US midterm elections 2026 LIVE: Democrats make first gains in Florida and Virginia as results start coming

Republican candidate Shelly Capito won her reelection bid to the US Senate from West Virginia, the Associated Press announced at 8:52pm ET. She defeated Democrat Rachel Fetty to win a third term to the US Senate.

Democrat Helena Foulkes was elected the governor of Rhode Island defeating Republican’s Dan Guckian. AP announced Foulkes as the winner at 8:32pm ET.

Republicans Ashley Moody became the first Republican to register a win in the US midterm election as he secured his reelection in the Senate race from Florida. Moody, defeated Democrat Angie Nixon, AP announced at 8:34pm ET.

After Chris Pappas in New Hampshire, Democrat Roy Cooper has managed to flip the US Senate seat from North Carolina, defeating Michael Whatley. Cooper secured 65.3% of the votes, as opposed to Whatley’s 33.6%, as of 8:30pm ET, AP reported.

The Democrats need a net gain of four seats to flip the Senate.

Chris Pappas of the Democratic Party defeated Republican John Sununu in the first major Senate seat flip of this year’s US elections. Pappas managed to secured 93,420 votes as opposed to Sununu’s 58, 121, as of 8:27pm ET.

Democrat Wes Moore has been reelected the governor of Maryland in the midterms race, AP announced. Maryland’s first Black governor, Moore defeated Republican Dan Cox.

Notably, Moore is expected to be a Democrat candidate in the 2028 presidential elections.

Maura Haley, the incumbent governor of Massachusetts, secured her second term in officer after being reelected, AP announced. She defeated Republican Michael Minogue.

Democrat Josh Shapiro won the reelection bid for the governor of Pennsylvania. Shapiro secured 117, 229 (85.4%) votes, as opposed to GOP’s Stacy Garrity’s 19,147.

Chris Coons, Democrat Senate candidate from Delaware, has won his reelection bid from the state of Delaware, AP announced. Coon defeated Democrat Mike Katz to win his third full term at the US Senate.

Democrat Jon Ossoff has won his reelection bid to the Senate from Georgia in the 2026 US midterms, AP called. Ossoff secured 62% of the votes against Mike Collins’ 37.8%. He was declared the winner by the Associated Press at 7:55pm ET.

The advocacy group Black Votes Matter said that the turnout of Black voters was similar to when Barack Obama was running for president the first time in 2008.

LaTosha Brown, the co-founder of the group, said that they have been actively monitoring the elections with over 2000 volunteers deployed across the country.

The most turnout among Black voters were noted in Michigan and Mississippi, Brown added.

Democrat Mark Warner won his re-election bid to the Senate, in the very first results of the US midterm elections, the Associated Press called. Democrat Debbie Wasserman Schultz won from Florida’s 20th Congressional District, AP announced.

The exit poll data of the US midterm elections shows that inflation and the harsh economic conditions are the two major issues on the voters’ minds as they cast their ballots on Tuesday.

The data from the survey conducted by SSRS showed that About 8 in 10 voters said that inflation caused them severe hardships. About 7 in 10 voters believed that the US economy rewards the rich unfairly. Meanwhile, about six in 10 voters thought that US made the “wrong decision” in taking military action in Iran.

Trump has proclaimed that this week – encompassing the election day and the results in the subsequent days – as “Anti-Communism Week.”

“Hereby proclaim the week of November 1 through November 7 as Anti-Communism Week. I call upon all Americans to stand firm in their defense against any threat to the American way of life and to protect our burning flame of liberty from the darkness of communism,” a proclamation shared by the White House at 6pm ET read.

CNN published the first impression of the Voter’s Poll, which showed clear trends against the Trump administration. CNN reports that the polls show nearly 7 in every 10 voters are unhappy with the state of the nation, with four going as far as to describe themselves as “angry.” The primary motivation behind the anger was pegged twofold: negative views of Trump and the economic hardships induced by the conflict in the Middle East.

The national exit polls for the US midterm elections 2026 is set to go live in around 2 hours as voting closed in some parts of Kentucky and Texas at 6pm ET. This, market research firm SSRS on behalf of the major US news broadcasters.

After over 250,000 ballots were affected in New York’s Westchester County after a failure in the machine that allows users to scan and cast their ballots, county election officials said that alternative machines have now been installed.

Trump and his allies accused the Democrats of stealing the election on Westchester County after the machines malfunctioned early in the voting and stayed that way till a few hours before polls were set to close.

Voters casted their ballots without scanning while the machine malfunctioned.

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin told Fox News that ICE agents will “absolutely not” intimidate voters at polling places. Concerns have been raised about the presence of those agents, after which the DOJ barred ICE and FBI agents from being election observers.

Additionally, the DOJ said that the election observers will not perform any law enforcement functions at the polling booths.

CNN reports that Donald Trump is planning to watch the election results from the East Wing of the White House as they start pouring in 6pm ET onwards. The POTUS will be joined by a small group of allies for the watch party, CNN reports.

Separately, key members of Trump’s political operations, including his MAGA PAC, have set up war rooms at the White House campus to monitor the results.

North Carolina State Board of Elections on Monday voted to extend the voting hours in two precincts – Columbus and Lenoir beyond 7:30pm ET. The decision came after polling started in the two precincts an hour late, at 7:27am ET instead of the scheduled 6:30am ET start.

As a result of the extension, the election results from South Carolina will be delayed till 8:15pm ET.

Thre NASA astronauts voted from Space for the US midterm elections 2026. Astronaut Anil Menon, currently abroad NASA’s International Space Station shared on X that he, along with Jessica Watkins and Luke Delaney, cast their ballots using a computer.

All of the three are voters of Harris County, Texas, where NASA’s Johnson Space Center and Mission Control is based.

US midterm elections 2026 LIVE: Election officials in Chester County, Pennsylvania, have announced a 30-minute extension of voting hours across three precincts, allowing residents extra time to cast their ballots.

Polling locations in Easttown Township, St. John’s Presbyterian Church and Goshen Baptist Church will remain open until 8:30 p.m. ET. Voters arriving after the original 8 p.m. closing time will be required to cast provisional ballots.

According to the Pennsylvania state website, provisional ballots are provided when election officials need additional time to verify a voter’s eligibility. An extension of polling hours is among the limited circumstances in which this option is used, allowing voters to submit their ballots while the county election board determines whether they qualify to be counted.

Although polling stations opened at 7 a.m., equipment issues at the three affected precincts caused delays of 15 to 30 minutes for voters. All voting machines were operational by 7:30 a.m.

Chester County spokesperson Andrew Kreider said the extended voting hours would not delay the counting process. He also confirmed that the county had already started counting mail-in ballots.

US midterm elections 2026 LIVE: U.S. President Donald Trump has floated the possibility of moving to Israel and pursuing the country’s prime ministerial post if he ever loses support among American voters.

Speaking to Fox News in an Election Day interview on Tuesday, November 3, Trump claimed that his approval rating in Israel stood at 99% and jokingly suggested that he could launch a political career there.

“In fact, if people ever got tired of me in the U.S., I’ll move to Israel, become prime minister,” Trump said.

His latest comments came during a discussion about the possibility of the US ending its financial aid to Israel.

Trump has made similar remarks in the past. In May 2026, he had also jokingly floated the idea of relocating to Israel and becoming its prime minister, while again claiming to enjoy 99% support among Israelis.