US midterm elections 2026 live updates: Democrats show strength in key Senate and House races in battle for control of Congress
Democrats Roy Cooper, Jon Ossoff, and Chris Pappas notch key Senate wins; Florida Republican Ashley Moody and Byron Donalds prevail in Senate and governor races, respectively
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.
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.
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.
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 Chris 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 wins re-drawn Florida House district
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.
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.
Aerial footage shows flooding in Shiprock, New Mexico, after the San Juan River overflowed following heavy rainfall. Photograph: Navajo Police Department/Reuters
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.
Election monitors in Minneapolis on 3 November 2026. Photograph: José Olivares/The Guardian
Polls close in 10 more states, including Arizona, Iowa and Wisconsin
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 Ciscomanifaces 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.
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:
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.
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.
Ashley Moody wins US Senate race in Florida, fending off progressive challenger
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.
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.
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.
