US midterm elections: Americans vote with control of Congress at stake

[DETROIT] Polls closed in seven states on Tuesday (Nov 3) as millions of Americans cast ballots to determine whether to strip control of Congress from President Donald Trump’s Republicans, with Democrats favoured to capture the House and both parties locked in an intense state-by-state battle for the Senate.

The fate of each chamber may not be known for some time, as election workers tally ballots and polls in dozens of states remain open later into the night.

History is against Republicans: The sitting president’s party has lost ground in Congress in all but two midterms since World War Two.

Trump’s approval rating is hovering near his career lows, with voters frustrated by war with Iran, higher fuel prices and wider affordability concerns.

According to exit polls conducted by SSRS on behalf of a consortium of US media outlets including major television networks and the Associated Press, half of voters said they saw the 2026 midterm elections as an opportunity to rebuke the president, and three-quarters said they are “angry” or “dissatisfied” with the way the country is headed.

In addition, 70 per cent of voters surveyed said they want Congress to provide more checks and balances on the president.

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Midterm elections are typically seen as a referendum on the president, and that is particularly true for Trump, who dominates attention like no other modern politician. Trump himself has told his supporters to “pretend I’m on the ballot”, a message Democratic leaders have happily echoed.

Polling stations began to close in Indiana and Kentucky at 6 pm ET (2300 GMT), with Georgia, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia and most of Florida following suit at 7 pm.

In televised remarks on Tuesday that appeared aimed at swaying voters unhappy with US support for Israel, Trump said that he intended to stop US$3.8 billion in promised annual funding to Israel after the end of this year, but it was unclear how he would do so, given a 2020 law mandating the funding levels.

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The close US-Israel alliance has been a particular focus in Michigan, where progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, who would become the first Muslim US senator if elected, has faced millions of dollars in opposition spending from Israel-linked groups over his criticisms of the US ally.

Led by Trump, Republicans have portrayed El-Sayed, 42, and other Democratic candidates as radical, un-American and even communist, labels that Democrats dismiss as typical Trump hyperbole.

The president has sought to energise his base with more than two dozen campaign rallies since the start of October, most in states he easily won in 2024, underscoring Republicans’ defensive posture.

Opinion polls show voters are most concerned about affordability and disapprove of Trump’s handling of the issue. His tariffs on imports, many of which the courts threw out, and his decision to attack Iran in February raised prices for consumers.

Trump deploys election monitors

Legal observers and Democrats have warned that Trump, who has long falsely claimed that US elections are rigged, may attempt to challenge Tuesday’s results if Republicans lose.

The US Justice Department said it had deployed 1,000 election monitors and observers to all 50 states in what it called the largest Election Day monitoring effort in history.

Democrats criticised the plan as potential voter intimidation. In roughly two-thirds of the jurisdictions the department listed, voters supported Democrat Kamala Harris over Trump in the 2024 presidential election, a Reuters analysis found.

All 435 seats in the US House of Representatives are up for election, along with 35 of the Senate’s 100 seats, though most contests are not considered competitive. Democrats must flip at least three House seats and four Senate seats to win a majority in each chamber.

There are 47 US House races widely seen as competitive, according to a Reuters analysis of the leading election forecasters. If the other contests all proceed as predicted, Democrats would need to win only 13 of those races to secure a majority.

But Democrats have little margin for error in the Senate. The party must defend all of its current seats while winning at least two states that voted for Trump by a double-digit margin two years ago, such as Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas.

Opinion polls show Democrats either narrowly leading or within striking distance in all of those states.

Election intrigue in Alaska

A New York Times report upended the Alaska Senate race when it reported that the campaign of Democratic candidate Mary Peltola, 53, helped recruit a third candidate to run as an independent who shares the first and last name of her Republican opponent, Dan Sullivan, 61.

Peltola has denied involvement. Trump’s Justice Department has launched a criminal probe into the allegations and filed a lawsuit to block certification of the election results, though a judge dismissed the latter effort.

Supporters of the incumbent Sullivan said they were not confused by the presence of two Dan Sullivans on the ballot.

“They make it pretty obvious: It says ‘incumbent’ after his name,” said Jake Wesley, 27, who grew up in Anchorage and is now stationed there in the US Air Force. In recent days, Trump has complained repeatedly that voters may not know the meaning of the word. REUTERS