Two US Senate races remain uncalled two days after the midterm elections, with Democrats ahead narrowly in both Alaska and Mississippi. In Alaska, Mary Peltola leads Republican Senator Dan Sullivan by 637 votes with about 78% counted, and ranked-choice tabulation will not start before 18 November. In Mississippi, Scott Colom leads Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith by a handful of votes with roughly 15,000 provisional ballots still to verify. Democrats have already flipped seven Senate seats and at least 32 House seats. Party leaders say their first priorities are affordability and ending the war in Iran.
President Donald Trump told reporters that the eight-month war with Iran hurt Republicans in the midterm elections, an admission that followed a similar post from Vice President JD Vance, and said he would make the same decision again. He rejected reports that he was considering replacing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and threatened to veto legislation passed by the new Democratic majority. Democrats won both chambers, with NBC News projecting at least 258 House seats and a Senate majority of at least 54. Senator Chuck Schumer said the party would focus on the cost of living, ending the war and holding the administration to account.
Voters across the United States cast ballots on Tuesday in midterm elections that will decide control of Congress for the final two years of Donald Trump's presidency. Republicans entered the day holding the Senate 53-47 and the House 219-214, while the president's approval rating stood 22 points underwater in the latest NBC News poll, with inflation and living costs the top voter concerns. Democrats needed a net gain of three House seats and four Senate seats. Campaign spending was projected to approach $12bn, the most expensive midterm cycle on record. Courts were still handling disputes over mail ballots in California and Alaska as polls closed.
Americans vote on Tuesday in midterm elections that will decide which party controls Congress for the last two years of Donald Trump's presidency. Trump spent the final weekend rallying in Florida and Iowa, telling supporters Republicans would win up and down the line, while Democrats closed on affordability and the cost of living. Polls suggest the House is likely to flip, and Democratic candidates lead in the most competitive Senate races. The campaign's final days brought a judge's dismissal of a Justice Department suit over Alaska's Senate race, a Supreme Court request on California ballots, and the hospitalisation of Senator Chris Murphy after a stroke.
A federal judge has dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit that sought to block certification of Alaska's Senate results if Republican Senator Dan Sullivan loses. Sullivan said he would honour the outcome of the vote regardless of the ruling. The decision lands a day before midterm elections in which all 435 House seats and 35 Senate seats are being contested. Democrat Mary Peltola, who is running for the Senate seat, delayed campaign events after sustaining minor injuries in a car crash. The case was one of several legal fights over election administration in the closing week of the campaign.
A federal judge in California late on Friday barred the Justice Department from threatening or coercing election officials who are processing midterm ballots. Judge Trina Thompson of the Northern District of California issued an eight-page temporary restraining order in response to a suit filed the same day by labour unions representing election workers. She wrote that senior Justice Department and Homeland Security officials had run a campaign to intimidate state and local staff. The ruling capped a week in which the administration lost three bids to set aside roughly 20,000 California ballots it says may have been cast by non-citizens. Election Day is Tuesday.
President Donald Trump cancelled weekend rallies in Iowa and Kansas, two states with unexpectedly competitive Senate races, and will instead hold tele-rallies reaching voters in nearly 20 states. The Republican National Committee called the switch a final 72-hour sprint before Tuesday's midterm elections. Democrats enter the last weekend with a national advantage and are favoured to win the House, while the Senate remains close. Trump said he did not feel he had to go to Kansas and predicted a strong Tuesday night. A Reuters/Ipsos poll put his approval at a record low of 31 percent.
The US midterm campaign enters its last weekend before the November 3 vote, with Democrats holding a nine-point lead in national polling and Republicans defending narrow majorities in Congress. An Ipsos analysis put Democrats at 53 percent and Republicans at 44 percent among voters. Fox News Power Rankings forecast that Democrats retake the House, while calling the Senate a toss-up at 48 Democratic seats, 47 Republican and five undecided. Early in-person voting in Georgia closes on Friday. President Donald Trump campaigned in Ohio, South Carolina and Texas this week, while former president Barack Obama rallied in Georgia, attacking the Iran war, fuel prices, tariffs and immigration enforcement.
President Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama spent the final week of the US midterm campaign in the same battlegrounds, offering voters competing accounts of the economy. Trump held two rallies in Texas on Tuesday, his fourth trip there since Labor Day, campaigning for Senate candidate Ken Paxton. About 210 million registered voters will decide the full House and a third of the Senate on November 3. Polling averages put Trump's approval in the high 30s, and cost of living is the top voter concern. Democrats are favoured to take the House while the Senate remains close, with Michigan, Texas and Alaska the tightest races.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to restore an immigration rule that allowed judges to suspend some deportation cases. In an unsigned order with no noted dissents, the justices refused a request from Baltimore, New Haven, Columbus and a legal services group to pause an agreement between Texas and the Justice Department. The rule, adopted in 2024, permitted administrative closure so crime victims or witnesses could pursue relief. Texas sued in June, the Justice Department joined, and a single-judge courthouse in Wichita Falls granted a final judgment the same day. The court acted four days after briefing closed, and judges are now expected to decide cases rather than shelve them.