Our coverage of the 2026 United States midterm elections, held on 3 November 2026. Americans vote for all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, about a third of the Senate and most state governorships, which decides who controls Congress for the second half of Donald Trump's term.
Here you will find results, court rulings, voting problems and campaign news. Every story is written in our own words and names its primary source; results are reported only when officials or established news organisations confirm them.
10 stories, newest first.
Photo: Voice of America, public domain, cropped and resized (file image: the Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building, Washington) / Source: Wikimedia Commons
BREAKING Politics · 18:25
The US Justice Department is deploying about 1,000 election monitors and observers on Election Day, 3 November, and for the first time in all 50 states, which it calls the largest monitoring effort in its history. The night before, federal judge Reggie Walton refused an NAACP request to block the programme but ordered that the monitors must not be sworn law enforcement officers, must not be armed or in uniform, cannot make arrests and must not speak to voters inside polling places.
Source: US Department of Justice (press release, 3 Nov 2026); US District Court for the District of Columbia, order in NAACP v. Blanch (2 Nov 2026); Fox News; Reuters; Axios; Democracy Docket
Photo: Carol M. Highsmith, public domain (Library of Congress), cropped and resized (file image: the US Supreme Court building, Washington) / Source: Wikimedia Commons
BREAKING Politics · 18:25
The US Supreme Court on Monday, 2 November, rejected the Trump administration's last-minute request to force California to set aside the mail ballots of about 20,000 people the federal government claims are likely noncitizens. The one-line, unsigned order gave no reasons and showed no dissents. Two lower courts had already refused, and California officials say the federal list is full of errors and could disenfranchise eligible US citizens.
Source: Supreme Court of the United States (order of 2 Nov 2026, via CBS News and BBC); CBS News; BBC; AP; SCOTUSblog; AFP
Photo: George Armstrong/FEMA, public domain, cropped and resized (file image: a flooded street in DeBary, Florida, 2009, not from this storm) / Source: Wikimedia Commons
BREAKING Politics · 18:25
Severe weather is disrupting Election Day in several US states. Florida moved 21 polling places covering 30 precincts in eight counties after flash floods made sites unsafe or roads impassable. In Utah and Colorado, voters cut off by historic flooding can return their ballots electronically, and in Oklahoma a tornado damaged a community center used as a polling place.
Source: Florida Department of State, Division of Elections (polling place relocations under Executive Order 26-227); Utah Lieutenant Governor's Office (release, 2 Nov 2026); Colorado Secretary of State (release, 2 Nov 2026); National Weather Service damage survey and Cimarron County officials via NBC News; Maricopa County Elections via Cronkite News and KJZZ; WLRN; 9News
Photo: Eden, Janine and Jim, CC BY 2.0, cropped and resized (file image: a polling place in New York City, November 2016, not in Westchester) / Source: Wikimedia Commons
BREAKING Politics · 16:20
Voting machines at polling places across Westchester County, New York, stopped accepting ballots on Tuesday, 3 November, as the US midterm elections got under way. The county Board of Elections blamed an issue with the paper ballots. Voting continues: filled-in ballots are being placed in sealed orange emergency bags and will be counted later, officials said.
Source: Westchester County Board of Elections (statement via Westchester County Government on X); New York State Board of Elections via CBS New York; ABC7 New York; News 12 Hudson Valley; Westfair; tip: @Polymarket on X
Photo: NASA, public domain (file image: satellite view of Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz) / Source: Wikimedia Commons
NEW World · 06:37
The United States carried out limited "defensive" strikes on Iran's Qeshm Island, in the Strait of Hormuz, late on Monday 2 November, several US officials told American media. Iranian state media reported a series of explosions on the island. Washington has not issued a public statement, and the officials stressed that the operation does not mark a return to major combat.
Source: AP; The Wall Street Journal; ABC News; BBC News; Al Jazeera; IRNA
Photo: Architect of the Capitol, public domain (file image: the west front of the US Capitol) / Source: Wikimedia Commons
NEW Politics · 21:09
Americans vote on Tuesday, 3 November, in midterm elections that will decide control of Congress for the last two years of Donald Trump's term. All 435 House seats, 35 Senate seats and 36 governorships are on the ballot, along with 145 statewide ballot measures. Democrats need a net gain of four seats in both chambers to overturn the Republican majorities of 218-214 in the House and 53-47 in the Senate, Reuters notes. They are widely expected to win the House, while the Senate is close. More than 54 million people had already voted early. This article will be updated with results as they come in.
Source: Reuters; CBS News; Fox News; AP; University of Florida Election Lab; NBC News; Kalshi; Broward County Supervisor of Elections via Miami Herald; Oklahoma County Election Board via News9; Fulton County officials and New York State Board of Elections via CBS News live updates
Photo: U.S. House of Representatives, public domain (file image: Haley Stevens' official portrait) / Source: Wikimedia Commons
NEW Politics · 06:55
Democratic Congresswoman Haley Stevens has endorsed Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan's closely watched US Senate race, turning against her own party's nominee, Abdul El-Sayed, two days before Tuesday's midterm elections. Stevens, who lost the Democratic primary to El-Sayed in August, said he had told her she was no longer welcome in his campaign. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called the move "a despicable betrayal", while Donald Trump praised it.
Source: CBS News; NBC News; Al Jazeera
Photo: Sergio López Prieto, CC BY-SA 4.0, resized (file image: Pope Leo XIV at Montserrat, Spain, 10 June 2026) / Source: Wikimedia Commons
NEW World · 15:31
Pope Leo XIV has become the first pope in history to vote in a United States election. The Holy See Press Office confirmed on Friday, 30 October, that the Chicago-born pontiff had submitted a mail-in ballot in Chicago ahead of the 3 November midterm elections, saying he has voted as a US citizen whenever he was eligible.
Source: Holy See Press Office; AP; Chicago Sun-Times; CBS News; NBC News
Photo: Lee Coursey, CC BY 2.0 (file image: wild blueberries in Maine) / Source: Wikimedia Commons
NEW Business · 06:43
Blueberries, potatoes, apples and some packaging and machinery are exempted, a win for Republican Susan Collins ten days before the US midterm elections.
Source: The Guardian
Photo: United States Senate, public domain (file image: official portrait of Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska) / Source: Wikimedia Commons
NEW Politics · 06:41
The suit argues an independent candidate with the same name as Senator Dan Sullivan could confuse voters; Trump said: "I'm the one that said do it."
Source: Al Jazeera