oneafter After months of hard-fought campaigning, the midterm elections are finally here. Voters will head to the polls today to decide which party will control Congress and cast their votes in several important gubernatorial races across the country. Recent polls show Democrats are likely to wrest control of the House from Republicans, and they have a shot at advancing to the Senate, where Republicans currently hold a 53-47 vote advantage. The most likely path for Democrats to do the latter involves defending seats in three key swing states — Michigan, New Hampshire and Georgia — and flipping at least four of the seven contested seats held by Republicans: Alaska, North Carolina, Ohio, Iowa, Maine, Kansas and Texas. The first vote will end at 6pm tonight good afternoon Eastern Standard Time, and new yorker Results will be announced until the final count, according to the Associated Press.
2026 Midterm Elections: Live Results Map
This year’s midterm elections will be the most expensive ever (including past presidential cycles), with more than $11 billion spent on campaign ads alone. Much of this spending was focused on a handful of Senate races, with more than $1 billion going to just three states: Michigan, Ohio and Texas. Texas, in particular, is considered a major Democratic leader. Even though President Donald Trump won the state by more than 13 points in 2024, state Rep. James Talarico still has a narrow lead in polls over Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. If Talarico wins, becoming the first statewide elected Democrat since 1994, it will likely be because of Latino voters, who polls show have shifted back to the left after shifting sharply to Republicans in 2024. It also reflects deep dissatisfaction with Trump, whose approval rating has fallen into the mid-30s and recently reached its lowest point in his two terms.
As a result, Democratic candidates have aggressively sought to make the election a referendum on Trump, and in several recent polls, voters have prioritized issues related to the president. This includes Trump’s war with Iran, which led to high inflation and soaring oil prices, as well as the construction of data centers that Trump championed. If Democrats are able to take back Congress, House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries, the speaker of the House of Representatives, has said he would pursue an aggressive oversight plan, including congressional investigations into business dealings by people close to the Trump administration, immigration enforcement reforms and possibly even impeachment hearings. Today’s midterm election results could also provide a preview of the 2028 presidential election landscape, providing an early test for several potential Democratic candidates currently running for re-election in their respective states, such as Maryland Governor Wes Moore; Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro; and Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff.