Last updated 6:08 PM ET, Tuesday, November 3, 2026. This page is updated every 30 minutes through election night, and the race map, seat counts and live updates below all change with each refresh.
Polls are open across the country in the 2026 midterm elections, and control of both chambers of Congress is on the ballot. Republicans came into Election Day with a 218 to 214 House majority and a 53 to 47 Senate majority; Democrats need a net gain of three House seats and four Senate seats to take both, because Vice President JD Vance breaks a 50 to 50 Senate tie. Governors are on the ballot in 36 states.
The interactive map below shows every Senate and governor race, colored by its pre-election rating until votes come in and by the result once a race is called. Click or tap any state for the candidates, the vote share and the count. The first polls close at 6 PM Eastern in parts of Indiana and Kentucky, and statewide calls can start at 7 PM.
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Senate and governor results map
Senate
House
Governors
Click or tap a state to see the race.
How to read the map: a deep blue or red square is a race a major news organization has called, marked with a check. A pale square with a dot is a race being counted, shaded toward whoever leads. Every other square shows the race’s final pre-election rating from the Cook Political Report. Grey states have no race for that office this year. Seat counts above add the seats not on the ballot.
Live updates
The first votes are in. Polls have closed in the eastern halves of Indiana and Kentucky, and with 0.3% of Kentucky’s expected vote counted, Republican Andy Barr leads Democrat Charles Booker 72.8% to 25.4% for the open Senate seat, according to AP data. That is a sliver of the count in a race rated Solid R, so read nothing into it. The early House tests to watch this hour are Indiana’s 5th, where Rep. Victoria Spartz is defending suburban Hamilton County, and Kentucky’s open 6th around Lexington. The next statewide closings come at 7 PM in Georgia, Virginia, South Carolina, Vermont, Indiana and Kentucky.
Still no votes counted; the first polls close at 6 PM. In Alaska, Sen. Dan Sullivan used his Election Day stop to call the race the “biggest election cheating scandal” in state history, blaming Mary Peltola for a second Dan Sullivan on the ballot. Peltola denies any role. A federal judge on Sunday dismissed the administration’s suit to block certification if Sullivan loses; the Justice Department is appealing. That is a losing candidate’s script written before a single ballot is counted, and Alaska’s ranked-choice count will take days regardless. Separately, 90% of voters in the NBC exit poll called corruption a major factor in their vote.
No votes have been counted yet. The first polls close at 6 PM Eastern in the eastern parts of Indiana and Kentucky, and the first statewide calls are possible at 7 PM, when Georgia, Virginia, South Carolina, Vermont, Indiana and Kentucky close. Until results arrive, the map shows each race’s final pre-election rating.
Early exit polls point to a referendum on the president. The preliminary NBC News Exit Poll puts Trump’s approval among voters at 38% and disapproval at 62%, lower than any sitting president on a midterm Election Day since 2008. Asked why they voted, 43% said one reason was to oppose Trump and 16% said to support him. On the economy, 44% said they are worse off than two years ago and 18% better off, and 65% said his tariffs are hurting the national economy. Exit polls are preliminary and get reweighted as real votes come in.
Voting has been mostly smooth, with local fixes rather than systemic failures. A judge kept one Gwinnett County, Georgia, polling place open until 7:07 PM after a school safety drill paused voting for seven minutes. Three precincts in Chester County, Pennsylvania, stay open until 8:30 PM after a slow start. Westchester County, New York, has a tabulator programming error, and its paper ballots will be counted later tonight. Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate said the fewer than 30 Justice Department monitors in Polk and Linn counties are only observing. More than 55 million Americans voted early.
What to watch tonight
The first real signal comes before 8 PM Eastern. NPR’s election-night guide points to three early House tests: Indiana’s 5th and Kentucky’s 6th districts, then Florida’s 22nd and 27th. If Democrats are running close in seats Trump carried comfortably, the House is probably gone for Republicans before the West Coast votes.
The Senate runs through the middle of the map. Cook’s final ratings list six toss-ups, all seats Republicans hold: Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Ohio and Texas. North Carolina is rated a likely Democratic pickup, Michigan moved to Lean Democratic on Monday, and Nebraska is a two-way fight between Republican Pete Ricketts and independent Dan Osborn. The final New York Times/Siena polls had Democrats ahead in all seven races that could decide control, and Nate Silver’s model gave Democrats a 76% chance of a Senate majority.
Turnout is the hidden variable. Democrats banked a lead in early and mail voting, and Republicans vote heavily in person on Election Day, so early returns in many states will lean blue and then tighten as same-day ballots are counted. In other states the order runs the other way. Neither swing is news on its own.
A slow count is not a stolen count
We will say this once, plainly, before the numbers start moving: counting every legal ballot takes time, and a race that is uncalled at midnight is a system working as designed. California counts for weeks. Alaska and Maine run ranked-choice tabulations after election night. Pennsylvania and Wisconsin cannot start processing mail ballots until Election Day morning, so their counts run late by law.
That matters more this year than most. The Justice Department sent a record 1,000 poll monitors into the states, lost in court trying to set aside California ballots, and the president has said he ordered a lawsuit to hold up Alaska’s Senate result if his candidate loses. Our view: the count is the count. This page will call nothing itself, will report a race only when the Associated Press or a major network projects it, and will label every lead as a lead.
Key Senate races
| State | Candidates | Pre-election rating | Status | Vote share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska | Mary Peltola vs. Dan Sullivan | Toss-up | Polls close 1:00 AM ET | |
| Florida (special) | Angie Nixon vs. Ashley Moody | Likely R | Polls close 8:00 PM ET | |
| Georgia | Jon Ossoff vs. Mike Collins | Likely D | Polls close 7:00 PM ET | |
| Iowa | Josh Turek vs. Ashley Hinson | Toss-up | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| Kansas | Adam Hamilton vs. Roger Marshall vs. David Graham (Libertarian) | Toss-up | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| Maine | Troy Jackson vs. Susan Collins | Toss-up | Polls close 8:00 PM ET | |
| Michigan | Abdul El-Sayed vs. Mike Rogers | Lean D | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| Minnesota | Peggy Flanagan vs. Michele Tafoya | Lean D | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| Mississippi | Scott Colom vs. Cindy Hyde-Smith vs. Ty Pinkins (I) | Likely R | Polls close 8:00 PM ET | |
| Nebraska | Pete Ricketts vs. Dan Osborn (I) | Lean R | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| New Hampshire | Chris Pappas vs. John E. Sununu | Lean D | Polls close 8:00 PM ET | |
| North Carolina | Roy Cooper vs. Michael Whatley | Likely D | Polls close 7:30 PM ET | |
| Ohio (special) | Sherrod Brown vs. Jon Husted | Toss-up | Polls close 7:30 PM ET | |
| South Carolina | Annie Andrews vs. Darline Graham | Lean R | Polls close 7:00 PM ET | |
| Texas | James Talarico vs. Ken Paxton vs. Ted Brown (Libertarian) | Toss-up | Polls close 9:00 PM ET |
Key governor races
| State | Candidates | Pre-election rating | Status | Vote share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alaska | Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins vs. Bernadette Wilson vs. Dave Bronson (R), Treg Taylor (R) | Lean D | Polls close 1:00 AM ET | |
| Arizona | Katie Hobbs vs. Andy Biggs | Likely D | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| Florida | David Jolly vs. Byron Donalds | Lean R | Polls close 8:00 PM ET | |
| Georgia | Keisha Lance Bottoms vs. Rick Jackson | Toss-up | Polls close 7:00 PM ET | |
| Iowa | Rob Sand vs. Zach Lahn | Lean D | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| Kansas | Cindy Holscher vs. Ty Masterson | Toss-up | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| Michigan | Jocelyn Benson vs. John James | Lean D | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| Nebraska | Lynne Walz vs. Jim Pillen | Lean R | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| Nevada | Aaron Ford vs. Joe Lombardo | Toss-up | Polls close 10:00 PM ET | |
| New Hampshire | Cinde Warmington vs. Kelly Ayotte | Likely R | Polls close 8:00 PM ET | |
| Ohio | Amy Acton vs. Vivek Ramaswamy | Lean D | Polls close 7:30 PM ET | |
| Oklahoma | Cyndi Munson vs. Mike Mazzei | Likely R | Polls close 8:00 PM ET | |
| Oregon | Tina Kotek vs. Christine Drazan | Lean D | Polls close 11:00 PM ET | |
| Texas | Gina Hinojosa vs. Greg Abbott | Lean R | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| Vermont | Amanda Janoo vs. Phil Scott | Likely R | Polls close 7:00 PM ET | |
| Wisconsin | David Crowley vs. Tom Tiffany | Lean D | Polls close 9:00 PM ET |
All 35 Senate races
| State | Candidates | Pre-election rating | Status | Vote share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Everett Wess vs. Barry Moore | Solid R | Polls close 8:00 PM ET | |
| Alaska | Mary Peltola vs. Dan Sullivan | Toss-up | Polls close 1:00 AM ET | |
| Arkansas | Hallie Shoffner vs. Tom Cotton | Solid R | Polls close 8:30 PM ET | |
| Colorado | John Hickenlooper vs. Mark Baisley | Solid D | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| Delaware | Chris Coons vs. Michael Katz | Solid D | Polls close 8:00 PM ET | |
| Florida (special) | Angie Nixon vs. Ashley Moody | Likely R | Polls close 8:00 PM ET | |
| Georgia | Jon Ossoff vs. Mike Collins | Likely D | Polls close 7:00 PM ET | |
| Idaho | Jim Risch vs. Todd Achilles (I) | Solid R | Polls close 11:00 PM ET | |
| Illinois | Juliana Stratton vs. Don Tracy | Solid D | Polls close 8:00 PM ET | |
| Iowa | Josh Turek vs. Ashley Hinson | Toss-up | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| Kansas | Adam Hamilton vs. Roger Marshall vs. David Graham (Libertarian) | Toss-up | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| Kentucky | Charles Booker vs. Andy Barr | Solid R | Counting, 0.3% in | D 25.4%, R 72.8% |
| Louisiana | Jamie Davis vs. Julia Letlow | Solid R | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| Maine | Troy Jackson vs. Susan Collins | Toss-up | Polls close 8:00 PM ET | |
| Massachusetts | Ed Markey vs. John Deaton vs. Shiva Ayyadurai (I) | Solid D | Polls close 8:00 PM ET | |
| Michigan | Abdul El-Sayed vs. Mike Rogers | Lean D | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| Minnesota | Peggy Flanagan vs. Michele Tafoya | Lean D | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| Mississippi | Scott Colom vs. Cindy Hyde-Smith vs. Ty Pinkins (I) | Likely R | Polls close 8:00 PM ET | |
| Montana | Alani Bankhead vs. Kurt Alme vs. Seth Bodnar (I) | Solid R | Polls close 10:00 PM ET | |
| Nebraska | Pete Ricketts vs. Dan Osborn (I) | Lean R | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| New Hampshire | Chris Pappas vs. John E. Sununu | Lean D | Polls close 8:00 PM ET | |
| New Jersey | Cory Booker vs. Justin Murphy | Solid D | Polls close 8:00 PM ET | |
| New Mexico | Ben Ray Luján vs. Larry Marker | Solid D | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| North Carolina | Roy Cooper vs. Michael Whatley | Likely D | Polls close 7:30 PM ET | |
| Ohio (special) | Sherrod Brown vs. Jon Husted | Toss-up | Polls close 7:30 PM ET | |
| Oklahoma | N'Kiyla Jasmine Thomas vs. Kevin Hern | Solid R | Polls close 8:00 PM ET | |
| Oregon | Jeff Merkley vs. David Brock Smith | Solid D | Polls close 11:00 PM ET | |
| Rhode Island | Jack Reed vs. Raymond McKay | Solid D | Polls close 8:00 PM ET | |
| South Carolina | Annie Andrews vs. Darline Graham | Lean R | Polls close 7:00 PM ET | |
| South Dakota | Mike Rounds vs. Brian Bengs (I) | Solid R | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| Tennessee | Marquita Bradshaw vs. Bill Hagerty | Solid R | Polls close 8:00 PM ET | |
| Texas | James Talarico vs. Ken Paxton vs. Ted Brown (Libertarian) | Toss-up | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| Virginia | Mark Warner vs. Bert Mizusawa | Solid D | Polls close 7:00 PM ET | |
| West Virginia | Rachel Fetty Anderson vs. Shelley Moore Capito | Solid R | Polls close 7:30 PM ET | |
| Wyoming | James W. Byrd vs. Harriet Hageman | Solid R | Polls close 9:00 PM ET |
All 36 governor races
| State | Candidates | Pre-election rating | Status | Vote share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Doug Jones vs. Tommy Tuberville | Solid R | Polls close 8:00 PM ET | |
| Alaska | Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins vs. Bernadette Wilson vs. Dave Bronson (R), Treg Taylor (R) | Lean D | Polls close 1:00 AM ET | |
| Arizona | Katie Hobbs vs. Andy Biggs | Likely D | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| Arkansas | Fredrick Love vs. Sarah Huckabee Sanders | Solid R | Polls close 8:30 PM ET | |
| California | Xavier Becerra vs. Steve Hilton | Solid D | Polls close 11:00 PM ET | |
| Colorado | Phil Weiser vs. Victor Marx | Solid D | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| Connecticut | Ned Lamont vs. Ryan Fazio | Solid D | Polls close 8:00 PM ET | |
| Florida | David Jolly vs. Byron Donalds | Lean R | Polls close 8:00 PM ET | |
| Georgia | Keisha Lance Bottoms vs. Rick Jackson | Toss-up | Polls close 7:00 PM ET | |
| Hawaii | Josh Green vs. Gary Cordery | Solid D | Polls close 12:00 AM ET | |
| Idaho | Terri Pickens vs. Brad Little | Solid R | Polls close 11:00 PM ET | |
| Illinois | JB Pritzker vs. Darren Bailey | Solid D | Polls close 8:00 PM ET | |
| Iowa | Rob Sand vs. Zach Lahn | Lean D | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| Kansas | Cindy Holscher vs. Ty Masterson | Toss-up | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| Maine | Hannah Pingree vs. Robert B. Charles vs. Rick Bennett (I) | Solid D | Polls close 8:00 PM ET | |
| Maryland | Wes Moore vs. Dan Cox | Solid D | Polls close 8:00 PM ET | |
| Massachusetts | Maura Healey vs. Mike Minogue | Solid D | Polls close 8:00 PM ET | |
| Michigan | Jocelyn Benson vs. John James | Lean D | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| Minnesota | Amy Klobuchar vs. Lisa Demuth | Solid D | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| Nebraska | Lynne Walz vs. Jim Pillen | Lean R | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| Nevada | Aaron Ford vs. Joe Lombardo | Toss-up | Polls close 10:00 PM ET | |
| New Hampshire | Cinde Warmington vs. Kelly Ayotte | Likely R | Polls close 8:00 PM ET | |
| New Mexico | Deb Haaland vs. Gregg Hull | Solid D | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| New York | Kathy Hochul vs. Bruce Blakeman | Solid D | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| Ohio | Amy Acton vs. Vivek Ramaswamy | Lean D | Polls close 7:30 PM ET | |
| Oklahoma | Cyndi Munson vs. Mike Mazzei | Likely R | Polls close 8:00 PM ET | |
| Oregon | Tina Kotek vs. Christine Drazan | Lean D | Polls close 11:00 PM ET | |
| Pennsylvania | Josh Shapiro vs. Stacy Garrity | Solid D | Polls close 8:00 PM ET | |
| Rhode Island | Helena Foulkes vs. Aaron Guckian vs. Ken Block (I) | Solid D | Polls close 8:00 PM ET | |
| South Carolina | Jermaine Johnson vs. Alan Wilson | Solid R | Polls close 7:00 PM ET | |
| South Dakota | Dan Ahlers vs. Larry Rhoden | Solid R | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| Tennessee | Jerri Green vs. Marsha Blackburn | Solid R | Polls close 8:00 PM ET | |
| Texas | Gina Hinojosa vs. Greg Abbott | Lean R | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| Vermont | Amanda Janoo vs. Phil Scott | Likely R | Polls close 7:00 PM ET | |
| Wisconsin | David Crowley vs. Tom Tiffany | Lean D | Polls close 9:00 PM ET | |
| Wyoming | Kenneth Casner vs. Eric Barlow | Solid R | Polls close 9:00 PM ET |
Poll closing times (Eastern)
- 7:00 PM: Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia
- 7:30 PM: North Carolina, Ohio, West Virginia
- 8:00 PM: Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee
- 8:30 PM: Arkansas
- 9:00 PM: Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin, Wyoming
- 10:00 PM: Montana, Nevada, Utah
- 11:00 PM: California, Idaho, Oregon, Washington
- 12:00 AM: Hawaii
- 1:00 AM: Alaska
Times are the latest statewide close, so a state split across two time zones is listed at its later hour. Indiana and Kentucky close at 6 PM Eastern in their eastern counties. Anyone in line when polls close can still vote.
Election night FAQ
When will we know who won the 2026 midterms?
Some answers come tonight and some take days. Races in states that count fast, such as Florida, Indiana and Georgia, are often called within hours of polls closing. Close Senate races, anything in California, Nevada or Arizona, and ranked-choice contests in Alaska and Maine can take days or longer. Control of the House may not be clear until enough West Coast seats are counted. This page marks a race as called only after the Associated Press or a major network projects it.
What time do polls close tonight?
The first polls close at 6 PM Eastern in the eastern parts of Indiana and Kentucky, and statewide closings run from 7 PM Eastern (Georgia, Virginia, South Carolina, Vermont, Indiana and Kentucky) to 1 AM Eastern in Alaska. Most of the country closes at 8 PM or 9 PM Eastern. The full list by hour is in the poll closing table above. If you are in line when your polling place closes, stay in line: you are still entitled to vote.
How many seats do Democrats need to win the Senate?
Democrats need a net gain of four seats to reach 51 and take the Senate. Republicans entered Election Day with 53 seats, so they can lose three and keep control at 50 to 50, because Vice President JD Vance casts the tie-breaking vote. The seat bar above adds the senators who were not on the ballot this year to every race that has been called, so it shows the real chamber count as the night goes on.
How many seats do Democrats need to win the House?
Democrats need a net gain of three seats. Republicans held the House 218 to 214 going into Election Day, with one independent and two vacancies, and a majority takes 218 of the 435 seats. All 435 seats are on the ballot. House control often comes down to a handful of close districts in California and other states that count mail ballots for days after the election, so a national call can arrive late.
Where can I watch election results live for free?
You can watch MS NOW’s election night coverage free in the player on this page, on a phone, tablet, laptop or smart TV browser, with no cable login or signup. Our politics live hub also carries CNN, Fox News and C-SPAN, and the C-SPAN stream shows results with less commentary. The interactive map on this page updates every 30 minutes, so you can keep the stream running and check the map between segments.
Why are some races still uncalled after election night?
A race stays uncalled when the remaining ballots could still change the winner. Mail ballots that arrive by a state’s deadline, provisional ballots and overseas military ballots are counted after Election Day in many states, and some states such as Pennsylvania and Wisconsin cannot begin processing mail ballots until Election Day morning. Ranked-choice tabulation in Alaska and Maine adds another step. A slow count is normal and does not indicate fraud.
How do I use the interactive election map?
Choose the Senate map or the Governor map with the buttons above it, then click, tap or tab to any state to open its race card. The card shows the candidates, the pre-election rating, the poll closing time and, once votes are in, the vote share and how much of the expected vote has been counted. Deep colors with a check mark are called races, pale colors with a dot are races being counted, and grey states have no race for that office.
How often is this page updated?
Every 30 minutes from the afternoon of Election Day through the night and into Wednesday, with the time of the latest refresh shown at the top of the page. Each update refreshes the race map, the seat counts and the race tables, and adds a timestamped entry to the live updates log. Race calls are taken from the Associated Press and major networks; we do not project winners ourselves.
Sources: race ratings from the Cook Political Report (Senate, November 2; governors, October 29). Poll closing times from 270toWin. Race calls from the Associated Press and network decision desks as they are made. House and Senate composition entering Election Day from the Clerk of the House and the Senate.