Democratic US senators from Georgia and Virginia win re-election; polls close in Ohio, North Carolina, and South Carolina as Americans decide the direction of Congress
Senator Jon Ossoff, a Democrat from Georgia, speaks in Atlanta. Photograph: Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenSenator Jon Ossoff, a Democrat from Georgia, speaks in Atlanta. Photograph: Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesFrom 1h agoOur 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.
Voters fill out their ballots on election day in Alpharetta, Georgia. Photograph: Ryan Murphy/APIn 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’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.
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.
View image in fullscreenSenator Roger Marshall meets with supporters at a rally in Salina, Kansas, on 1 November 2026. Photograph: Austin Johnson/AFP/Getty ImagesThis 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.”
View image in fullscreenDebbie Wasserman Schultz joins with labor and union workers as they make themselves heard during a protest at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood international airport on 22 October in Fort Lauderdale. Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesDemocrat 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.
View image in fullscreenMark Warner greets supporters at rally on 24 October 2026 in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Photograph: Tasos Katopodis/Getty ImagesOur 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.
View image in fullscreenVoters fill out their ballots on election day in Alpharetta, Georgia. Photograph: Ryan Murphy/APIn 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.
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.
View image in fullscreenA person votes a drive-thru ballot drop site in Denver, Colorado. Photograph: Kevin Mohatt/ReutersDistrict 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.
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