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

CLEVELAND — Ohio Democratic Senate nominee Sherrod Brown also opened with a message of thanks for his gubernatorial counterpart, Amy Acton.

“Thank you for your strength, your courage, your integrity,” Brown told the crowd after the release of an ad with her estranged mother by her opponent Vivek Ramaswamy.

Brown also criticized his own opponent, Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH), over his corporate interests and response to demands for transparency regarding the federal Jeffrey Epstein investigation.

“They say you are the company you keep,” he said. “Husted surrounds himself with utility executives and pedophile protectors in our state [and] he’s backed by the data center companies, the big tech billionaires, and dark money from out of state — Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, [and] Donald Trump.”

The Democratic Governors Association made an additional $5 million investment in Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms’s campaign to be Georgia’s governor.

DGA Chairman Gov. Andy Beshear (D-KY) traveled to the Peach State on Monday to campaign for Bottoms and announce the additional funding headed to her team. The group previously donated $11.5 million to her campaign.

Bottoms is facing off against Republican Rick Jackson, who is spending millions of his personal dollars, in the state’s toss-up governor race. Jackson leads by single digits in polling, according to RealClearPolling’s average on the race.

House Speaker Mike Johnson is heading to Iowa to campaign for incumbent Rep. Zach Nunn (R-IA) as he faces a tight challenge from Democratic state Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott.

Johnson will be in Urbandale, Iowa, outside of Des Moines on Wednesday, according to Politico. It is a return trip to Iowa for Johnson, who campaigned in the state earlier in October in support of Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA).

Both Nunn and Miller-Meeks, GOP incumbents, are in races rated Leans Democrat by the Cook Political Report. Despite the limited polling on the Nunn-Garriott race, RealClearPolitics shows Polymarket’s odds in favor of Garriott.

Nunn won his 2024 race against Democrat Lanon Baccam by 3.9 percentage points.

Alaska’s Division of Elections released its current sample ballot for the Last Frontier’s statewide, ranked choice elections, providing a look into how voters will be able to decipher the difference between the two Dan Sullivans on the Senate ballot.

Incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) is listed on the ballot as “Sullivan, Dan S. (Registered Republican) Incumbent.” The second Sullivan, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., who is not the Republican incumbent but rather a former Forest Service employee, is listed on the ballot as “Sullivan, Daniel J. Jr.”

Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. had registered as a Republican in the state’s Senate race and was initially removed from the ballot by the state’s Division of Elections. After the Alaska Supreme Court restored his spot on the ballot, his party affiliation was changed to nonpartisan, as recommended by the division. The general election ballot, however, does not list any party for Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., while several other nonpartisan candidates in other races are listed as “nonpartisan” on their ballot spots.

President Donald Trump voiced concern on Sunday that Alaska voters may not know what “incumbent” means on the ranked choice ballot when viewing their choices.

The Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit challenging the results of the state’s Senate race if it is impacted by “voter confusion.”

Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) tried to clarify her viral quote about Mississippians being able to choose other proteins while beef remains high-priced during a local news interview on Sunday.

“Thank goodness, when mothers want to feed their families, when you go out shopping there are proteins, you want to feed meat — there are some cheaper prices,” Hyde-Smith said. “And that’s what that statement was about.”

Hyde-Smith’s earlier statement, in which she said there were “other proteins to choose from,” received pushback from Democrats who called her comments out-of-touch in the barbecue-loving state. Scott Colom, her Democratic challenger, seized on the quote and clipped an ad with it. The ad called on Mississippi to “pick another senator instead” of a different protein.

ONCE AN AFTERTHOUGHT, MISSISSIPPI CREEPS ONTO THE SENATE BATTLEFIELD

Hyde-Smith defended her statement and framed it in comparison to high gas prices. She said that with high gas prices, there is no alternative but filling your car with gas, whereas with beef, you can choose a different type of meat.

“Gasoline, unless you want to ride the bicycle, that’s your only option,” Hyde-Smith told WLOX News This Week on Sunday.

Ohio Republican gubernatorial nominee Vivek Ramaswamy is not backing down from his ad featuring Democratic nominee Amy Acton’s estranged mother.

In Ramaswamy’s controversial ad, Acton’s estranged mother Donna Arthur, who stayed married to a man who was indicted over allegations that he sexually abused Acton when she was a child, called Acton a liar. When asked Monday on Fox & Friends whether he stands by his ad after days of criticism, Ramaswamy did not back down.

“I’ll tell you the advice I was raised in: You never start a fight, but if you find yourself in one, you finish it, and you have to stand for what is right and what is true,” Ramaswamy said. “They’ve attacked me. They’ve defamed my mother to media silence. It’s unbelievable, and yet at the same time, they’ll trot out anything to attack a Republican.”

The Cook Political Report shifted the race between Ramaswamy and Acton from a toss-up to Leans Democrat on Friday after a week of Ramaswamy answering for the ad.

Former President Barack Obama launched a new ad in Maryland to vouch for Democrats’ redistricting referendum, a ballot measure that Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD) is pushing hard for in the Old Line State.

“You may have heard that Republicans in Washington got some states to redraw their congressional maps in the middle of an election year,” Obama said in the ad released Monday. “They did it to try and hold on to power in Congress. You can help stop this Republican power grab by voting ‘Yes’ on Question 3. It lets Maryland draw its own fair maps.”

Maryland’s Proposition 3 would amend the state constitution’s rules around congressional redistricting. It would change some restrictions to apply only to state legislative districts and not federal congressional district boundaries, provide that the state constitution does not regulate federal congressional district boundaries, and bring challenges to redistricting straight to the state Supreme Court, according to Ballotpedia.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris rebuked a report that her husband, Doug Emhoff, privately told people he did not want her to run for president.

“I’m sure there are many who think that I should just sit at home and eat bonbons and cook Doug’s favorite foods,” Harris told CNN in an interview on the midterm campaign trail this year. She added that she can cook her husband’s favorite food and also run for president.

The response seems to be a reaction to claims from a Wall Street Journal report that Emhoff said he would prefer it if she did not run again in 2028.

HOW 2028 CONTENDERS ARE BOOSTING THEIR BONA FIDES DURING MIDTERM SEASON

“I feel so strongly and therefore am compelled, and maybe propelled, into doing this, because I know that I can help,” Harris said about the possibility she runs in 2028. “And how can I sit at home in the comfort of my home when I know there are things I can do to help? I don’t know any other life but that — that’s my point. I don’t know any life that is not about, ‘There’s a problem, what can I do to fix it?’”

She is one of many possible 2028 candidates taking to the midterm campaign trail to boost her standing with the electorate and try to show her campaign prowess ahead of the next presidential election.

Trump and Vance are stepping up their rallying efforts in swing states in the final week before the midterm elections.

Trump is scheduled to visit Corinth, Mississippi; Corpus Christi, Texas; Lubbock, Texas; Chillicothe, Ohio; Daytona, Florida; and Dubuque, Iowa. Vance will visit Belgrade, Montana; Topeka, Kansas; and Howell, Michigan.

All the states on the list except Michigan are typically considered safely red, indicating a tough fight for Republicans.

GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan— Abdul el Sayed turned his Sunday rally appearance with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) into a roast of his Republican Senate rival Mike Rogers and President Donald Trump.

El Sayed mocked Rogers for appearing to lose his earpiece during a Sunday morning television interview after Kristen Welker of NBC’s Meet the Press asked the former congressman whether a vote for him would amount to a vote for Trump’s agenda.

“After answering all of these questions just fine, he’s like, ‘I’m so sorry I lost my earpiece. What did you ask?’” el Sayed said, prompting laughter from the Grand Rapids crowd.

El Sayed then said he would answer the question for Rogers.

“Yes, a vote for Mike Rogers is a vote for Donald Trump’s agenda,” he said. “It always has been. It always will be.”

The jab came as Trump was campaigning with Rogers at a rally in Port Huron, where the president made a comment about rapper Nicki Minaj’s backside.

El Sayed seized on that, too.

“For whatever reason, this is like the third campaign stop in a row where Donald Trump can’t mention, can’t help but mention somebody’s a**,” he said. “You see that?”

The crowd laughed as el Sayed joked he would have to keep Trump away from him if he makes it to Washington.

El Sayed then pivoted back to the substance of the Senate race, telling voters to treat Trump as if he were on the ballot.

“I want everybody to vote like Donald Trump is on the ballot,” he said. “Because, friends, Donald Trump is on the ballot. Donald Trump’s war in Iran is on the ballot. Your gas prices are on the ballot. Your grocery prices are on the ballot. The ability to see a doctor is on the ballot.”

Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) said Sunday ousting War Secretary Pete Hegseth is his “priority No. 1” if the Democrats retake the House of Representatives in November’s midterm elections.

A member of the House Armed Services Committee, Crow was asked by Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation about reports that Director of National Intelligence Jay Clayton “received intelligence that Iran has substantially increased efforts to target U.S. personnel” in the Middle East.

“We know that the U.S. has drawn down from some military bases, some diplomatic posts,” she said. “What, if anything, can you tell us about this plot?”

“Iran remains a danger,” Crow said before attacking the administration’s handling of the Russia-Ukraine war and the conflict in Iran. “Pete Hegseth remains incompetent and is not doing what’s necessary to protect our service members, which is why he’s my priority No. 1 if we retake the majority, to make sure we oust him from the Pentagon, because our service members actually deserve competent, serious, real leadership that will protect them and do the right thing.”

Democrats are broadly expected to investigate members of the Trump administration and potentially attempt to impeach President Donald Trump himself if they retake the House. Brennan mentioned CBS News’s most recent polling, which shows “Democrats are on pace to have a narrow majority of about 11 seats.” She also asked Crow about a recent controversy involving Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), who faces Senate ethics complaints that argue she deterred young professionals from serving in the Trump administration after making comments at a university event.

“The key here is we don’t want people to want to go work for a corrupt administration to try to line their pockets, like that is not servant leadership,” Crow answered. “If the message being sent from Donald Trump is, hey, come work for me and you’ll get a lot out of it, and you’ll get rich doing it. That’s not actually public servants.” Trump told the Washington Examiner he is “allowed” to preemptively pardon junior staffers after being asked about a report on Saturday that said, “White House attorneys are evaluating whether to issue mass pardons to junior staffers.”

President Donald Trump complimented rap mogul Nicki Minaj’s body before she gave a speech at a campaign rally in Detroit on Sunday.

“By the way, I’ve looked at one hell of a beautiful a** before, Nicki Minaj,” Trump said to roaring applause after similarly praising Sen. Jon Husted’s (R-OH) physique, who Trump campaigned for earlier in the month. “That’s hard to miss. Stand up, that’s hard to miss,” he said as Minaj stood up and waved to the crowd.

Trump’s comment continued his run of mentioning campaign attendees’ bodies in moments that often draw laughter from crowds as he looks to shore up voter support ahead of November’s midterm elections. Minaj was in Detroit to campaign for Republican Michigan Senate nominee Mike Rogers and gubernatorial candidate John James.

Minaj eventually took the stage herself at the tail end of the rally, putting her emcee skills to good use and hyping up the crowd.

The Queen of Rap, as the president referred to her, led the crowd in call-and-response chants boosting both Rogers and James before detailing how she’s worked with the president’s team over the past year.

“We really need all of these great people to be elected because this is a major turning point for our country. And when you’re in major states like Michigan, we need this to be a leader in the movement that’s happening right now,” she declared. “So, President Trump, it is an honor to stand with you every single time, and I will continue to support you forever and ever. If you run again, I will support you again.”

“Look at it! Look at this! I mean, everybody, isn’t she great?” Trump added after Minaj left the stage. “She never looked more beautiful, and you see why everybody likes Nicki. Love, like, but she is a very, very special person. She gets it.”

President Donald Trump brought out an “Auto Workers For Trump” member at a campaign stop in Detroit on Sunday while campaigning for Republican Michigan Senate nominee Mike Rogers.

“They come over here to get emergency procedures done,” the man said of Canadians just across the border. “Because government-run healthcare sucks.”

Rogers’ Democratic opponent, Abdul el Sayed, has been criticized by Republicans for promoting a Medicare for All plan championed by socialists nationwide. The man also mentioned his private healthcare plan, saying “it’s the best in the country” and “we spent the last five decades negotiating for it.”

“Get over here, you, you union guy,” Trump said when he spotted the man “who has been with me since the beginning,” before inviting him onstage. Trump was discussing Audi’s Saturday announcement that it will open its first manufacturing plant in the United States in Macon, Georgia, when he invited the man onstage.

He drew loud applause from the crowd multiple times during his speech. “This guy’s the general, and we’re the soldiers,” he said of Trump, motivating attendees to vote and urge their family and friends to do the same.

Trump brought David Beamer, the father of United Flight 93 hero Todd Beamer, onstage in Michigan to attack el Sayed, the Democratic nominee for the state’s U.S. Senate seat.

The younger Beamer was immortalized by a phone call placed to his family just before he and other passengers rushed the cockpit and overpowered terrorists who had hijacked a third flight on 9/11. Beamer and the other passengers all died when United Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania.

The elder Beamer addressed Sunday’s crowd immediately after the rally was shown a montage of el Sayed discussing his support for controversial progressive Twitch streamer Hasan Piker.

“So I ask you, I ask you, Michigan, whatever your allegiance, if you’re a Republican, show up,” he implored the crowd before leading the crowd in chanting his son’s immortalized sign-off, “Let’s roll!”

PORT HURON, Michigan — President Donald Trump took his midterm campaign tour up to the border with Canada on Sunday afternoon for a rally backing former Rep. Mike Rogers and other downballot GOP candidates.

Port Huron is located directly across the St. Claire River from Ottawa. Attendees packed out the McMorran Place Sports & Entertainment Center, which has a standard capacity of just under 5,000, but several longtime Republicans and Trump supporters still voiced concern about elevated gas prices and the president’s tariffs.

Sue, a retiree from nearby Saint Claire, told the Washington Examiner that gas prices are, as of Sunday, 74 cents over the average for the area. Her neighbor, Scott, also retired, said that he supported the ongoing war in Iran but listed gas prices as a top three issue for him this cycle, alongside immigration and cross-border trade.

Kim, who now works in ad sales at a local news station, told the Washington Examiner that at her previous job, managing a jewelry store, cross-border customers from Canada were a godsend.

She added that, while she supports Trump and Rogers, she understands why affordability-focused rhetoric from Abdul el Sayed, the Democratic candidate, is resonating with voters.

“He’s very well spoken,” she explained, noting that, during his own visit to Port Huron on Oct. 6, he wore jeans and seemed like someone she could “relate to.”