The Latest: Democrat Roy Cooper flips key Senate seat in North Carolina
Voters across the country are deciding control of the U.S. House and Senate in the 2026 midterm elections. Democrats must flip four seats in the Senate and three seats in the House to wrest control of the chambers from Republicans. Polls have closed in 11 states, and results are beginning to roll into AP’s election system. Here’s when we can expect more results throughout the night.
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.
Voters say the economy and the state of democracy are the top issues facing the country, with high costs and government corruption weighing heavily on many Americans’ minds, according to the AP Voter Poll. The poll points to a midterm electorate that is deeply unhappy with the country’s direction and pessimistic about the future.
Here's the latest:
Supporters erupted into cheers, hugs and chants when they learned the former governor had won election to the U.S. Senate representing North Carolina.
A crowd gathered in a downtown Raleigh hotel ballroom Tuesday night, where music was thumping and CNN played on a big screen. When the news of Cooper’s victory appeared, the crowd exploded and began chanting, “Cooper! Cooper!”
Anderson Clayton, who leads North Carolina’s Democratic Party, said Cooper’s decades in elected office made him an especially strong candidate.
“He’s woven into the fabric of North Carolina,” she said.
By electing Cooper, North Carolina voters chose “competence over chaos,” Democratic Gov. Josh Stein said in a speech shortly after the race was called.
Cooper defeated Republican Michael Whatley.
The Republican says he had a great message and vision but came up short in his New Hampshire Senate race against Democrat Chris Pappas.
“This has been an incredible campaign, but it is not our night. I called Chris to congratulate him a few minutes ago. He ran a good race. More importantly, we ran a good race,” John E. Sununu told supporters.
Pappas, who is in his fourth term in the U.S. House, will replace retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a three-term Democrat who ousted Sununu in 2008.
Pappas says his U.S. Senate victory in New Hampshire is proof that Washington needs a “new generation at the table to fix things.”
“This has been a long campaign against the backdrop of chaos, corruption and costs coming out of Washington,” Pappas told supporters in Manchester. “New Hampshire showed up today, you spoke up today, you said in a resounding voice that New Hampshire needs a course correction. Washington needs a new generation at the table to fix things.”
Democrat Chris Pappas in New Hampshire has blocked an opportunity for Republicans to gain a seat as they try to hold onto their Senate majority.
Pappas, a four-term House member, had called his Republican opponent John Sununu, a former U.S. senator, “the wrong Sununu” in a reference to the popular former Republican Gov. Chris Sununu. Republicans thought the race could work as a check against potential Democratic gains.
With New Hampshire and Georgia staying in Democratic hands, Republicans now look to Michigan for a pickup, where Democrat Abdul El-Sayed is competing with Republican Mike Rogers.
Pappas is also the first openly gay man elected to the U.S. Senate.
Illinois Democrat Stratton’s election marks the first time in history three Black women will be in office at the same time in the U.S. Senate. She’ll join two other Black Democratic women — Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and Sen. Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, who were not up this election cycle.
Ossoff’s supporters who’d gathered Tuesday night at a downtown Atlanta hotel erupted in cheers, hugged and kissed when television screens around the room showed Ossoff had won.
Ossoff is expected to address the crowd later in the evening.
Many of the supporters said Ossoff represented an important generational shift for their party.
“He’s bringing in a lot of young voters and that is what we need right now to get the young voters on the right way of life, showing them which way to go,” said Jennifer Gray, 63, a retired IRS employee. “Ossoff, he talks to them. And because he’s younger, they’re listening to him.”
Voters are in the mood for change, according to The AP Voter Poll, which found that roughly three-quarters of voters say they feel “angry” or “dissatisfied” with the way things are going in the country today. Young voters in particular appear to have shifted dramatically away from the GOP after Trump made inroads with this group in 2024.
The AP Voter Poll indicates a substantial shift in young people moving away from Republicans. Voters under 30 were about evenly split between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris two years ago. But in this election, about 7 in 10 voters in that same age group nationally say they supported the Democratic House candidate in their area.
Young voters only make up about 10% of the electorate, according to the poll, which limits the impact of the shift. But it nonetheless makes it harder for the GOP to win.
Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff’s reelection blocks a targeted effort by Republicans to pick up a Senate seat.
The Democrat’s victory over Republican Mike Collins is a notable turnabout from last year, when Republicans were optimistic about the state, given that Trump carried it narrowly in the 2024 presidential race.
Instead, Ossoff dominated in fundraising throughout the campaign. Republican groups supporting Collins pulled back their spending in mid-October, signaling the race was likely lost.
Democrats’ hope of gaining the majority is premised on holding seats in Georgia, Michigan and New Hampshire.
The 8 p.m. hour is primetime on election night, with polls fully or partially closing in almost half the states, including key states like Florida, Maine, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania. Polls close at 8:30 p.m. in Arkansas.
Florida tends to have one of the faster counts in this time slot, since results in most of the state start releasing in the 7 p.m. hour. In 2024, the Florida vote count was 90% complete by 8:07 p.m.
The 2024 vote counts in New Hampshire and Pennsylvania reached the halfway mark at 10:12 p.m. They reached 90% at 12:48 a.m. in Pennsylvania and 1:42 a.m. in New Hampshire. Maine didn’t reach the halfway mark in 2024 until 12:54 a.m.
Polls in almost all of Michigan and Texas close at 8 p.m., including in the states’ most competitive congressional districts, but no statewide winners will be declared until the final polls have closed at 9 p.m.
Some key contests to watch in this hour are U.S. Senate races in Florida, Maine and New Hampshire; gubernatorial races in Florida and Pennsylvania; and U.S. House races in Alabama, Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Texas.
LaTosha Brown, co-founder of the voting rights group Black Voters Matter, said turnout in some states seemed to rival that of 2008, when Democrat Barack Obama was running for president for the first time.
She and others said turnout appeared particularly high in Michigan and Mississippi.
Brown, speaking during a media briefing organized by the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, said her organization had more than 2,000 poll observers in several states. They reported no “widescale issues” for voters, she said.
Melanie Campbell, president and CEO of the coalition, said the group has extended its monitoring efforts beyond Election Day — through vote counting, certifications and even winners’ inaugurations.
“As those of us who believe that this democracy is for all people, we have to also stand in the gap,” she said.
Most voters say Trump’s policies made the health and well-being of people in the U.S. worse.
About 2 in 10 say Trump’s policies have improved health and well-being, while 2 in 10 don’t see an impact.
Relatively few voters, about 1 in 10, say health care is the top issue facing the country.
But about half of voters say the president’s policies have made access to health care and the cost of health care worse.
Many Democratic candidates made health care a major issue in their campaigns. In Senate-battleground Michigan, Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed centered his campaign on universal health care.
About 6 in 10 voters say they want the federal government to have a larger role in getting Americans health care.
Trump has repeatedly complimented Ohio Sen. Jon Husted for his record in Washington and his physical appearance.
But voters in the Senate race have worries about the former college football star’s willingness to stand up to the president.
About 6 in 10 say Husted is “too supportive” of Trump.
Meanwhile, Ohio voters are split over whether Democrat Sherrod Brown, a former senator, is “too extreme.”
After the July death of Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, his sister, Darline Graham, was appointed to fill the open seat, and she then chose to stand for election.
But voters do not necessarily see Darline Graham as having the same political skills as her brother.
About 6 in 10 Senate voters in South Carolina say Darline Graham does not have the right experience to serve as a senator, though most Republican voters believe she does.
Voters are divided on whether her Democratic opponent, pediatrician Annie Andrews, is “too extreme” in her views.
Carmen Feliciano, vice president for policy and advocacy at the Latino civil rights group UnidosUS, criticized U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for a social media post that said, in part: “If you vote illegally, we will find you.”
The agency posted the message on Election Day.
“This is part of a strategy we have been seeing for the last few years — intimidation and trying to block people from going out to the polls,” Feliciano said.
She noted that Latino turnout was expected to be high for the midterm elections.
Asked why the message went out, the Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, issued a statement that read in part: “ONLY Americans should elect American leaders.”
Throughout the day, ICE announced arrests or charges against people suspected of voting as noncitizens in previous elections.
Only about 4 in 10 Senate voters in Georgia say Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff has views that are “too extreme.”
About half, by contrast, say the views of his opponent, Republican Rep. Mike Collins, are “too extreme.”
Ossoff has accused Collins of employing staffers who are white nationalists. Trump and other Republicans have suggested that Ossoff’s perspectives on immigration and the economy are outside the American mainstream.
A handful of key U.S. House races in Florida could offer early signs of how Democrats are performing tonight.
Democratic Reps. Darren Soto and Kathy Castor are defending their seats in the redrawn 9th and 14th Districts. Both of the districts would have favored Trump by double-digit margins in the 2024 presidential election.
The 22nd District is an open seat after Democratic Rep. Lois Frankel opted to run in the 23rd District when her district was redrawn.
All polls close at 7 p.m. in six states, including Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia, which tend to complete almost all of their vote counting on election night.
In the 2024 general election, the vote count in all three states reached the halfway mark in the 8 p.m. hour. The counts were 90% complete at 10:21 p.m. in Georgia, 11:14 p.m. in South Carolina and 12:07 a.m. in Virginia. In Georgia’s competitive presidential contest, The Associated Press declared Trump the winner at 12:58 a.m.
Most Florida polls will also close at 7 p.m., including in every competitive congressional district, but no statewide winners will be declared until polls in the Central Time Zone close at 8 p.m.
Polls in North Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia close at 7:30 p.m. All three states also count votes relatively quickly, reaching the halfway point at around 9 p.m. in 2024 and about 90% in the 11 p.m. hour. The AP declared a winner in Ohio’s competitive 2024 U.S. Senate race at 11:27 p.m.
Some key contests to watch in this hour are U.S. Senate races in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Ohio; gubernatorial races in Georgia and Ohio; and U.S. House races in Florida, Indiana, South Carolina, Virginia, Ohio and North Carolina.
Most voters say they’re not fans of the Trump administration’s aggressive crackdowns on immigration.
About 6 in 10 “somewhat” or “strongly” disapprove of how U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is handling its responsibilities.
Roughly 7 in 10 voters say immigration enforcement was a “crucial” or “major” factor in their vote for Congress. Although under half, about 4 in 10, say it was “crucial.”
Trump made closing the U.S.-Mexico border to illegal border crossings a priority, but his deployment of federal officers to arrest and deport immigrants stirred protests that led to the deaths of two U.S. citizens in Minnesota.
About 6 in 10 voters say the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement actions have gone too far, while about 2 in 10 say they haven’t gone far enough. About 2 in 10 say his policies are about right.
Hundreds of voters in Rock Point, Arizona, on the Navajo Nation were unable to reach the polls Tuesday as flooding had closed a major bridge and washed out dirt roads, a tribal official said.
On a typical Election Day, the chapter house parking lot would be buzzing with voters, candidates and pop-up food stalls.
“Unfortunately, today that parking lot is underwater,” said Valinda Shirley, vice president of the Rock Point Chapter, the local seat of tribal government.
Officials moved the polling place across the street to an administration building, but many residents remained stranded.
“I have people that are still texting me asking how I can get them out so they can vote,” Shirley said Tuesday afternoon.
The flooding is keeping those residents from casting ballots in both the U.S. midterms and races for Navajo Nation president and council delegates.
Jeffries, who’s in line to make history as the first Black speaker of the House if Democrats seize control and elect him to the job, said House Democrats don’t work for any president.
“We work for all of you, the American people, and we’re committed to delivering an America that’s the best version of herself,” he said.
He told the volunteers that Democrats are “committed to ending this national nightmare, fighting to make this country affordable” and “continuing our country’s long, necessary and majestic march toward a more perfect union.”
He urged them on: “Let’s go win this thing.”
More than half of voters strongly or somewhat favor the free market principles of capitalism.
Only about 3 in 10 feel similarly positive about socialism, in which the government plays a greater role in economic activity.
Trump and other Republicans campaigned on the idea that many Democratic candidates with their plans for universal healthcare were socialist. Democrats countered that the Trump administration had taken ownership stakes in dozens of private companies.
Voters are unhappy with Trump’s war with Iran.
About 6 in 10 voters say the U.S. made the “wrong decision” in taking military action against Iran. The cost of the unpopular war has risen to more than $47.1 billion, according to a recent estimate from the Pentagon.
Roughly one-third of voters say the Iran war was a “crucial” factor in their vote for Congress, which is lower than the share of those who expressed concern over the cost of living and government corruption.
Trump has asserted that higher gas and energy prices resulting from conflict will drop.
About 8 in 10 voters say inflation has caused a “severe” or “moderate” financial hardship on their households.
The drag caused by prices rising faster than wages over the past year has made it harder for many voters to afford basic essentials such as gasoline, groceries and their utilities.
The persistent concern is a carryover from the 2024 presidential election when voters specifically tasked Trump to solve the problem, but inflation is now higher than it was when he returned to the White House.
More than 8 in 10 voters say they are “very” or “somewhat” concerned about the cost of gas, groceries, utilities and healthcare.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries popped by to rally and thank volunteers at a phone bank in Washington for battleground House candidates.
“We’re on the brink of a dramatic change of direction in this country,” Jeffries said.
“We’re on the brink of Democrats taking back control of the House of Representatives.”
He said a Democratic win would be a victory for Americans.
“We’re going to deliver a Congress that actually puts the American people first,” he said.
House Democrats have opened a phone bank in Washington with dozens of volunteers calling voters in key House races across the country before polls close.
They’re encouraging voters to cast ballots as Democrats work to wrest control of the House from Republicans.
Voters overwhelmingly feel frustrated with the way things are going in the U.S. today, according to The AP Voter Poll, which points to a midterm electorate that is deeply unhappy with the country’s direction and pessimistic about the future.
About three-quarters of voters say they feel “angry” or “dissatisfied” with the country’s current trajectory. Only about one-quarter feel “satisfied” or “enthusiastic.” Dissatisfaction was particularly high in blue states like California and Massachusetts, but even in deep-red states, a majority of voters were at least “dissatisfied.”
Voters are also displeased with the condition of the economy, with roughly three-quarters saying it is “not so good” or “poor.” That’s in line with what U.S. adults have said in recent months in AP-NORC polling.
Voters say the economy and the state of democracy are the top issues facing the country, with high costs and government corruption weighing heavily on many Americans’ minds as they cast a ballot in Tuesday’s midterm elections.
About 4 in 10 U.S. voters nationally say the economy is the most important issue facing the country, as most express concern about gas prices and the cost of groceries. About 3 in 10 say the state of democracy is the top issue. Only about 1 in 10 say the same about immigration or health care, and few name foreign policy or crime.
Roughly half of U.S. voters say government corruption and the cost of living are “crucial” to their vote for Congress, much higher than the share who say that about immigration enforcement policies, the war in Iran or AI data centers.
The handful of House members who flipped the toughest seats in 2024 all face challenging races again this year. Can they avoid a sophomore slump?
Most of these districts flipped to the GOP in 2024, riding Trump’s coattails as he clinched a second term. The good news for these Republicans is that it’s almost always easier to win a seat that you already represent. The bad news is that many of them won their seats by tiny margins and are facing a much tougher national environment this time around.
See other House races to watch in the AP’s guide to battleground congressional districts here.
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