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

Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) is campaigning for reelection with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, moving their relationship forward after Albany initially held the socialist mayor at arm’s length last year.

As Republican Bruce Blakeman looks to oust Hochul from the governor’s mansion, Mamdani and Hochul are set to rally supporters in Brooklyn on Friday and Sunday, according to Politico.

The development comes after Hochul, known as more of an Old Guard member of the Democratic Party, waited until weeks before last year’s mayoral election to back Mamdani for the office. In the months since, she has cast herself as the moderate buffer to his socialist vision for New York, while rejecting an “enemy” role for the mayor.

The pair’s relationship progressed in early February, when Mamdani endorsed Hochul’s bid for reelection. In April, the two moved closer when Hochul unveiled a proposal for a new tax on residents who own second homes in New York City that are worth $5 million or more, after previously rejecting Mamdani’s efforts to hike taxes on the rich.

President Donald Trump said on Friday he would protect Elon Musk from government weaponization if Democrats regain control of one or both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections.

Asked by a reporter if he’s concerned about Democrats going after Musk, Trump explained that “we have to protect our brilliant people because we don’t have too many of them.”

The SpaceX CEO has drawn criticism from Democrats over his handling of Ukraine’s access to Starshield, a military-grade satellite network similar to Starlink. Musk reportedly ordered a slowdown of the Starshield system, limiting Ukraine’s ability to use the network for military operations.

Democrats threatened to take congressional action over Musk’s alleged efforts to hamper Ukraine in its war with Russia. Such a congressional probe is dependent on whether Democrats can retake the House or the Senate.

“Elon said nothing wrong. Elon is a very good guy. He’s a very different kind of a guy,” Trump said. “But I think people have an obligation to protect our geniuses. You know, there aren’t that many of them.”

Musk has proven to be a strong ally of Trump and other Republicans, having spent up to $442 million on the election cycle. His latest contribution, totaling $76 million, was sent to his own America PAC in the first half of October.

President Donald Trump said Friday that he is eager to headline a campaign rally this weekend in Michigan, where he gets to talk about progressive Democrat Abdul el Sayed.

“I look so forward to Michigan, and I think it’s going to be wild,” Trump told reporters. “Because he’s a total phony, he’s a little phony. And everything about him is fake, and he’s a liar.”

The president called el Sayed a “vicious, violent jihadist” who poses as a centrist.

“I can talk about a man who’s a Muslim Brotherhood person, who’s a jihadist, and he can’t be in our Senate,” Trump said.

El Sayed denounced the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt in 1928, after Republicans tried to tie him to the group.

The rally will take place Sunday in Port Huron, Michigan. Trump is expected to stump for Republican Mike Rogers, who is running against el Sayed for the Senate. Rogers previously represented Michigan in the House from 2001 to 2015 and unsuccessfully challenged now-Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) in 2024.

At least four Senate Democrats plan to headline a post-election event, called Popular Mandate, in Washington.

The Nov. 10 event will come exactly one week after Election Day, when Democrats may retake control of the House and even the Senate.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Chris Murphy (D-CT), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Andy Kim (D-NJ) will attend the event, joining prominent progressive leaders and policy experts in reflecting on the election results. CNN reported the event details.

The event is being organized by progressive economic think tanks Groundwork Action, Public Citizen, Roosevelt Forward, and Fighting Corporate Monopolies.

“Americans aren’t casting their ballots for half-measures or moral victories – they want leaders who will bring down costs, hold corporate bad actors accountable, and make billionaires pay their fair share,” Groundwork Action President and CEO Lindsay Owens said in a statement.

Democrats are preparing to hold other events following the midterm elections. For instance, Majority Democrats will host a Nov. 12-14 summit in Denver, where possible 2028 presidential candidates are expected to be in attendance.

President Donald Trump argued at length with a reporter over a question about Ohio Republican Vivek Ramaswamy’s attack ad that featured his gubernatorial opponent’s mother, which has caused disagreement within the Republican Party.

“Why wouldn’t you listen to a mother that says that?” Trump told NBC News White House correspondent Monica Alba on Friday outside the White House. In the one-minute video, Donna Arthur repeatedly called her daughter, Amy Acton, a liar.

In response, Alba tried to say that Arthur “stayed with a stepfather who was charged with raping his stepdaughter in 1978.” The president kept interrupting her.

“You just keep talking,” he said. She responded, “I am answering you, sir.”

Trump went on to say he doesn’t “know anything about stepfathers” before giving a long-winded defense of the ad.

“I know that recently a mother got on television and said that her daughter should not be governor of Ohio,” Trump told reporters. “And she said, ‘I love my daughter, but my daughter lies all the time and lied about her opponent, and I can’t watch it.'”

“This has nothing to do with the stepfather or anything else,” he continued. “This has to do with the fact that a woman got out, the mother of a person running for governor of one of the greatest states, where I set records, and said that she’s a liar. Her daughter’s a liar. She said her daughter lied about Vivek, and the mother couldn’t take it anymore. She basically said her daughter should not … be the governor of Ohio.”

Warren Norman, the son of Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), announced Friday that he will not be sharing his father’s support for Sen. Darline Graham (R-SC) in the general election.

Instead, Warren Norman will be voting for Democratic Senate nominee Annie Andrews.

“I didn’t make that decision lightly, and it isn’t personal,” he wrote in an op-ed for South Carolina news outlet FITSNews. “Senator Graham lost her brother this year, and I have nothing but sympathy for her family. My decision comes down to what I believe South Carolina needs in a senator, and what I’ve seen get in the way.”

“What we need is strength, courage and real leadership,” he continued. “We need senators with the backbone to stand up to pressure from both parties, including their own, and the commitment to root out corruption wherever they find it. My family has been involved in politics for years, and I’ve seen firsthand how rare that is. The pressure to go along to get along is enormous, and it is strongest at the top.”

The congressman’s son went on to say that while he disagrees with Andrews on certain issues, they agree on “fighting corruption and reforming insurance.” He added that she appeared “genuine” in his conversation with her.

“As of today, I’m leaning her way,” he said. “It will be the first time in my life I’ve voted for a Democrat in a partisan election.”

While he will be voting for Andrews in the Senate election, Warren Norman noted he will still support South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson for governor and other Republicans up and down the ballot.

His stance on Graham is slightly different from that of his father, who ambivalently supports the senator after losing to her in South Carolina’s Republican primary runoff election. The congressman recently said he will vote for the interim senator but not campaign with her.

“I would not do an event with her, and I made that pretty clear,” Norman said in a Wednesday radio interview with The Nashional Briefing with Kelly Nash, two days before his son’s op-ed was published. “When I conceded the race, I called her and congratulated her, but that’s the only time I’ve spoken with her.”

Warren Norman also revealed his family won’t vote for Graham. He has four adult children with his longtime wife.

President Donald Trump will vote Saturday morning in Florida, according to a White House aide.

Trump and first lady Melania Trump will be taking advantage of Florida’s early-voting period, which lasts until Oct. 31.

The president previously voted by mail twice in the red state this year before the midterm elections got well underway.

Trump is campaigning Friday in Fort Myers at a midterm rally, where he will reiterate his support for Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) for governor.

Six Democratic Minnesota state senators released a statement late Thursday in advance of Twitch streamer Hasan Piker’s scheduled appearance on socialist state Sen. Omar Fateh’s podcast.

The state lawmakers said they “strongly object to giving a platform and legitimacy to Hasan Piker, a nationally known Jew-hater, homophobe, and misogynist,” citing his past controversial statements.

The statement was signed by Minnesota state Sens. Ron Latz, John Hoffman, Matt Klein, Steve Cwodzinski, Ann Rest, and Jim Carlson.

“The undersigned DFL members of the Minnesota Senate reject his messages of hate and urge the cancellation of his appearance on the podcast,” they wrote. “Hate — and Piker — are not welcome here!”

Piker is set to join Fateh and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) on Fateh’s I’m the Host Now show on Monday.

Other Minnesota lawmakers, this time House Republicans, also condemned Piker’s scheduled appearance with Fateh and Omar.

“Hasan Piker has repeatedly made reprehensible statements that deserve unequivocal condemnation, not a platform alongside elected officials,” Reps. Brad Finstad (R-MN), Tom Emmer (R-MN), Michelle Fischbach (R-MN), and Pete Stauber (R-MN) said in a joint statement on Thursday. “It is deeply troubling that Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and State Senator Omar Fateh would choose to elevate someone with his record, and every elected Democrat in the State of Minnesota must join us in rejecting his hateful and violence-ridden rhetoric.”

Omar is facing an intense investigation led by the Trump administration regarding her U.S. citizenship. She says the investigation is politically motivated because it comes so close to the election.

Texas Democrat James Talarico has received millions of more dollars from major donors in the first half of October.

Among the most notable donors contributing to Talarico’s super PAC were former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg with $2.5 million, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman with another $5 million, and Texas personal injury attorney Thomas J. Henry with $1 million. Additionally, the Democratic-aligned Senate Majority PAC gave $1 million in support of Talarico.

The donation from Henry is notable, considering he formerly backed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the Lone Star State’s Republican primary election before switching to Talarico’s side. Meanwhile, Hoffman has given a total of $16.5 million to the Democratic candidate.

At a campaign event this week, Talarico boasted that his candidacy is “funded by 1.3 million individuals who have donated their hard-earned money to our campaign,” whereas his Republican opponent is primarily bankrolled by “one dude” named Elon Musk.

Elon Musk poured an additional $76 million into his own America PAC in the first two weeks of October as the midterm elections heat up.

The latest contribution brings his total spending this election cycle to over $442 million, considerably more than the roughly $290 million he spent in 2024 to support President Donald Trump and other Republicans.

Musk is considered the largest single donor this election cycle, drawing criticism from Texas Democrat James Talarico earlier this week. The Senate candidate said the Tesla and SpaceX chief executive was “trying to buy” the open Senate seat in Texas by donating between $158 million and $190 million to back Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Musk made the contributions to Paxton primarily through the Senate Leadership Fund, which sent the money to the pro-Paxton Texas PAC. The world’s richest man also contributed to Paxton’s Senate campaign through the Lone Star Liberty PAC and the America PAC, which he founded during the 2024 election cycle.

Keisha Lance Bottoms and David Jolly, the respective Democratic gubernatorial nominees in Georgia and Florida, are campaigning together at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee on Friday.

The two candidates will appear at a joint Get Out the Vote rally, where they will be joined by director and producer Will Packer. Florida A&M University is Bottoms’s alma mater.

In a media advisory, Jolly’s campaign said the Tallahassee-Thomasville media market reaches “voters across ten counties in Georgia and nine counties in Florida.”

Bottoms and Jolly are joining forces less than two weeks before Election Day. Bottoms is facing businessman Rick Jackson in Georgia’s gubernatorial race, and Jolly is challenging Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) for the governor’s mansion in Florida.

Both parties in Michigan are turning to some of their biggest names in the final stretch, seeking to consolidate their coalitions while reaching voters who could decide the outcome.

Former President Barack Obama will campaign for Democratic nominee Abdul el Sayed on Saturday. The following day, President Donald Trump will headline a rally for Republican nominee Mike Rogers and others. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) will also be in Grand Rapids on Sunday to campaign for el Sayed, while Rogers is set to join Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) next week for a discussion aimed at Jewish voters.

“Michigan is a fascinating race because we’re watching two very different political coalitions try to accomplish the same thing: energize their bases without scaring away the voters in the middle,” campaign expert Michael Fahey told the Washington Examiner. “Obama, Trump, Sanders, and Cruz are all descending on the same state, and that tells you everything you need to know about how important this Senate seat has become. Nobody is flying these people in because the race is comfortable.”

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OPINION — Democrats lost control of Washington in 2024 because they were living in a bubble. Trump’s comeback from the depths of Jan. 6 to the heights of a popular vote victory couldn’t be spun or explained away. Democrats had to face it.

As they searched their souls, Trump stormed into Washington and had his way with it. And it didn’t take him long to alienate the voters who had just handed him a mandate to clean up the Democrats’ mess. Chaotic ICE raids, whiplash tariffs, a ballroom funded by companies with business before the government, a military parade on his birthday, a $400 million gift jet from Qatar, pardons for the Jan. 6 rioters: The list of self-inflicted wounds goes on.

The sheer amount of activity in Trump’s second term overwhelmed, stupefied, and ultimately numbed even his own supporters: the perfect condition for a bubble to form. And a thick one did.

At the midpoint of Trump’s second term, the MAGA movement has lost all sense of how it is perceived by normal people: Those who don’t obsessively follow politics and just want lower prices and a president who doesn’t embarrass them.

Read more from Peter Laffin.

Mississippi hasn’t sent a Democrat to the Senate since 1982, but what was long considered an untouchable state, punctuated by President Donald Trump’s 24-point victory two years ago, is now raising eyebrows as a possibly competitive seat in the midterm elections.

Trump will rally voters Monday in the Magnolia State to reelect Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) just as Democrats and election watchers are paying closer attention to what was once an unthinkable seat to flip for Democrat Scott Colom.

Democrats have outspent Republicans on the Mississippi airwaves with roughly $7.5 million to the GOP’s less than $4.9 million, according to ad tracking firm AdImpact. Republicans are taking notice of Democrats’ last-minute cash infusion, including $1.2 million from a group aligned with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). The GOP counterpart, Senate Leadership Fund, responded with its own ad buy of more than $1 million.

Colom took the unusual step to challenge the president to a debate and accused Hyde-Smith, who is seeking a second full term, of running “scared, and that’s why she’s sending Donald Trump down here.”

Read more about the Mississippi race.