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

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.

Ohio’s Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy isn’t backing down from his ad featuring Democratic candidate 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 he sexually abused Acton when she was a child, called Acton a liar. When asked on Fox News’s Fox & Friends Monday morning if 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. 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,” Ramaswamy said.

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.

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“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.

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.”

President Donald Trump on Sunday said he was worried Alaska voters will be confused when casting their votes Nov. 3 due to some possibly not knowing what the incumbent label means on the ranked choice ballot.

Trump has repeatedly taken issue with Alaska’s ranked choice voting system, particularly as two candidates named Daniel Sullivan will appear on the ballot. The incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan will be listed as such and labeled as a registered Republican, while the challenger will be listed as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.

“People are totally confused,” Trump said. “They shouldn’t be confused when voting. At least let him use the name ‘Sen. Dan Sullivan’ as opposed to incumbent because a lot of people don’t know what incumbent means.”

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Alaska Democratic Senate nominee Mary Peltola was injured in a car crash Saturday night, leading the challenger to postpone her campaign stops just nine days before voters head to the polls in the Last Frontier.

Peltola was headed to the Alaska Federation of Natives Annual Banquet when the car transporting her and her family was struck by another driver, according to her campaign.

“Mary and her family sustained minor injuries but are in good spirits,” campaign manager Cheryl Bruce said in a statement. “Unfortunately, per the advice of medical professionals, Mary’s upcoming events in Fairbanks and Bethel will be rescheduled for later in the week as she takes time to recover.”

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Attorney General Todd Blanche declined to detail the circumstances leading up to the Department of Justice filing a lawsuit challenging the results of Alaska’s Senate race because two candidates share the same name.

Blanche appeared on two different programs Sunday morning and was asked about President Donald Trump saying he directed the DOJ to pursue a legal challenge if the Senate race is affected by “voter confusion” related to incumbent Sen. Daniel S. Sullivan (R-AK) and former Forest Service employee Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. both being on the ranked choice ballot.

The attorney general appeared on CNN’s Face the Nation on Sunday and reaffirmed that he does not disclose his private conversations with the president. He also disputed the idea that Trump’s concerns about Alaska’s ranked choice voting system are new.

“I will never talk about any communications I have with the president of the United States,” Blanche said. “But what I will say is that the president is not shy to the American people and has been very clear with the American people about his concerns about what’s happening in Alaska.”

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Michigan Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers broke with President Donald Trump on Sunday, declining to agree with the president calling Democrat Abdul el Sayed a “vicious, violent jihadist.”

Rogers rejected the idea that he has referred to his opponent in such a manner, telling NBC’s Kristen Welker he has “never” called el Sayed a terrorist. Welker then pressed Rogers about Trump’s language regarding el Sayed, asking if it was up to his standard.

“No, I don’t — I’ve never called him a terrorist. I’ve never called him a terrorist,” Rogers said.

However, Rogers said on Oct. 10 that Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy calling el Sayed a terrorist was “exactly right” and released a statement following the primary elections that claimed el Sayed “pledged his support to the Muslim Brotherhood,” four branches of which the United States has designated terrorist organizations.

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Democratic Iowa Senate candidate Josh Turek unveiled a new ad on Saturday rejecting transgender women’s participation in women’s sports, pushing back on a blitz of Republican attack ads just over a week before Election Day.

Turek, a Paralympic gold medalist in wheelchair basketball, says in the ad, “As a kid in a wheelchair, I faced my share of bullying. It’s why I believe that no Iowan should face discrimination. As a Paralympian, I also know it’s important to have rules. It’s why I oppose males competing in female sports, something that is already illegal in Iowa.”

“I’m against taxpayers paying for sex changes too. Anyone tells you any different is lying. … It’s time to stop the nonsense from both extremes and start to focus on lowering costs for Iowans,” he concludes.

The ad follows an Elon Musk-funded attack ad on Turek claiming the candidate voted to use tax dollars to fund sex change surgeries for children.

Turek is in a toss-up race against Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) for the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA).