US Voters Decide Control of Congress in 2026 Midterms as Trump Approval Sits Near Record Low

American voters went to the polls on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, in midterm elections that will determine control of the US House of Representatives and Senate for the final two years of President Donald Trump's second term.

All 435 House seats are contested, along with 35 Senate seats, including special elections in Florida and Ohio. Thirty-six states are also electing governors. Democrats need a net gain of three House seats and four Senate seats to claim majorities in each chamber. Republicans currently hold narrow majorities after the 2024 elections.

More than 57 million Americans had already cast early ballots by Election Day morning, according to the University of Florida Voting Lab. That figure exceeds the total early vote in the 2022 midterms. Polls opened across the country throughout the morning as final campaigning ended the previous day.

President Trump's job approval stood at 32 percent in a Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Monday, one point above his record low of 31 percent recorded two weeks earlier. Among registered voters, half of independents said they viewed their congressional vote as a vote against Trump. Seventy-eight percent of voters ranked the rising cost of living as very important or the most important issue. On that issue, voters preferred Democrats over Republicans by 43 percent to 32 percent.

A Reuters analysis identified 47 competitive House races. If other contests follow forecasts, Democrats would need to win only 13 of those to secure a House majority. Nonpartisan analysts and most polls favor Democrats to flip the House, consistent with the historical pattern that the president's party loses ground in midterms. The Senate outlook is narrower. Democrats must defend their current seats while winning at least two states that Trump carried by double digits in 2024, among them Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas.

CBS News' Battleground Tracker model estimated in late October that Democrats were on track for 229 House seats, though the range ran from 215 to 237. On the Senate side, the network identified 11 key races. Eight of those seats are currently held by Republicans: Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas. Three are held by Democrats: Georgia, Michigan and New Hampshire.

The New York Times/Siena final polls showed Democrats ahead in six of seven battleground Senate states, including leads in Texas and Kansas. Kansas has not elected a Democratic senator since 1932. In those seven states, only 38 percent of likely voters approved of the president's performance. Democrats held a nine-point edge on the cost of living.

Spending on the midterms is projected to reach $11.9 billion, according to OpenSecrets, roughly 30 percent higher than in 2022. The bulk of advertising has focused on competitive Senate races in Ohio, Texas and Michigan.

Trump campaigned in the final days, including a rally near the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington. Vice President JD Vance stumped in Ohio and New York, urging support for Republican candidates including Senator Jon Husted and gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. Both faced tight races against Democratic challengers Sherrod Brown and Amy Acton, respectively.

Ballot measures in multiple states address abortion rights, voter identification, redistricting and transgender athlete restrictions. Abortion measures appear in Idaho, Missouri, Nevada and Virginia. Voter ID mandates are on ballots in five states. Redistricting questions in Maryland and Missouri test priorities of the Trump administration.

The Supreme Court rejected a Trump administration request to set aside thousands of California mail ballots that the administration claimed came from noncitizens. The decision came days before voting began.

Results will arrive throughout the evening as polls close, beginning with eastern states. Control of the House is expected to become clearer sooner than the Senate. A Democratic House majority would enable investigations into the administration and potentially another impeachment process. A Republican hold would allow Trump to continue his legislative agenda with fewer obstacles.

The elections occur against the backdrop of ongoing military operations in the Middle East and elevated energy prices. Voters in several states have already begun reporting results from early voting, but full counts will take hours or days in close races.