WorldUS midterms
Americans vote in midterms with House and Senate control at stake
More than 57 million people voted early. The first big poll closings come at 7 pm Eastern time, 5:30 am on Wednesday in India.
Key points
- Americans are voting for all 435 House seats, 35 Senate seats and 36 governors.
- More than 57 million people voted early, according to the University of Florida Voting Lab.
- Results start to come in after 5:30 am IST on Wednesday, when the first major polls close.
Americans went to the polls on Tuesday in midterm elections that will decide control of both houses of Congress in the middle of Donald Trump’s second term, with the war with Iran hanging over the campaign.
On the ballot are all 435 House seats, 35 Senate seats and governorships in 36 states. More than 57 million people had already voted before election day, according to the University of Florida Voting Lab.
Republicans go in holding 218 House seats, plus an independent who usually votes with them, against 214 for the Democrats, with two vacancies. A CBS News battleground estimate on 25 October put Democrats on course for about 229 seats, with a range of 215 to 237. In the Senate, where Republicans lead 53 to 47, the races to watch include Republican-held Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas, and Democratic-held Georgia, Michigan and New Hampshire.
Trump, closing his campaign in Washington on Monday, admitted the history was against him. “For some reason, the sitting president doesn’t win the midterms,” he said, while casting the vote as a choice over whether “these extremists will be given power or not power”.
The first major polls close at 7 pm Eastern time, 5:30 am in India on Wednesday, and the picture in the House may take until later in the day to settle. For New Delhi, the result will shape how much room Trump has on trade, tariffs and his Iran policy over the next two years.