- Election Day is here. Voters across the country will decide control of the U.S. House and Senate. Democrats must flip four seats in the Senate and three seats in the House to wrestle control of the chambers from Republicans.
- Power in Congress would give Democrats a means of rebuffing President Donald Trump’s agenda during the final two years of his term. The battle for control is playing out mostly in states and districts Trump previously won by wide margins. All eyes are on Senate contests in Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Ohio and Texas. House battlegrounds are scattered across the country.
- Democrats have homed in on Trump’s poor approval rating, dissatisfaction with the war in Iran and concerns over affordability. Republicans have focused on social issues, while Trump has made himself the central character of the midterms.
Americans are broadly frustrated with Trump over the economy and other pocketbook issues, according to AP-NORC polling.
About one-quarter of U.S. adults approve of how Trump is handling the economy, down from about 4 in 10 in the months after he started his second term. The decline is particularly notable among Republicans, only about half of whom approve of Trump’s economic approach right now. That’s down from 78% in March 2025.
Trump has similarly low ratings on his handling of the cost of living. Only about 2 in 10 U.S. adults approve of him on this issue, while about 8 in 10 disapprove. That includes roughly 6 in 10 Republicans who disapprove of Trump on costs.
The poll showed about 8 in 10 voters say the economy or the cost of living are among their top issues for the election.
A handful of House Republicans face headwinds in seats Harris carried in ’24
By MIKE CATALINI
National politics reporter
Those congressmembers are trying to hold onto their seats in districts Democrat Kamala Harris carried in 2024.
There were just three such Republicans until redistricting complicated the picture: Don Bacon, who is retiring in Nebraska’s 2nd District, and Mike Lawler in New York’s 17th and Brian Fitzpatrick in Pennsylvania’s 1st District — both of whom are running in contested races this year.
After redistricting battles touched off by Trump, who sought to pick up more seats for his party, the number of Republicans in Democrat-leaning seats climbed.
Four races in California represented by Republicans became more favorable for Democrats. In one of them, Rep. Kevin Kiley said he was leaving the GOP and would serve as an independent.
And another seat currently represented by a Republican in Utah became Democratic leaning after legal wrangling following redistricting there.
Midterm elections coming to a close as voters pass judgement on Trump’s second term
By JILL COLVIN, MARY CLARE JALONICK and WILL WEISSERT
Voters struggling with high prices and angry over an unpopular war with Iran will decide whether to drastically shift power in Washington in midterm elections Tuesday that will serve as a referendum on President Donald Trump’s second term.
Democrats were cautiously optimistic about their prospects as they watched Republicans spend the campaign’s final stretch pumping tens of millions of dollars into states and districts that Trump won handily just two years ago. They are betting that discontent over Trump’s failure to deliver on his promise to tackle rising costs, and perceptions that he has been more focused on gilding the nation’s capital than their pain at the pump, will depress Republican turnout and drive their own voters to the polls.
Republicans held out hope that their overwhelming money advantage would help stem the tide, but they were bracing to lose control of the U.S. House and fighting to hang onto the U.S. Senate — an outcome that seemed unlikely earlier this year, given a map widely seen as favoring the party.
Still, the margins are tight in both chambers and just one or two seats could tip the balance. Democrats need a net gain of four seats in the Senate to win the majority, an uphill climb because many of the most competitive races are in historically red states. In the House, they only need three.
Millions of Americans will be voting in new congressional districts
Mid-decade redistricting shook up the House map ahead of the midterms, changing the boundaries of around one-third of congressional districts.
The AP analyzed each district’s 2024 presidential vote margin before and after redistricting and found that while many individual districts saw dramatic shifts in partisanship and demographic makeup, the national U.S. House map did not shift significantly toward either party.
Learn more about how redistricting shaped the 2026 midterm elections and see how your district boundaries changed in this map.
Midterm results will chart the course of Trump’s final two years
Trump is staring down twin threats from Capitol Hill for his last two years as president if his party loses at least one chamber in Tuesday’s midterms: investigations and impeachment.
Democratic lawmakers are eager to exercise oversight, with senior officials long telegraphing how they would go after an administration they believe has escaped accountability for policies, personal profits and abuses of power.
The majority party controls gavels on powerful House committees, which come with larger staff budgets and more expansive resources, including subpoena powers.
Less certain are prospects for impeaching Trump, although House Democratic leaders will almost certainly come under pressure from their left flank to do so. Rather than Trump, who was impeached twice during his first term but acquitted by the Senate both times, Democrats may instead try to impeach Cabinet officials.