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

With less than a month to go before the midterm elections, Democrats are doing so well that many political observers are beginning to wonder if there is something wrong with the polls.

It’s not just that President Donald Trump is unpopular, with a job approval rating below 40% nationally, though that is exactly what the RealClearPolitics polling average shows. He receives even lower marks on three of the top issues in the midterm campaign: Iran, the economy, and inflation, where he’s below 30% approval.

Nor is it just that voters prefer Democrats controlling Congress over Republicans by 7.9 points, according to the same website’s average of polls, with some recent surveys giving Democrats a lead as high as 12 points. The final RealClearPolitics average ahead of the 2018 midterm elections during Trump’s first term was a 7.3-point Democratic edge. Democrats gained more than 40 House seats that year to take the majority and ended up winning the congressional popular vote by 8.4 points.

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House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) signaled that he would run for minority leader if Republicans lose the majority in November, saying he expects his colleagues would ask him to “continue leading this conference.”

“I want to be of my highest and best use to God and my country, and I feel like, at this stage of life, I’m doing what I’m called to do, and so I intend to lead as speaker,” Johnson said during an interview with CBS News. “But in the unlikely scenario where we lost the majority, I would expect my colleagues would ask me to continue leading this conference, even if we have divided government.”

Speculation about Johnson’s future has heated up after the speaker told Fox News last week that he was unsure “what my next chapter of life is” if Republicans lose.

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Former President Barack Obama endorsed Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser to be the state’s next governor on Monday.

“As Colorado’s attorney general-he’s led with energy and integrity, standing up for our democracy and our elections and our rights. And as governor, Phil will fight to lower costs for all Coloradans and build a better future for our kids,” Obama said in the message.

Weiser, a Democrat, is facing off against Republican gubernatorial candidate Victor Marx in the Centennial State. Marx has not been endorsed yet by President Donald Trump.

Weiser served in Obama’s White House as one of his science and innovation advisers. He is the latest gubernatorial candidate endorsed by Obama, who has made a series of endorsements over the past several days. Obama also backed Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) for reelection, Keisha Lance Bottoms for governor in Georgia, and David Crowley for governor in Wisconsin.

Republicans are ramping up spending in Texas’s Senate race as they look to protect their majority in the chamber with the midterm elections just weeks away.

Lone Star Liberty PAC, which supports Republican nominee Ken Paxton, has increased its spending reservations in Texas by $6.3 million, bringing its total to $123 million.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk donated $158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, the main super PAC backing Republican Senate candidates, $76 million to his America PAC, and $10 million to Lone Star Liberty PAC to support Paxton.

The spending comes as Trump-aligned political groups prepare a final push to shore up vulnerable Republican seats. With several hundred million dollars still in the bank, allied super PACs plan to redirect spending away from less competitive House races and toward key Senate contests.

Former President Barack Obama threw his support behind Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul el Sayed in a new ad touting the progressive Democrat’s platform.

Obama and el Sayed had announced plans to join forces later this month for a campaign rally in Detroit, but the former president had not released an endorsement video until Monday.

“America was founded on a simple idea. This country belongs to all of us,” Obama said in the video. “Not just the wealthy, not just the well-connected, everyone. Today, that idea is under attack. And Michigan is where we fight back. That’s why I’m asking you to support Abdul el Sayed for the United States Senate.”

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President Donald Trump‘s decision to deprioritize abortion as a key issue for the Republican Party during his second administration may have given the GOP a long-term political advantage, strategists and experts say.

Abortion dominated the 2022 midterm elections and the 2024 presidential election between Trump and then-Vice President Kamala Harris. Yet two years later, it has mostly faded from the discussion during this year’s midterm elections, with a few caveats.

Missouri, Idaho, Nevada, and Virginia all have statewide ballot measures related to abortion this November. In the marquee Maine Senate race, Democrat Troy Jackson has attacked Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) for her vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who helped the high court overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022.

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The Republican redistricting juice may not be worth the squeeze after all, as a worsening political environment portends likely modest gains in the eight states that redrew congressional maps this cycle to produce 13 favorable new districts.

Nonpartisan race raters estimate Republicans could flip two to five seats under the new maps, which include redraws in Texas, Florida, Tennessee, North Carolina, and other red states. Meanwhile, Democrats stand to gain as many as six seats through redistricting in California and Utah, partially offsetting possible Republican gains elsewhere.

The Republican Party was also dealt a legal blow in Missouri, where a redrawn map poised to give Republicans one seat was put on pause pending a statewide referendum.

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Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul el Sayed will campaign with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) on Oct. 15 as he seeks to build momentum in one of the country’s most closely watched Senate races.

The two will hold three town hall-style events across Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, stopping in Escanaba, Iron Mountain, and Marquette.

El Sayed will also campaign with former President Barack Obama and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani as he works to shore up Democratic support ahead of Election Day.

The race has drawn national attention, with election forecasters rating it a toss-up and polling showing a narrow advantage for el Sayed.

House Democratic candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier is calling for New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch to step down after a suspected illegal immigrant from the Dominican Republic was shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in the city on Thursday.

The shooting, which took place around 4 p.m. in the Marble Hill neighborhood, sparked a large anti-ICE protest, in which Avila Chevalier, a socialist who is all but certain to be a member of Congress next year, participated. Video posted on social media shows Avila Chevalier being pushed by what appears to be a police officer during an altercation between law enforcement and protesters.

“When I was in Marble Hill last night I saw NYPD officers rapidly escalating violence,” Avila Chevalier wrote in a statement. “As I was trying to de-escalate, I was shoved to the ground by an officer. I witnessed unmarked law enforcement cars hitting protestors as NYPD officers pushed people out of its path. And instead of condemning ICE’s violence, Police Commissioner Tisch attempted to justify the shooting by reading off our neighbor’s past interactions with police.”

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Former President Barack Obama endorsed Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) for reelection as Pennsylvania’s governor on Friday, adding in his message that Shapiro was one of his “earliest supporters.”

“As governor, he has stood up to the chaos, cruelty, and corruption coming out of Washington, and he’s gotten stuff done for the people of Pennsylvania — like delivering free school breakfast, safeguarding healthcare, cutting taxes, and protecting our freedoms. Pennsylvania: Governor Shapiro has your back. And in this election, I am asking you to have his,” Obama said.

Shapiro is taking on Trump-endorsed Republican state treasurer Stacy Garrity in November, aiming to hold on to his seat for a second term after Trump flipped Pennsylvania red in 2024. Shapiro, a suspected 2028 presidential candidate, debated Garrity this week and did not commit to serving out a full second term if he is reelected.

Shapiro is the latest endorsement from Obama, who has played his hand with a series of endorsements this week, including endorsing Democrats David Crowley in the Wisconsin governor’s race and Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia’s gubernatorial race.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) is planning campaign stops in Nevada, South Carolina, and New Hampshire to boost Democratic candidates ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, visiting several states that could play a key role in his possible 2028 presidential bid.

Booker will campaign for Nevada gubernatorial candidate Aaron Ford and Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV), marking his third visit to the state this year. In South Carolina, he will stump for Senate nominee Annie Andrews, who is challenging Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC), and Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jermaine Johnson.

Both Nevada and South Carolina are early voting states in the 2028 presidential primary calendar. Booker also plans to visit New Hampshire, another early primary state, to support candidates “up and down the ticket,” according to an aide.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) will head to Bucks County, Pennsylvania, on Saturday to rally support for Democratic congressional nominee Bob Harvie alongside Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) as Democrats seek to flip a competitive House seat.

Harvie, a former Bucks County commissioner and public school teacher, is challenging incumbent Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) in Pennsylvania’s 1st Congressional District.

Fitzpatrick, who has cultivated a reputation as an independent-minded Republican, has won the district five times. Democrats see an opening this cycle after then-Vice President Kamala Harris carried the district by 1 percentage point in the 2024 presidential election. Fitzpatrick, however, won reelection that year by 13 percentage points. The Cook Political Report rates the race as “Likely Republican.”

Jeffries’s stop in Pennsylvania is part of a seven-state tour launched this week as Democrats broaden their House targets and downballot candidates ahead of the midterm elections while Republicans work to defend their majority.

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is planning to visit Virginia to support candidates hoping to flip the state’s Republican districts blue.

Buttigieg will rally with Tom Perriello, Shannon Taylor, and former Rep. Elaine Luria in Henrico County, Virginia, on Oct. 19.

Buttigieg has been criss-crossing the country to support Democratic candidates in downballot races. He regularly visits the Midwest and rural areas where Democrats are less well represented.

Maine Democratic Senate nominee Troy Jackson accused Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) and her husband of profiting from the Iran war Thursday evening during the candidates’ second televised debate, a charge that the five-term incumbent rejected as “absolutely outrageous.”

Jackson was referencing Collins’s financial investments in oil and natural gas companies, suggesting they were at the center of why the centrist Republican and frequent swing vote does not “use her leverage to stop this war.”

“But instead, they’re making money. I mean, Sen. Collins and her husband are making money more off of this war,” Jackson said. “So does a whole bunch of other people, and that’s why this doesn’t stop, because they got us in another fertile war that we’re never going to get out of, and people in the state are feeling the effects of it.”

Collins responded by demanding that Jackson apologize.

“That is absolutely outrageous, and you owe me an apology,” she said. “That is absolutely outrageous. To say that my husband and I are making money off the war in Iran is absolutely outrageous.”

Collins noted that she’s repeatedly voted in favor of war powers resolutions as part of failed bipartisan attempts to end President Donald Trump’s ability to continue the war.

One of the hottest moments of Thursday night’s Michigan Senate debate came during a question over the candidates’ support of Flock cameras, AI-powered license plate readers which have generated a political firestorm over government surveillance, in which Mike Rogers suggested his opponent’s mother had ties to an al Qaeda-linked organization.

Rogers, a former FBI agent, said that some government surveillance programs were “were really, really important in catching people who were suspected of terrorists.”

He then appeared to suggest Democratic nominee Abdul el Sayed would not support such measures because of his family’s ties to terrorist organizations, leading to a testy exchange.

“And why would that bother you? Well, if you have someone in your family that might be on … the watch list,” began Rogers.

“Are you going to go ahead and say that I’m a — go ahead and say it … you’ve been tip-toeing around it the whole time” interrupted el Sayed.

“No, I’m gonna say, did you not have family, did you not?” said Rogers as the two candidates talked over each other.

“What your mom was working at. I was going off to that organization that was indicted for funneling money to al Qaeda. That’s your mom. My mom worked at the Chamber of Commerce. I’ll put my mom up any day for that,” Rogers concluded after a lengthy exchange.

El Sayed rebutted by saying Rogers is fine with the federal government spying on citizens.

The exchange sparked from a question about whether the candidates would support government guardrails.

El Sayed said he “absolutely” supports guardrails on the emerging technology, adding that the “idea of being surveilled wherever you are without your consent is a very dangerous thing.”

Rogers, the Republican nominee, when asked whether he supports guardrails, said he believed local government should be in charge of the process and would oppose states using it against citizens who haven’t committed crimes.

“I would not be for that at all,” said Rogers.