2026 midterm elections live updates: Latest news, results, and analysis

The Department of Justice announced charges against 63 people across 15 states Monday for election-related crimes, marking the latest crackdown on alleged voter fraud just one day before the midterm elections.

The charges involve illegal voting, fraudulent voter registration, and false claims of U.S. citizenship, according to a DOJ press release. Four of those charged were illegal immigrants, while the citizenship status of others was not made immediately clear, meaning they may have been in the country lawfully but not eligible to vote.

The announcement brings the total number of people charged with voting fraud-related offenses since President Donald Trump returned to office to 239, according to the department. The DOJ said it has charged 195 noncitizens across 25 states with illegal voting and registration offenses in the past nine weeks.

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The North Carolina Board of Elections said results in the state could be delayed due to technical issues in four counties.

“The state board will be meeting later today to discuss the issues that these four counties had in the delayed voting, and it could be that it necessitates extending voting hours; I will leave that to the board. That is their purview, but it could also delay reporting across the state as well. So stay tuned for that,” a NCBE official said at a press conference.

North Carolina has voting from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. State election law allows for voting time to be extended in the event of complications.

Michigan Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers told reporters Tuesday he is “disappointed” in the response from Democrats over Rep. Haley Stevens’ (D-MI) endorsement of his campaign.

“I’m disappointed in how vicious they’ve been, but I think that speaks to who the modern Democrat Party is,” Rogers told reporters after he cast his ballot. “Here’s somebody who said, ‘I voted Democrat all the way down the list, except for one person who I think is too extreme for our state.’ That’s country over party.”

He continued, “They outta celebrate her courage and encourage her to continue to being a Democrat rather than try to throw her out of the party. I mean, I’ve never seen such viciousness online.”

Stevens’s move to flip her support from Democratic nominee Abdul el Sayed to Rogers sent shockwaves through the Democratic Party over the weekend.

Republican Guam gubernatorial candidate Tony Ada defeated Democratic candidate Therese Terlaje, according to the Guam Election Commission’s final unofficial tally, flipping the territory’s governorship.

Incumbent Guam Gov. Leon Guerrero first won in 2018, then won reelection in 2022, and finally hit her term limit this year. Republicans held the governorship of the island from 2003 to 2019, and have been eager to return since. After Guerrero won reelection handily in 2022 with 55.49% of the vote, Republicans appear to have found a winning team with Ada and his running mate, E.J. Calvo, who received 51.45% of the vote compared to the 48.15% supporting Terlaje and her lieutenant governor candidate, Sabina Perez.

Ada and Calvo’s unofficial total is above the 50% required to avoid a runoff. The Guam Election Commission still has to certify the results, but the percentages are unlikely to change, with the Republicans receiving over 1,000 more votes than their rivals on the island, which has 59,146 registered voters.

Voter turnout exceeded 53%. Republicans also held the lead in the attorney general race, and Republicans occupied eight of the top 15 positions in the Guam legislature race, giving them a narrow majority, according to the Guam Daily Post.

Republicans experienced one notable loss, however, with Democrats set to flip the territory’s nonvoting delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Sen. Susan Collins’s (R-ME) office in Biddeford, Maine, was vandalized on Tuesday with the message, “blood on her hands,” written in red paint on the day voters head to the polls to decide the fate of the five-term senator.

The message appeared to be cleaned up by Tuesday afternoon, according to reports. The vandalism is not the first time Collins’s Biddeford office has been marred, as vandals wrote “Trump wh***” on the office doors last month.

Additionally, the office is the same location that saw protests in July following the fatal shooting of a Colombian man by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. Collins had previously voted to support $70 billion in funding for ICE without reforms to training and operational practices, which was targeted in protesters’ slogans at the time and continues to be an attack line against Collins.

A Democrat super PAC spent more than $30 million on the midterm elections this cycle to elect candidates with medical or scientific backgrounds to state and federal office across the country, contributing to the nearly $12 billion total spent during the campaign season.

314 Action Fund spent $23.6 million on STEM candidates and nearly $7 million on direct campaigns this season, the most it has spent in the 10 years since the group was founded.

A spokesperson for the group told reporters on Tuesday that the organization spent nearly $4 million to elect pediatrician Dr. Annie Andrews for Senate in South Carolina in her race against Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) as well as $3 million on Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dr. Amy Acton.

Other candidates backed by the group include Christina Bohannan, Dr. Richard Pan, and Dr. Amish Shah.

Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico made his final pitch to voters, calling for Texans to back the “underdog” who has been up against a “rigged system” in the midterm elections.

“Texans working hard every day to make a life for themselves,” the ad released Tuesday said. “We’ve always been the underdogs. We’ve always been up against a rigged system, but we’ve always had each other, and now we’re here on the brink of making history.”

“Hours from taking our power back. It hasn’t been easy, but nothing worth having is,” the ad continued. “Texas, you did this. You built this movement. You gave your blood, sweat, and tears. Your nights, your weekends, your Saturday mornings. We’re here because of people. We’re here because of you. Let’s show the world why you should always bet on the underdogs.”

Polls close in Texas between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., and the state typically counts votes fairly quickly. Talarico’s contest against state Attorney General Ken Paxton is rated a “toss-up” by the Cook Political Report, which in its final race ratings said it would “put a pinky on the scale” for the Democrat. A Talarico victory would be a major upset for the GOP as the party seeks to maintain control of Congress.

Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) voiced support for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) while heading to cast her ballot for Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers on Tuesday.

Stevens referred to Jeffries as the “next speaker of the House” while speaking with NewsNation outside a polling location in Birmingham, Michigan, voicing optimism for Democrats Tuesday night while also making clear her support for the minority leader hasn’t changed.

“It’s the People’s Day, and I’ve told this to our next Speaker of the House, Hakeem Jeffries. It’s Majority Maker’s Day,” Stevens said.

Jeffries was highly critical of Stevens’s decision to endorse Rogers over Democratic candidate Abdul el Sayed. The minority leader said the congresswoman “made a terrible decision” and “blindsided everyone and isolated herself from the House Democratic caucus.”

Stevens, who fell to el Sayed in the primary election, said her decision to flip her backing to Rogers stemmed from the progressive Democrats’ criticism of Israel, as well as those orbiting his campaign who she deemed far too controversial.

Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian Schwalb told voters on Tuesday to report the presence of National Guard troops near voting locations, emphasizing that federal personnel at polling stations is illegal.

Schwalb said in an X post that his office has contacted the Trump administration about the issue in the days leading up to the midterm election and service members stationed in the District have been instructed to avoid voting centers.

“Federal law prohibits the military and federal law enforcement from interfering with elections,” he said. “OAG has contacted the Administration about the presence of National Guard troops and federal agents near voting locations in recent days. National Guard leadership has advised that members of Joint Task Force-DC, which includes both the National Guard and federal law enforcement, have been directed not to patrol at or near any voting locations in the District.”

“Please report potential violations to our office at 202-727-3400 or [email protected] and to the DC Board of Elections at 202-727-2194 or [email protected],” he added. “Every DC resident has the right to vote free of intimidation or interference.”

The 2026 midterm elections mark the first general election in Washington since President Donald Trump returned to the White House and deployed the National Guard as part of the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force in an effort to combat crime.

Trump made his final pitch to vote for Republicans in the midterm elections, touting his administration’s accomplishments and defending the war with Iran.

In a phone interview with Fox News, the president touted accomplishments in immigration, reducing crime, taking control of Venezuela, a growth in manufacturing, and other economic matters, including more questionable claims such as declaring inflation “solved.” Much of the interview, however, was devoted to the war with Iran, declaring it effectively won a day after the U.S. launched defensive strikes. At one point, he said the conflict was so lopsided that he even questioned if it could be considered a war.

“War is like what you would see in Russia and Ukraine. That is war. War would be Second World War, you keep fighting and fighting. … We have them totally where we want them, we could finish them off or be nice and let thousands of people live that would get killed in a war. When was the last time we shot anything? We took over the Strait of Hormuz, total control,” he said.

Trump connected the pitch to two of the closest Senate races, in Texas and Michigan.

“We have done unbelievable job, and we can’t let that job be turned around by a … Muslim Brotherhood jihadist from Michigan or people like this character that does not eat meat, does not like gas or guns, Talafreako, and he’s running against the best attorney general in the history of Texas,” he said.

The president argued that his second term was so successful that his trademark slogan had become obsolete.

“The most important thing … because we have indeed made America great again,” Trump said. “MAGA is this thing we’ll never give up on, MAGA. But in a way it is obsolete. … America is great now, respected all over the world.”

Polling locations in Westchester County, New York, are not accepting ballots at the moment due to an issue with the scanners.

The problem arose as polls opened at 6 a.m. Voters have been instructed to fill out paper ballots and stay in line.

“There is a problem with every ballot scanner in Westchester County,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) wrote in a post Tuesday morning. “We do not yet know the exact cause of the issue, whether it is the ballot or the machine. The Board of Elections is working with their vendors to resolve it. However, every ballot will be counted. Stay on line and vote. Do not leave the polling place without voting.”

Good morning from the Washington Examiner’s live blog team. It’s finally Election Day, and control of Congress will be decided.

Sabato’s Crystal Ball, which released its final race ratings yesterday, has both the House and Senate leaning toward Democratic control, with 19 House races rated “likely Democratic” seats, 36 “leans Democratic” seats, 21 “leans Republican,” and 16 “likely Republican” seats on the House map. In the Senate, they expect Democrats to win 53 seats.

But some analysts are concerned all of the Democratic momentum could be another major polling miss, given rural voters’ tendencies not to answer pollsters’ calls.

The Washington Examiner has all the news you need to know. Catch up on the latest, and check back in for results.

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Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) rejected claims that her fiance, Jason Turkish, played a role in her last-minute decision to endorse Michigan Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers, calling the speculation sexist.

Stevens, who flipped her endorsement to Rogers over Democratic nominee Abdul el Sayed two days before the midterm elections and left fellow Democrats gobsmacked, addressed the idea proposed by critics that Turkish influenced her decision in a lengthy X post titled “The Decisions We Make.” Her fiance said last week he would not support el Sayed because of his stance on Israel.

“Some critics have also dragged my fiancé into this, suggesting he or others must have made my decision for me,” she said. “Think about what that says. A woman can serve in Congress, run statewide, and fight for her convictions, and still be told that when she makes a choice people dislike, someone else must be pulling the strings.”

“That is sexism dressed up as political analysis,” she continued. “My fiancé has his own views. I have mine. I made this decision, and I am proud of it. Do not question my independence simply because you disagree with my conclusion.”

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DETROIT — Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) joined Abdul el Sayed on the campaign trail Monday, offering a high-profile progressive endorsement as Democrats rallied around their Senate nominee in the final hours before Michigan voters head to the polls.

The appearance at the Majestic Theatre in downtown Detroit came amid an extraordinary intraparty rupture over Rep. Haley Stevens’s (D-MI) decision to flip her endorsement from el Sayed to Republican Mike Rogers two days before Election Day.

Warren, a longtime progressive ally of el Sayed, cast the Michigan Democrat as a candidate voters could trust to stand up to wealthy interests and corporate lobbying, contrasting his record in public health with the influence of money in Washington.

“I made the decision a long time ago that the guy I trust in a job like this is a guy who spends his time putting glasses on little kids who can’t afford them,” Warren told the crowd of about 1,000 people at the Majestic Theatre. She also praised el Sayed for establishing a program to purchase and cancel uncollectible medical debt.

“A guy who says to the corporate pack, ‘I don’t take your money. I don’t work for you. I don’t work for anyone other than the people of Michigan,’” Warren said. “That’s the guy I trust, and his name is Abdul.”

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The U.S. military launched defensive strikes against Iran on Monday night, marking the first attacks in two months on the eve of the midterm elections.

U.S. forces targeted Qeshm Island, which is home to Tehran’s military infrastructure. The specific targets in the strikes were “Iranians using surface-to-air missiles against U.S. assets,” the Associated Press reported. The latest blitz does not mark the return to war, as multiple reports said the attacks were limited.

The timing of Monday’s military operation contradicts remarks previously made by President Donald Trump. Last month, the president said U.S. officials had been engaged in “productive discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Over the weekend, Trump said the possibility of more strikes following the elections remains on the table, saying that despite previous military action, “we still have to take care of, I would say, one or two sites,” adding that there are plans in place to address the remaining infrastructure.

“We might have to go after Pickaxe [Mountain], but that’s not a big deal,” Trump said in a Monday evening appearance on Fox News, referring to the mountain where U.S. and Israeli officials believe Iran has moved some of its advanced centrifuges and enriched uranium.

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