US midterm elections 2026 live updates: key House and Senate races to determine control of Congress for remainder of Trump’s term

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):

North Carolina (polls begin closing at 7:30pm)

Pennsylvania (polls begin closing at 8pm)

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. Datacentres 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.

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.