backed Republican nominee. It’s a stunning blow to Republicans, after the gubernatorial race turned rancorous just weeks ago when Ramaswamy released an ad featuring Acton’s estranged mother – who hasn’t seen her daughter since she was removed from her custody when she was 12. Acton, the health director who helped Ohio’s Republican governor earn glowing reviews for his pandemic response, saw a deluge in fundraising following the controversy. The last time a Democrat was elected governor of the Buckeye state was in 2006. in Overland Park, Kansas Several of the counties Roger Marshall won in 2020 by the narrowest margins have flipped for Adam Hamilton this year, according to AP election data in counties where nearly all votes have been tallied. Sedgwick county, for example, which contains Wichita, has voted for Hamilton by 55% this year, compared with a 52% vote for Marshall in 2020. Counties that voted red this cycle also show Marshall winning by much narrower margins compared to his last election. Donald Trump has blamed tonight’s election results on the fact that he wasn’t on the ballot. “I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!,” the president wrote in a social media post. Democrat Janelle Stelson has won the race for Pennsylvania’s 10th congressional district, beating hardline conservative Scott Perry – the four-term incumbent. This is a rematch for Stelson, a former local news anchor, who challenged Perry in 2024 and lost by just one percentage point. Democrat Paige Cognetti has won Pennsylvania’s eighth congressional district, beating Republican incumbent Rob Bresnahan – who flipped the seat in 2024. It’s another victory for Democrats in the Keystone state, in battleground districts where voters have felt the impact of the US war with Iran and the race to build datacenters in communities. in Austin, Texas I spotted Democratic congressman Al Green of Texas heading for the lift at the James Talarico watch party. He was confident of a Talarico victory. “He’s already proven to be a strong candidate,” Green said. “The question now is how strong will he be in the Senate? He’ll be a strong voice in the Senate for judges. When we get a Democrat as a senator we then have greater influence on who will become a part of the federal judiciary. That’s important.” Green added: “He’s an affordability candidate. He said as much. So food, clothing, shelter – those are things that would be important to him.” As a blue wave builds, is this election a referendum on Donald Trump’s presidency? “It absolutely is,” Green said. “You can say that without question, reservation, hesitation or equivocation.” Green identified voter priorities including an end to foreign conflict, action on trade tariffs, guaranteed healthcare insurance subsidies and relief regarding basic living costs. “They want to end the war. They want to deal with these tariffs. They want to make sure that the subsidies are there for insurance. They want people to be able to afford the necessities of life. And they want to see accountability.” On that point, while Green lost his Democratic primary election this year, he would like his colleagues to pursue another impeachment of Trump in the next term. “In Congress, accountability means that you’ve got to investigate and if you uncover corruption at the level of the presidency, there is only one solution for Congress and that is impeachment. That’s all Congress can do. If you investigate and you find corruption then you’ve got to do something about it and that would be impeachment.” As it appears likely Democrats will take control of the House of Representatives, Robert Garcia, the California representative who would become chair of the House oversight committee, released a statement telling the Trump administration to “lawyer up”. Garcia has promised to investigate Donald Trump and his family, the Epstein files and reports of abuse in ICE and DHS. The White House has told reporters that Republicans’ performance so far tonight is because “President Trump was not on the ballot, and it’s proven that Trump voters show up when he is on the ballot,” CBS News reports, citing a White House official. The official added: “Also, candidate quality matters, and President Trump did a better job promoting many of the candidates on the ballot than the candidates did themselves.” With polls beginning to close in western states, we’re seeing a number of trends emerging in tonight’s midterm results. The night has favored Democrats, with three of the president’s Senate endorsements losing their races so far, and with three Democrats holding on to seats even in heavily redrawn districts in Florida. The night has also seen historic firsts, including the election of the country’s first Black female governors. Here are the top lines: Democrats have flipped two Senate seats, with Roy Cooper elected to represent North Carolina and Annie Andrews elected to represent South Carolina. Cooper’s victory marks the first time since 2008 years voters in North Carolina have sent a Democrat to Congress’s upper chamber, and Andrews’ win marks the first time South Carolina will send a Democrat to the Senate since 1998. Hakeem Jeffries is poised to become the first Black House speaker. Although The Guardian has not yet called House control for Democrats, following the Associated Press, other outlets have begun to do so. In Florida, Democrats Kathy Castor, Jared Moskowitz and Pia Dandiya all won in congressional districts that were re-drawn this year to boost Republicans. Democrat Zach Dembo, a former federal prosecutor, has won the US House race in Kentucky’s sixth congressional district, beating Republican Ralph Alvarado, a physician and former state legislator. Democrat and union leader Bob Brooks has flipped Pennsylvania’s seventh congressional district. He beat first-term Republican Ryan Mackenzie, who won the seat in 2024 – turning it red. Democrat Rebecca Bennett has won the race for New Jersey’s seventh congressional district, flipping a Republican district that congressman Tom Kean has held on to for three terms. Jon Ossoff has been re-elected to the Senate in Georgia, defeating Mike Collins, his Republican challenger. Chris Pappas, the four-term Democratic congressman, has won New Hampshire’s US Senate race, protecting the open seat from a Republican flip in a closely fought contest against John Sununu, the former senator. Democratic senator Mark Warner has won re-election in the US Senate race in Virginia. He fended off a challenge from Bert Mizusawa, a Republican. Republican Byron Donalds, a congressman, has won the governor race in Florida, succeeding Ron DeSantis. Donalds beat Democrat David Jolly, a former US representative, after receiving Trump’s endorsement. Three of the president’s Senate endorsements have lost so far (in New Hampshire, North Carolina and Georgia), while four have won their races (Kentucky, West Virginia, Wyoming and Florida). Keisha Lance Bottoms has won the governor’s race in Georgia, beating Republican Rick Jackson. Her victory means that Lance Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta, has made history as the first Black woman ever elected governor in US history. Earlier in the evening, Stacey Plaskett became the first Black woman elected to lead a US territory, the US Virgin Islands. Democrat and union leader Bob Brooks has flipped Pennsylvania’s seventh congressional district. He beat first-term Republican Ryan Mackenzie, who won the seat in 2024 – turning it red. The district is one of three central Pennsylvania seats that Democrats are have eyed this cycle as key battlegounds that swung for Republicans in the last election. Democrat Zach Dembo, a former federal prosecutor, has won the US House race in Kentucky’s sixth congressional district, beating Republican Ralph Alvarado, a physician and former state legislator. Dembo’s victory means he flipped the seat that is currently held by Republican Andy Barr – who also won his race for US Senate tonight. in Commerce City, Colorado As the first results rolled in, showing Democrat Manny Rutinel as the projected winner for the hotly contested toss-up congressional seat in central Colorado, the crowd whooped, hollered and started chanting, “Manny, Manny, Manny”. The Commerce City event space was decorated with American and Colorado flags and the DJ spun classic rock hits: Joan Jett, Pink Floyd and Queen. Las Dos Americas served up taquitos, flautas and beans and rice. Throughout his campaign, Rutinel has told his personal story of being raised by a single Latina mother. He worked at McDonald’s as a teen and went on to serve in the US Army Corps of Engineers and get a law degree from Yale. He became a state representative when he was 29 and was serving his second term when he announced he was running for Congress. Rutinel is set to unseat Gabe Evans, a conservative Republican who has ran a campaign focused on fighting crime and “defending American values”, including the second amendment and freedom of expression. An astonishing Democratic pickup now … Annie Andrews, a pediatrician, has won the US Senate race in South Carolina – the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in the state since 1998. Andrews beat Republican Darline Graham, the sister of the late senator Lindsey Graham, who was appointed to complete the remainder of her brother’s seat. Andrews’ win is a momentous pick up for Democrats this cycle, as it widens their path to reclaiming control of the Senate. Democrat Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, has won his congressional seat in New York’s eighth district. While his victory was expected, it’s historic for another reason. If Democrats take control of the lower chamber – as expected – Jeffries is set to be the first Black speaker in US history. MS Now, NBC News and CNN have projected that Democrats will take control of the House, but the Guardian will wait for the Associated Press to officially make that call. Voters in Virginia have approved a ballot measure that creates a “fundamental right to reproductive freedom”. Abortion rights are on the ballot tonight in three other states: Idaho, Missouri and Nevada. Virginia’s amendment ensures access to abortion care through the first two trimesters of pregnancy, while allowing some government regulation during the third. It also codifies a right to childbirth, pregnancy care, contraception and fertility treatments. in Portland, Maine Muted – and nervous cheers – at the Democrats’ watch party here as CNN’s early returns show the party’s Senate candidate, Troy Jackson, fewer than 800 votes ahead of the Republican incumbent, Susan Collins, with about 12% of ballots counted. It could be a long and tense count. Almost all polls have now closed in Idaho, Montana, Nevada and Utah. One of the more under-the-radar gubernatorial races we’re watching is in Nevada, where Democratic attorney general Aaron Ford is hoping to unseat Republican governor Joe Lombardo in the Sun Belt battleground state that Trump won in 2024. Many polling places in one Oregon county will also close at 10pm ET. in Overland Park, Kansas In a surprise to no one, the Adam Hamilton watch party is indeed playing tracks from the Hamilton soundtrack along with other cheery pop hits. (The DJ has also been playing anthems associated with other Democratic leaders – including Obama’s anthem, Signed, Sealed, Delivered by Stevie Wonder, and Bill Clinton’s Don’t Stop by Fleetwood Mac.) The mood is high here, with attendees cheering everytime CNN shows positive results for Democrats anywhere around the country. Many are waving miniature American flags or holding posters that say, “It’s time for something different.” in Des Moines, Iowa As the polls closed in Iowa at 8pm local time, Iowa’s Democratic party chair, Rita Hart, took the stage at a watch party for the Democratic candidates to commend volunteers and campaign staff for all their work, saying all that was left was to wait on the results. The Democrats here at the state historical society of Iowa, right by the state capitol in Des Moines, are feeling “nauseously optimistic”, Hart said. Hart knows just how close elections can be here: in 2020, she lost a congressional race in the state’s second district by just six votes. “A six-vote loss is a loss you never forget,” she said. Iowa voters have been inundated with ads – so much so, Iowa Democrat Micki Henderson said, that her 12-year-old son got a campaign ad pop-up on his school-issued iPad. She’s found other Iowans open to hearing about candidates outside their typical party this year. “When you’re talking about local things, like water, there’s much more middle ground,” Henderson said. Alison Meagher, a 22-year-old who has been knocking doors for third congressional district Democratic nominee Sarah Trone Garriott each weekend for the last couple months, said she is feeling both fear and excitement while awaiting the results. “I will say, selfishly, it is a little nice to be recognized again and be in the news,” Meagher said. “It’s been a little while since we’ve been purple. It’s exciting, it’s a rush.” As she’s knocked doors, people have been willing to hear about Trone Garriott and other Democratic candidates, often saying they’ll do some more research when they can. “I think it helps that we all shop at the same gas stations and all shop at the same supermarkets,” she said. “I’m coming to you as a peer.” Democrat Rebecca Bennett has won the race for New Jersey’s seventh congressional district, flipping a Republican district that congressman Tom Kean has held on to for three terms. Notably, Kean, was not seen in Congress, or public, for more than three months this year. He also missed 100 votes without explanation – as Trump’s war on Iran piled pressure on the US economy, and the president threatened fresh tariffs on global imports. The excitement and suspense is through the roof at the Michigan Dems’ official election night party, with food, drinks and a DJ playing a mix of dance and pop music to a packed house, while briefly pausing the music and announcing that the polls were closed, to raucous cheers Polls are now closed in Minnesota, but as votes were being cast earlier one local government, in the Minneapolis suburb of Rogers, had to take time out from running its election to issue a statement on Facebook debunking viral misinformation promoted by rightwing influencers. Officials in Rogers reassured voters that a poll worker, photographed wearing a white T-shirt spattered with fake blood and the words “Problem Solved”, was not celebrating the killing of Charlie Kirk, the late Republican activist, as rightwing figures with huge followings on the social media platform X claimed. As the MS Now correspondent Brandy Zadrozny reports, the city of Rogers said that it looked into the viral claim that the election judge’s attire was a political statement and she had assured them that it was merely a Halloween costume, worn during a holiday shift on Saturday. “The election judge in question has given the City permission to note that they are a Republican judge pursuant to the requirement to maintain party balance per Minnesota Statute,” the statement added. The false claim that the shirt was a mocking reference to Kirk’s killing was seen millions of times online after it was spread by a host of rightwing figures with huge followings on the social media platform X, including the Pizzagate conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec, Townhall columnist Dustin Grage and Daily Wire writer Matt Walsh. The photograph was first posted on X by Liz Collin, a partisan reporter for the rightwing Minnesota outlet Alpha News, who made national news in January when bodycam video of the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent was given to her. As Jared Holt, a senior researcher at Open Measures who tracks rightwing disinformation explains, the claim that the T-shirt was intended to mock Kirk’s death was previously raised and debunked last year, In fact, it has been worn by mathematics teachers on Halloween for years, well before Kirk was killed. in Columbus, Ohio Polls closed in Ohio an hour and a half ago, and long lines of people have filed into the Hilton hotel in downtown Columbus to watch results roll in at the Ohio Democrats’ election night watch party. The crowd cheered when large screens flashed the news that Democrat John Ossoff won Georgia’s Senate race and booed when they learned that Republican Ashley Moody won the Florida Senate race. The atmosphere is joyful. Every 10 minutes, the audience chants, “Amy! Amy! Amy”, in hopes that the Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton wins the Ohio race. Heather Hogrefe, 58, told me she drove two hours from Perrysburg in north-west Ohio. “Ohio is so corrupt and it has been a one party state for too long,” said Hogrefe. “It’s time for that to end.” Hogrefe, a teacher who works with at-risk high school students, launched a fundraiser with her friends to support Acton and raised $20,000. “We made it our new year’s resolution to get her elected,” she said. Hogrefe said she rejects how Ohio Republicans have expanded the state’s school voucher program but haven’t adequately funded public schools. A victory for the Democratic Senate candidate Sherrod Brown would mean new possibilities for disadvantaged students, Hogrefe said. “If we can fight for Ohio and win, it means that we can do that in the rest of the country,” said Brandy Alexander, 53, a friend who drove to the event with Hogrefe. “We used to be purple, almost blue, but then Trump came to power. What happens here represents what we can do in the rest of America.” Over glasses of red wine, the women cheered, as the DJ played hits from Stevie Wonder, John Legend, Bill Withers and Alicia Keys. “We’re feeling hopeful tonight,” Hogrefe said. As results continue to trickle in, my colleague Ariana Baio has been tracking the success of the Senate candidates that Donald Trump backed this cycle. Three of the president’s Senate endorsements have lost so far (in New Hampshire, North Carolina and Georgia), while four have won their races (Kentucky, West Virginia, Wyoming and Florida). The Republican National Committee urged voters to “stay in line” in a social media post featuring a video of Donald Trump this evening. In a linked video, Trump said: “Hi Republicans, we’re doing really well. If you’re in line, stay in line.” “We’re going to win it big,” he added. Keisha Lance Bottoms has won the governor’s race in Georgia, beating Republican Rick Jackson. Her victory means that Lance Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta, has made history as the first Black woman ever elected governor in US history. She will also be Georgia’s first female governor. A few hours earlier, Stacey Plaskett was elected the first Black female governor of a United States territory. Plaskett will govern the US Virgin Islands. In a social media post, representative Ayanna Pressley congratulated Plaskett, writing: “When more Black women lead, everyone who calls our country home benefits. Congratulations, sister!” in Manchester, New Hampshire The crowd was jubilant at newly elected senator Chris Pappas’s victory party as he took the podium, with Democrat Stefany Shaheen, who just won her race for Pappas’s representative seat, and her mother, Jeanne Shaheen, whose seat Pappas won, in the wings. He thanked his opponent John Sununu for a “very gracious” call to concede. “Tonight’s results are a wakeup call for corporate special interests and billionaires who have been rigging the economy, for the cowards in Congress who have enabled healthcare cuts, tariffs and war, and for the incompetent president who can’t even be bothered to care how people are being hurt,” Pappas said to cheers. “Tonight, voters in New Hampshire and all across the country simply have had enough and are demanding a change in direction. I am ready to fight with everything I’ve got to deliver the change that we need.” Though Pappas, a longtime Granite state elected official, was the establishment Democratic candidate, his victory speech echoed much of the rhetoric of the populist candidates that have seen success this cycle – from Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan to James Talarico in Texas – and the crowd ate it up. With his husband, Vann Bentley, beside him, Pappas pledged to fight for reproductive freedom and, to even louder cheers, against the creation of datacenters and ICE detention facilities (the latter got the loudest scream of the night). “This was a hard-fought victory tonight. It was made even harder by the tens and tens of millions of dollars that poured into New Hampshire from Donald Trump, Elon Musk and corporate special interests who are just fine with the way things are going right now,” Pappas continued, addressing the gathered campaign staffers, volunteers, supporters and local Democratic officials. “They threw money, attack ads and outright lies at us every day for months. But we beat them anyway, didn’t we?” Democrat Pia Dandiya has won the US House race for Florida’s 22nd congressional district, a re-drawn seat in Palm Beach that was gerrymandered to benefit Republicans. Dandiya, a former high school principal, beat her Republican challenger, Casey Askar – a marine veteran. Republican Byron Donalds, a congressman, has won the governor race in Florida, succeeding Ron DeSantis. Donalds beat Democrat David Jolly, a former US representative, after receiving Trump’s endorsement. Navajo voters in Arizona and New Mexico are struggling to reach polling locations after record flooding in the Four Corners region over the past two weeks. In north-east Arizona, Valinda Shirley, the vice-president of the Navajo Nation’s Rock Point chapter, told AZ Central: “The ruts are too big to ignore. I did have voters that were washed out and couldn’t get through to their homes or couldn’t leave their homes for several days.” Yesterday, the Apache county board of supervisors declared a state of emergency as heavy rain poured down across the region for a second weekend in a row. In neighboring New Mexico, the secretary of state’s office issued an election advisory about the weather on Monday. Navajo communities aren’t the only Indigenous voters affected by the El Niño-driven thunderstorms. Parts of the Fort Apache Indian Reservation were put under mandatory evacuation over the weekend and the Hopi Tribe has issued a public safety warning about the flood risk. Flood waters have also affected southern Utah, where lieutenant governor Deidre Henderson issued a declaration of emergency election accommodations to allow some voters there to request and return their ballots electronically. Community organizers in Minnesota have been galvanizing and training “electoral defense” teams amid concerns about federal government intervention in Tuesday’s midterm elections. The grassroots network of organizers primarily arose earlier this year in response to the Trump administration’s massive immigration enforcement operation in the region, called Operation Metro Surge. Now, those groups have been channeling their networks, organizing methods and de-escalation techniques towards electoral work for this year’s midterm elections – and they have been visiting polling sites statewide. One of those groups is Groundwork Action, which is working with various on-the-ground teams to train “democracy guardians” to visit polling sites and monitor the scene in case of any disturbances or federal government intervention that may interfere in people’s ability to vote. Other groups participating in the electoral work include immigration defense and faith-based organizations. The Trump administration announced that election monitors from the justice department would be deployed around the country to observe elections. This coincided with threats that federal immigration officials would be deployed to polling sites nationwide. The justice department later said that neither FBI nor Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would serve as poll monitors – but other federal agents would. We have our next batch of polls closing in 10 more states now. In Arizona, there are several competitive contests, including the race for the sixth congressional district, where Republican incumbent Juan Ciscomani faces Democrat JoAnna Mendoza, a former US marine. The state’s race for governor is also one we’re watching. Democratic incumbent Katie Hobbs is seeking a second term, but first must beat Andy Biggs, the congressman who won the president’s endorsement in the Republican primary. In Iowa, the neck-and-neck race for the open Senate seat pits Republican congresswoman Ashley Hinson against Democratic state lawmaker Josh Turek. The Hawkeye state’s gubernatorial race is also shaping up to be competitive, with Democratic state auditor Rob Sand facing Republican nominee Zach Lahn. At 9pm ET, polls will also close in Louisiana, Colorado, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Wisconsin and Wyoming. Any remaining polling places in North Dakota, South Dakota and Texas close at this time as well. Republican redistricting in Florida, which the party calculated could net them another four House seats, appears to have backfired, with two Democrats declared winners in their races. Kathy Castor won re-election in Florida’s 14th district, a seat heavily redrawn to favor Republican challenger Mike Beltran. Democratic congressman Jared Moskowitz also won re-election in the redrawn 25th congressional district in Florida, beating out his Republican challenger Scott Singer. in Austin, Texas Greetings from the Long Center for the Performing Arts in Austin, Texas, where coming attractions include An Evening with Yo-Yo Ma; Sex, Death & Small Talk with British comedian Brett Goldstein; and Leslie Odom Jr – The Christmas Tour. But tonight it’s all about an election watch party for James Talarico, the great Democratic hope for the US Senate in Texas. No doubt Republicans, who have falsely cast Talarico as gay, vegan and “a soy latte”, would love to seize on the fact his event is being held at a venue that has hosted ballet, opera and Broadway musicals. But it’s too late. Long lines of people are waiting to enter the main auditorium but I’ve been told reporters will not be allowed inside; we will have to watch a livestream instead. The plaza outside offers gorgeous views of the Austin skyline at night and features a taco truck, other food vendors, racks of T-shirts for sale, handmade ceramics for sale, bandanas for $36 a pop and even embroiderers making bandanas on demand. There are also numerous cameras and journalists as well as giant screens showing the election results coming in. Two Democratic heavyweights secured their re-election as governors tonight. JB Pritzker just won his third term in Illinois, and Josh Shapiro won his second term in Pennsylvania. Neither were expected to lose, but they are both Democratic candidate contenders in the 2028 presidential election. Here’s my colleague Callum Jones’ profile of Pritzker: With polls closed on the east coast, we’ve seen a number of races called already. Here are the top lines we’re following: Jon Ossoff has been re-elected to the Senate in Georgia, defeating Mike Collins, his Republican challenger. Roy Cooper, North Carolina’s former governor, was elected to represent the state in the US Senate, marking the first time in 10 years voters sent a Democrat to Congress’s upper chamber. Chris Pappas, the four-term Democratic congressman, has won New Hampshire’s US Senate race, protecting the open seat from a Republican flip in a closely fought contest against John Sununu, the former senator. Democratic senator Mark Warner has won re-election in the US Senate race in Virginia. He fended off a challenge from Bert Mizusawa, a Republican. Republican Ashley Moody won the special election against progressive insurgent Angie Nixon in the US Senate race in Florida. Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz won re-election in Florida’s 20th congressional district, securing a 12th term. She beat her Republican challenger, Brent Andersen. Democrat Kathy Castor, who has served for 10 terms, won re-election in Florida’s 14th congressional district, which was re-drawn this year to boost Republicans. Democratic congressman Jared Moskowitz also won re-election in the redrawn 25th congressional district in Florida, beating out his Republican challenger Scott Singer. Jumping back to Jon Ossoff’s win in Georgia. It’s worth remembering that Donald Trump won the state by two points in 2024. But in all of the reported counties so far, there has been a Democratic shift, according to data from the Associated Press. Republican Ashley Moody won the special election against progressive insurgent Angie Nixon in the US Senate race in Florida. Moody was appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis to replace Marco Rubio, after he was appointed secretary of state in 2025. She will now finish out the remainder of his term – which ends in 2028. Nixon, a state representative, secured a surprising win against former army intelligence officer Alexander Vindman in the Democratic primary earlier this year. in Adams County, Colorado Just an hour before polls closed in Colorado, Jackie M, 19, showed up to the Adams county government center for her first time voting. She said she opted not to mail in her ballot and came in person because “I wanted that sticker”. She described this election as extremely important and said that the top issues for her are the rights of women and immigrants and getting treated fairly. “There’s a lot on the table that can dictate the future of my generation and the generation after us,” she said. Fernando, 42, said the economy was influencing his vote, saying that it has affected a lot of families and small businesses in the district. He described this election as overwhelming and said, “there’s two sides of the story” on several issues. This district has become a congressional battleground site, with Democrat Manny Rutinel aiming to unseat Republican Gabe Evans. Rutinel has focused on his campaign on working families and protecting the immigrant community from “the brutality of Trump’s ICE”. Evans centered his campaign on fighting crime and has criticized democrats for having “anti-law enforcement policies”. Outside spending has flowed into the campaign, making it one of the most expensive congressional races in the country. Super political action committees (Super Pacs) backed by Donald Trump and billionaires Elon Musk and Charles Koch have poured more than $10m into Evans campaign. Rutinel has received more than $8m from Super Pacs associated with the democratic party. The Department of Justice selected the district as a location to post its federal election monitors, despite getting pushback from Colorado’s secretary of state, Jena Griswold. Throughout the day, pairs of unbadged plain-clothes monitors were reportedly seen outside polling places. But they didn’t stay stationed in one place, and instead moved across the county. in Manchester, New Hampshire With 20% of the vote in, Republican former senator John Sununu has officially conceded to representative Chris Pappas in New Hampshire’s Senate race, furthering the initial blue wave being seen in the early hours of the vote. Switching the screens to his concession speech on local channel WMUR, the Manchester election night party broke into screams, momentarily almost sounding like a concert crowd, chanting LET’S GO PAPPAS! After becoming the state’s first gay federal representative in 2018, tonight Pappas becomes New Hampshire’s first gay senator. In the next few minutes, he’ll make his victory remarks. in Stevens Point, Wisconsin I’m hearing about some long lines for student voters in Wisconsin’s third congressional district tonight – a place we’ve covered for months now, which could flip from a Republican to a Democrat. At the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point, college voters in one of the country’s closest congressional districts are waiting in line for more than two hours to vote tonight. A polling place on campus, at the Dreyfus University Center, has seen lines of more than two hours for voters who are registering and voting at the same time, said Matt Moldenhauer, who is a city council member in Stevens Point. Wisconsin allows for same-day voter registration, and many of these voters are first-time voters. For voters who are already registered, the wait times are minimal now. A video of the lines shows dozens waiting to register and cast ballots. At a rec center nearby, a polling place that includes off-campus housing, wait times have been between one and one and a half hours for people registering and voting, Moldenhauer said. Moldenhauer is there in person at the rec center, telling people to stay in line and cast their ballots. “It sounds like turnout is just much higher than expected,” he said. “It’s exciting to see enthusiasm and a lot of turnout.” Wisconsin’s third congressional district is a toss-up race between incumbent Republican Derrick Van Orden and Democratic contender Rebecca Cooke. Roy Cooper, the former Democratic governor of North Carolina, has won the state’s open Senate seat. Cooper defeated Michael Whatley, the former chair of the Republican National Committee who received Donald Trump’s endorsement. The state was a key flip for Democrats in their quest for Senate control, after Republican Thom Tillis announced he would not seek re-election. Another US House race in Florida that is looking extremely close as the vote count pours in is the state’s 27th congressional district. Here, Republican incumbent Maria Salazar is currently tied with her Democratic challenger, Eliott Rodriguez. While campaigning, Salazar directly pushed back against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, saying it had gone “too far”, as condemnation spread within her Miami-area district. “The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today,” Salazar said in an ad. “You can be for immigration what Lincoln was for slavery and Reagan was for communism. I’m not talking about giving them amnesty. I’m talking about giving them a dignified life in this promised land.” Chris Pappas, the Democratic congressman, has won the US Senate race in New Hamphire. It’s a seat Democrats needed to hold on to in order to have a shot at reclaiming the upper chamber of Congress. Pappas beat Republican John Sununu – a former senator and son of the state’s former governor. Pappas is also the first openly gay man to serve in the US Senate. As my colleague Jeremy Barr writes, Fox News is expressing concern about the results of the midterms so far. “It’s not a red wave. I don’t think we’re going to get our $5,000 checks,” host Jesse Watters said. Democrat Kathy Castor, who has served for 10 terms, has won re-election in Florida’s 14th congressional district, which was re-drawn this year to boost Republicans. She beat Mike Beltran, a former GOP state representative. Democratic congressman Jared Moskowitz has won re-election in the redrawn 25th congressional district in Florida, beating out his Republican challenger Scott Singer. The seat was re-drawn to benefit Republicans as part of Florida’s redistricting effort this year. in Detroit, Michigan It’s still early in Detroit, and polls are still open until 8pm ET, but supporters for Abdul El-Sayed are starting to trickle in to the Michigan Democratic party’s election night party downtown. We’ve just seen a flood of poll closings at 8pm ET. These include Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, DC, Illinois, most of Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, most of Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, most of North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, most of South Dakota, Tennessee and most of Texas. A number of marquee Senate races fall into this wave, including the battle for Michigan’s open Senate seat between Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and former Republican congressman Mike Rogers. Holding the Great Lakes state is vital for Democrats, but the race is expected to be close. El-Sayed is leading in many of the recent polls, but is still within the margin of error. In Maine, we’ll be watching to see whether progressive Troy Jackson can unseat five-term Republican incumbent Susan Collins. And in Texas, Democrats are betting on James Talarico, the state lawmaker who has surged in the polls, to defeat Ken Paxton, the scandal-plagued Republican attorney general. A Democratic victory would mark the party’s first statewide win in more than 30 years. Finally, Kansas has emerged as a late-breaking battleground, with Adam Hamilton seeking to unseat Republican Roger Marshall and become the state’s first Democratic senator in nearly a century. There are also several competitive down-ballot House races in Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, where Democrats are hoping to flip swing seats won by Republicans in 2024. Democrat Jon Ossoff has won the US Senate race in Georgia, securing a second term and fending off a challenge from Trump-backed Mike Collins. The state is crucial for Democrats to retain as part of their quest to reclaim control of the Senate. Donald Trump has continued to post on his Truth Social account about his dissatisfaction with Fox News. “FoxNews Ratings are way down (27%!) because they’re spending too much time covering the Trump Deranged Dumocrats!” the president wrote. “It’s them, not me — My numbers are better than they have ever been.” As we’ve reported, Trump’s approval rating sank to 36% last month, the lowest recorded in a poll by the New York Times/Siena College, with most respondents expressing frustration over his handling of the US economy, cost of living and Iran war. Trump also appeared to text Fox News host Greg Gutfeld, who read a message from the president on air. “Tell Tarlov – who is the WORST – gas prices are lower than they were for Biden and Obama, and they allowed Iran to have the nuclear bomb,” Gutfeld read. Earlier in the evening, Trump posted on Truth Social about Fox host Jessica Tarlov, calling her “DUMB AS A ROCK”. Trump has a long history of insulting female journalists. Staying in Florida, the competitive race for governor pits Democrat David Jolly, a former US representative, against Republican Byron Donalds, a current congressman. As of now, 65% of the vote has been counted, and Donalds has a slight edge. Notably, Osceola county (south of Orlando) flipped for Donald Trump in 2024, but Jolly is currently leading in the county with 81% of the vote counted. We’ll bring you the latest as we get more. In Florida’s 13th congressional district, firebrand Republican Anna Paulina Luna is defending her seat against her Democratic challenger Leela Gray, a US army veteran. As of now, 96% of the vote has been reported, showing a neck-and-neck contest between the two. Paulina Luna is up by a fraction, and we’ll be keeping an eye out as we get more details. North Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia have now closed their polls. In North Carolina, the open Senate seat is a key pickup opportunity for Democrats, with the state’s former governor, Roy Cooper, facing off against Michael Whatley, the former chair of the Republican National Committee. And in Ohio, we’ll have the second special Senate election of the 2026 midterms, with former senator Sherrod Brown seeking a comeback after losing his 2024 race. Brown is attempting to unseat Republican Jon Husted in a contest centered in part on the fight over datacenters in the state. We’re also keeping an eye on Ohio’s gubernatorial race, which sees Republican Vivek Ramaswamy face off against Amy Acton, a Democrat and public health official. It’s a contest that has become increasingly rancorous after Ramaswamy released an ad featuring Acton’s estranged mother – who hasn’t seen her daughter since Acton was removed from her custody when she was 12. in Pleasanton, Kansas It’s getting dark here and polls are close to closing in ruby-red Linn county, a rural stretch of land just 15 minutes away from the Missouri state line and about an hour south from the state’s liberal city centers. Nearly three-quarters of voters here elected Roger Marshall in 2020, and 82% backed Trump in 2024. Ron Miller, a 39-year-old rancher born and raised in Pleasanton and a veteran of the Afghanistan war, voted in Kansas’s midterms – which also includes a race for the state’s governor – after spending considerable time researching the candidates on both sides, he said, as he doesn’t vote down ballot for just one party. This year, he filled in his ballot for Roger Marshall, whom he called “the lesser of two evils” – a phrase I’ve been hearing about this year’s Senate race around other polling sites in Linn county. Miller appreciated that Marshall was brought up in a farming family based in nearby Butler county, which is also in the southern half of the state. He believed that Marshall better understand the issues affecting his area. Echoing many Kansan voters today, Miller said the cost of living has been his top issue for this year’s midterms. His groceries have doubled, compared to his pre-Covid bills. His feed prices have gone up. The diesel he uses for his trucks has surged. But his income has stayed the same. “Diesel’s drastically affected me because I’ve had to move cattle closer, to cut back on driving,” he said. “So I don’t have to travel as far.” He added: “I’m for Trump, but he hasn’t done anything to lower the cost of living.” Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz has won re-election in Florida’s 20th congressional district, securing a 12th term. She beat her Republican challenger, Brent Andersen. Her district was redrawn this year to boost Republicans, as part of Florida’s redistricting push. Democratic senator Mark Warner has won re-election in the US Senate race in Virginia. He fended off a challenge from Bert Mizusawa, a Republican. Our next round of poll closings comes in most of Florida, Georgia, most of New Hampshire, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia. We’re keeping a close eye on Senate races in several of these states. In Florida, progressive Democrat Angie Nixon is hoping to pull off an upset and unseat Republican incumbent Ashley Moody in one of two special elections this cycle. Meanwhile in Georgia, Jon Ossoff, a Democratic senator in his first term, is fending off a challenge from the Trump-endorsed congressman Mike Collins. In South Carolina, Darline Graham, the sister of the late senator Lindsey Graham, is seeking a full term after being appointed by the state’s governor to serve out the remainder of her brother’s term after his death in July. She faces Annie Andrews, a pediatrician and the Democratic nominee. And in New Hampshire, Republicans are eyeing an opportunity to flip an open Senate seat, with former GOP senator John Sununu challenging congressman Chris Pappas in a race that has become increasingly concerning for Democrats in the campaign’s final stretch. Any remaining polling places open in Indiana and Kentucky also close at 7pm ET. We’re bracing for a long night, with a number of different states reporting results at different points in the evening. In 2024, we saw some of the earliest results from Florida, where 99% of the final vote count was reported by 10pm ET. At that same time in the last election, South Carolina reported 78% of the vote, and Georgia had 77% counted. It’s worth underscoring, as my colleague Rachel Leingang reported, that as more ballots are counted, a candidate may gain or lose the lead in any given race. This is a function of ballots being counted, not some sort of nefariousness. Read Rachel’s helpful explainer breaking down when we can expect results and how the votes are counted. in Fort Lupton, Colorado Voters steadily streamed into the Fort Lupton, Colorado, polling location where Gabe Evans, the Republican congressman, lives. Even more cars and pickup trucks lined up for the drive-thru ballot drop-box outside the polling location. “People are really coming out to vote,” the poll worker said. This district in central Colorado is one of the country’s congressional battleground sites. It spans the outskirts of Denver up north to rural agricultural and prairie land. Evans has held the seat since 2024 and is up against Democratic challenger Manny Rutinel. Evans has worked as a police officer, served in the US army as a helicopter pilot and was a state representative. Rutinel was also a state representative and served in the US Army Corps of Engineers. While the two top candidates have career similarities and are both young and Latino, they sharply differ on campaign issues. Evans has centered his campaign on fighting crime, the cost of living and the rise of socialism. He’s criticized Democrats for having “anti-law enforcement policies” and says he believes in tightening the border and second amendment rights. Rutinel says he wants to “stop Trump’s immigration cruelty” and pass comprehensive immigration reform. His other top campaign issues are lowing costs for working families and taking on corruption in Washington. District eight is considered a purple district, but Trump won in 2024 by nearly two points. The district is 38% Latino, so election monitors are closely watching to see which way these votes sway. Brittany Gonzalez, 26, said that she hopes the district swings blue, adding that people who live here have been affected by the “extreme actions” of Donald Trump. She said her ex-husband was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) earlier this year and it affected her children. The choices people make while voting definitely has an impact. It affects a lot of daily life for us. As we bring you the latest from around the country, Donald Trump is certainly paying attention. From the White House, the president said that he was tuning into coverage on Fox News. “I can’t stand Jessica Tarlov’s voice,” Trump said of the Democratic strategist and Fox News contributor in a post on Truth Social. The president called Tarlov “DUMB AS A ROCK”. He added: “But it’s the voice that gets me. Have to go somewhere else until that LOSER is off the air – I’ll be back later!” in Phoenix, Arizona In Arizona’s Yavapai county, more than the vote is coming in. Hair combs, tax bills and honey-do lists have arrived in ballot envelopes from voters who opt to vote by mail that prompted a gentle reminder from county recorder Michelle Burchill that those items can’t be tabulated – only ballots. Random items find their way to the tabulation center in north-central Arizona every election, Burchill said. Usually they are unaccompanied by a ballot, but if one does show up, it gets counted, she said. As for the extraneous items, Burchill’s office makes an effort to notify the voter (their ID is encoded on a bar code on the envelope) but most don’t show up for the random lists and slips of paper. But there was the woman who happily arrived to reclaim five gift cards. As for tax bills, the civic-minded staff re-routes those to the county treasurer. As the first set of polls close, we’re getting some data from the Associated Press about the issues that voters are most concerned about. According to the exit poll, 39% of voters say the economy is top of mind, while 32% feel that the state of democracy is the main issue facing the country. This is followed by immigration (14%) and healthcare (8%). The AP’s expansive survey of the electorate suggests most are deeply unhappy with Donald Trump, with roughly 60% saying they disapprove of how he’s handling the presidency. Most voters want to see Congress provide more checks and balances on the presidency and ultimately disapprove of how Congress is handling its job, according to the poll. Roughly 70% of voters say that lawmakers are doing “not enough” to provide checks and balances on the presidency. in Austin, Texas There is a slow but steady flow of voters at the Austin Recreation Center in Austin, the Texas capital, which has emerged as one of the biggest battlegrounds of the midterm elections. Maya Murshed, 19, a student at the University of Texas, was voting for the first time in her life – but preferred not to say for whom. “It was a good experience. It felt good, being able to participate in it for the first time and voice what I want.” Zach Garvey, a 33-year-old software developer, said he approached the ballot as an independent voter, using nonpartisan online resources to evaluate each candidate. Ultimately, he backed Democrats down the ballot. “I like to consider myself to be fairly nonpartisan. I’m looking for, do they promote individual liberty of a person like me maybe wanting to start a small business? And I feel like it ended up being Democrat after Democrat in the state.” Garvey cited concerns over religious influence in public institutions and the platform of state Republicans as central to his decision. “I don’t particularly like a lot of the stuff that Ken Paxton is saying and I don’t like a lot of what the Texas Republican party is doing right now. “Economic freedom is as important as social liberties but I don’t feel like the current Republican party in Texas values that. It’s all large corporate profit above small businesses or religious dogmas that are being indoctrinated in our politics.” Considering the prospect of a Democratic breakthrough in Texas after decades of Republican dominance, Garvey added: It’ll be a shocker for sure. But it would make me very proud to be a Texan. Heidi Gibbons, 76, a retired nonprofit development director and Travis county Democratic precinct chair, recalled marching across the Congress Avenue Bridge after Ann Richards’s landmark victory in the 1990 gubernatorial election. She said: “Democrats have heart and Democrats care. Paxton is busy breaking all the Ten Commandments. The person running against [James] Talarico is busy learning the Ten Commandments in seminary.” Among those weighing their choices on election day was LaColby Tucker, 29, a professional American football player currently filming a movie in Texas. Tucker voiced objections to Talarico, pointing to his Christian faith and interpretation of the Bible. “He tries to make up his own thing and I don’t like that because he’ll try to say things basically the Bible says that aren’t true and he’ll make up his own stuff. I’m just going off the Bible.” But with only hours left before the polls closed, Tucker admitted: “I don’t know who to vote for. I have to do my research. I’m not super into politics.” in Columbus, Ohio Throughout the afternoon, voters streamed out of Burbank early childhood school, a polling site located in a north-western suburb of Columbus, Ohio. Many carried their “Ohio Voted” sticker in hand, with one first-time voter saying he was excited to put the sticker in a special notebook to commemorate the moment. As voters exited the school, voters shared their thoughts on the direction of the Buckeye state. The competitive senate race between Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican Jon Husted is a major test of whether Ohio will continue its rightward shift. Voters in the state chose Donald Trump in three consecutive presidential elections. The result of the race for the governor’s office between Republican Vivek Ramaswamy and Democrat Amy Acton will also signal whether Ohio can renew its title as a battleground state. “We need more balanced power, not one party controlling all branches of the state. It should be divided power, not one party just being corrupt,” said Ranjan Manoranjan. “We should have a balanced Ohio to become a purple state instead of one color.” His solution? Getting money out of politics. “Money has to be taken out of the elections,” he said. “That’s the biggest problem we have. Private outside donors spending money in Ohio.” Sunny Servoni, who has resided in Ohio since 1982 and is a self-described “Reagan Republican”, argued that Brown hadn’t done enough when he was previously in office for decades. Servoni voted for Ramaswamy because of his tax plan. “When you live on a fixed income, it’s all about lower taxes,” Servoni said. “My real estate taxes are killing me. I can’t afford $12,000 a year. That means I don’t eat one day a week.” Jim Conrad felt that choosing between candidates on the left and on the right has grown increasingly difficult. “I’m tired of billionaires. The gap between the wealthiest and the poorest in this country has gotten bigger each year. [Ramaswamy] and Republicans in general don’t have compassion for the people who have the least,” he said. “On the other hand, I’m not crazy about the Democrats wanting to increase the budget to pay for things. It’s a difficult choice for people.” Conrad has long voted as an independent, but felt powerless even between parties. “The trends in the world are going downhill. The weather change is causing people to move. There are nuclear weapons. There’s a war that nobody wants right now,” he said. “I was in the army during the Vietnam war. I thought that was a stupid war. I thought the Iraq war was a stupid war. We continue to do these stupid wars.” Amy Barker, an immigrant from England who became a citizen three years ago, was thrilled to vote in the election. “I take my privilege and responsibility to vote seriously,” she said. Since gaining the right to vote in US elections, she has so far voted for Democrats. “You have to vote for your principles over your party,” she said. “The principles of most of the Democrats, not all of them, are aligning more with what I believe the country needs.” in Rochester, New Hampshire Rebecca Connors, 49, is an independent, but today, she said, she voted “very Democratic”. Speaking outside her polling location during the after-work crush in Rochester, a small town in New Hampshire’s seacoast region, she said she voted blue to send a message of disapproval to Donald Trump, whose favorability is at a record low in the Granite state. Trump was the first reason Connors gave for going out to vote, saying: “He’s wreaking havoc.” But she also cited the top issues driving many voters to the polls, like the cost of living. “I want the economy to come back down again. I want to be able to get gas for below $3.50,” said Connors. “We work hard every day, and yet we can’t get ahead.” She added that it was important for the democratic process to put some “checks and balances” on Trump, and she wanted elected officials who would question him, “as opposed to getting down on their hands and knees and kissing his feet”. Connors was also concerned about her LGBTQ+ loved ones, who she fears are more vulnerable under Republican control, and about ICE, which she believes should be disbanded. After this morning’s announcement that the Trump administration was sending Department of Justice monitors to all 50 states, Connors was even afraid to vote, citing the current political environment. “There’s no reason you should be doing that,” she said of the decision to send in monitors. The state of the country right now scares me, because I feel as though this administration has fostered animosity and hatred ... I just hope there’s some changes coming. in Austin, Texas Greetings from the Austin Recreation Center in Austin, Texas, where Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic candidate for governor, greeted supporters clutching “Save our schools” signs to highlight cuts to public education. No Democrat has won a Texas gubernatorial election since Ann Richards in 1990, but Hinojosa, running against the incumbent Republican governor Greg Abbott, insisted that “everything is different” this time. She told reporters: “For one, Greg Abbott had never seen a poll that he was losing ever before when he ran for governor. I don’t know, there’s been like 15? I mean, so many. This election is within the margin of error and it is because Greg Abbot has done so much damage to public schools. “It is because what he has done to public schools is one example of a governor doing the bidding of the moneyed interests and not the people of Texas. Datacenters are another example. There are people all across the state very angry at this governor who no longer fears the voters and voters are fighting back in this election.” Asked how critical the Latino vote will be in this campaign, Hinojosa, 52, a civil rights and labour lawyer, replied: “It’s huge. Look, we know that when Beto [O’Rourke] ran in 2018 and came so close as a Democrat to winning [a Senate race], he got 64% of the Latino vote. When I get that I win because there’s more of us in the voting population than there were then. “Latino voters are angry about what we’re all angry about. They’re angry about schools. They’re angry about this high cost economy, which is harder to make it today than it was 12 years ago before Greg Abbott. They’re angry about the corruption and they are angry about being treated less Texan, less American than everybody else. That’s why you see Latinos turning out in big numbers.” The majority of polls in Indiana and Kentucky have now closed. As parts of both states are also in the central time zone, some polling places will remain open until 7pm ET. Here’s an hour-by-hour guide to when election sites across the country will shut throughout the night: As polls begin to close on election night, some early House and Senate races could indicate which way the election is trending – whether Democrats are set for the blowout they’re hoping for, or whether Republicans will defy the polls and hold onto control of Congress. There’s a strong possibility we won’t have an idea which party will come out on top until tomorrow or later this week. But these states might provide some early signs (timings are in ET): Kentucky (polls begin closing at 6pm) Florida (polls begin closing at 7pm) Virginia (polls begin closing at 7pm) Ohio (polls begin closing at 7.30pm) North Carolina (polls begin closing at 7.30pm) Pennsylvania (polls begin closing at 8pm) It’s almost 6pm ET on Tuesday 3 November, and the first round of polls in the US midterm elections are about to close. After months of campaigning, debate and analysis, Americans have been casting their ballots in these critical elections that will take the political temperature of the nation halfway through Donald Trump’s second term – and determine the trajectory of the remainder of his presidency. Americans, who have already voted early in record numbers and are turning out in numbers significantly outstripping the totals from the 2022 midterms, will decide the balance of power in Congress and, therefore, Trump’s ability to advance his agenda for the next two years. With the US president almost unprecedentedly unpopular, Democrats are aiming for what would be stunning victories in seats where, for decades, turning blue would have been unthinkable. Trump is not on the ballot, but this election is very much a referendum on the direction of the country under his Republican party. Results will soon begin trickling in for what will be a defining moment for American democracy, so stick with us as we bring you all the latest news, analyses and commentary as it all unfolds.