2026 Midterm Elections: Live updates

Republican Sen. Susan Collins’ campaign office in Biddeford, Maine, was vandalized overnight, with red paint splashed across the entrance and “BLOOD on her HANDS” scrawled on the steps. The incident comes as Collins is vying for her sixth term in a closely watched race today against Democrat Troy Jackson. It was the second attack on the office in two months. Vandals also targeted the building in September, while Collins said her Bangor home was egged that month.

“This is another incident in a series and the second attempt at our Biddeford office to intimidate the Senator and her staff,” Collins’ chief of staff Katie Brown told CNBC in a statement. These tactics are disturbing, but not effective. Our staff is undeterred and on the job.”

— Luke Fountain

The North Carolina State Board of Elections is set to meet at 2 p.m. ET to discuss extending voting times in a handful of counties.

The board called an emergency session because voting was delayed in five counties. Most of the delays were due to technical issues.

If voting is extended in the affected counties, there could be a delay in the state reporting election results.

— Dan Mangan

Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek is hoping to score an upset against GOP Rep. Ashley Hinson in a former swing state that has more recently been dominated by Republicans. Iowa hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate since 2008, but Trump’s tariffs and high diesel and fertilizer prices caused in part by the war in Iran have hurt the state’s agricultural industry and helped put the state in play. The Cook Report rates the race a “Toss Up.”

— Justin Papp

A win for Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in the Senate race against former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers could be a boost to the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. A loss could be a blow for Democrats’ left flank, of which El-Sayed is the most prominent candidate this cycle.

— Justin Papp

With voters heading to the polls Tuesday morning, Trump took to Fox News to make a surprising policy announcement: that he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had agreed to end U.S. aid to Israel by the end of the year.

“They don’t need it,” Trump said in a phone interview on Fox & Friends, referring to the roughly $4 billion in aid the U.S. sends Israel annually.

“Why should we suffer the slings from lunatics like [Democratic Senate nominee in Michigan Abdul] El-Sayed when they don’t need it?” Trump added.

The unusually timed remarks signaled a shift for Trump, who has closely allied himself with Israel and recently endorsed Netanyahu for reelection.

But they apparently weren’t throwaway lines: The official X account for Trump’s political operation, Trump War Room, touted the policy shift following the Fox appearance.

The president’s Election Day comments came as polls show Americans souring on Israel amid the war in Iran and Tel Aviv’s military actions in Gaza, leading some commentators to wonder if the move was a last-ditch bid for votes.

“It sure looks like he’s pandering to the anti-Israel sentiment that’s developing in Congress, doesn’t it?” Fox Business’s Stuart Varney asked on air later Tuesday. “I mean, is he really trying to win some votes at the last minute with this?”

— Kevin Breuninger

Rep. DelBene told CNBC that she’s watching Kentucky’s 6th congressional district, where Democrat Zach Dembo faces Republican Ralph Alvarado, to gauge how the night could go for Democrats.

“This is a Trump +15 district. It is absolutely in play, and it’ll be one of the first House battleground districts where polls are closing really early at 6 p.m.,” the DCCC chair said.

— Justin Papp

Inflation reaccelerated as the election drew closer, according to the latest government data reports.

The consumer price index, a broad basket of goods and services tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, climbed 3.7% year over year in September. The index was driven higher by a surge in energy prices amid the war with Iran.

Spiking energy prices also drove the producer price index, a measure of underlying inflationary pressures, up 6.3% on the year, its sharpest 12-month gain since 2022. The gauge of wholesaler inflation rose 1.3% from August to September alone.

— Alex Harring

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash, said in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday that Election Day would “be the end of the Trump era and the beginning of a government that should be working for the people.”

DelBene said she was confident Democrats would win a House majority, but was “paranoid” about potential Republican attempts to undermine the election. 

“I want to make sure we’re looking out for anything they might try,” DelBene said.

— Justin Papp

Guam ousted its Republican congressional delegate, marking the first Democratic flip of the midterms, according to the U.S. territory’s unofficial election results.

Democrat Alicia Limtiaco beat incumbent GOP Del. James Moylan for the seat, which is empowered to perform many of the functions of a U.S. House representative but cannot vote on the final passage of legislation.

Limtiaco won by about 2.2 percentage points, the unofficial results show — a big swing toward Democrats from 2024, when Moylan trounced his opponent by nearly six points.

However, Republican Vicente “Tony” Ada won Guam’s election for governor, beating Democrat Therese Terlaje. Ada will succeed Democratic incumbent Lou Guerrero, who did not run for reelection.

Trump, in a Truth Social post Tuesday afternoon, congratulated Ada without mentioning Limtiaco’s victory.

“Wow, hopefully that’s an indication for things to come!” Trump wrote.

— Kevin Breuninger

The Texas Senate race features embattled Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton and Democratic state Rep. James Talarico in the most expensive race of the cycle. Talarico is trying to become the first Democrat elected statewide in Texas since 1994. Paxton has been hobbled by a series of scandals, but has benefited from a massive influx of cash from Elon Musk. The Cook Report listed the race a “toss up.”

— Justin Papp

GOP Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick is a moderate running for reelection in Pennsylvania’s 1st Congressional District, which voted for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris but has long eluded Democrats and could be a bellwether on Election Day. Fitzpatrick has repeatedly outperformed his party in the swing seat.

Originally listed as a “likely R” race by the Cook Report, Democratic nominee Bob Harvie, a former Bucks County commissioner and high school teacher, has narrowed the gap. Earlier in October, the Cook Report shifted the rating in Harvie’s favor, to “lean R.”

— Justin Papp

The first polls close starting at 6 p.m. ET, when voting ends for some races in Indiana and Kentucky, according to the Associated Press. Large waves of results could come when polls close in a number of states starting at 8 p.m. ET, but voting doesn’t end until polls close in Alaska at 1 a.m. ET.

Here is when polls begin to close in each state (all times ET):

• 6 p.m.: Indiana*, Kentucky*
• 7 p.m.: Florida*, Georgia, New Hampshire*, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia
• 7:30 p.m.: North Carolina, Ohio, West Virginia
• 8 p.m.: Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Illinois, Kansas*, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan*, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, North Dakota*, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota*, Tennessee, Texas*
• 8:30 p.m.: Arkansas
• 9 p.m.: Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Wisconsin, Wyoming
• 10 p.m.: Idaho*, Montana, Nevada, Oregon*, Utah
• 11 p.m.: California, Washington
• 12 a.m.: Hawaii
• 1 a.m.: Alaska

* Some polls in the state will close later.

— Caleigh Keating

The Department of Justice is sending out approximately 1,000 election monitors who, for the first time ever, will be present at voting jurisdictions in all 50 states.

The DOJ said in a press release that it has sent election monitors to help ensure election integrity and fairness since the enactment of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. But this year’s effort is the department’s “largest monitoring effort in history,” it said.

The list of jurisdictions, which includes many heavily Democratic-leaning areas, was revealed as the Trump administration’s efforts to influence states’ handling of their elections have already spurred multiple ongoing lawsuits.

The monitors include personnel from the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, which is coordinating the effort, along with other areas of the department, including U.S. attorney’s offices, and observers from the Office of Personnel Management, according to the press release.

“Election integrity has been one of the top priorities for this Administration and this Division,” said Harmeet Dhillon, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, in a statement included in that release. “I am very proud we are deploying the largest monitoring effort in DOJ history, and pursuing transparency for elections in an assertive and nondiscriminatory manner.”

— Kevin Breuninger

Voters have consistently ranked high costs as a top issue of the midterms, and the latest data from gas-price tracker GasBuddy helps illustrate why.

National average gas and diesel prices are at the highest levels ever seen on an Election Day, according to Patrick De Haan, GasBuddy’s head of petroleum analysis.

Gas is at $4.12 per gallon on average, while diesel is fetching $6.28 per gallon, De Haan said in an X post Tuesday morning.

Energy prices have sharply risen this year, following attacks on Iran that the U.S. and Israel launched in late February.

“Trump got in his own way,” De Haan recently told CNBC. “Back in December, we predicted that 2026 was going to be the cheapest year for gas since 2020. That required no effort. And obviously, it hasn’t gone that way.”

— Kevin Breuninger

A statewide win in Texas has eluded Democrats since the 1990s, but they’re hopeful the losing streak will end on Tuesday.

Democratic state Rep. James Talarico is in a tight race against GOP Attorney General Ken Paxton for a Senate seat. State Rep. Gina Hinojosa is challenging Republican incumbent Greg Abbott for governor, with Abbott favored to win.

Hinojosa and Talarico are the two best shots Democrats have had at winning statewide in Texas since Beto O’Rourke lost by less than 3 percentage points to Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018.

— Justin Papp

Despite Tuesday’s mixed picture, stocks have had a positive year. The S&P 500 has advanced by more than 10% in 2026, while the Dow and Nasdaq Composite gained about 8% and 9%, respectively.

Follow live market updates here.

— Alex Harring, Sean Conlon

Voters in Westchester County, New York, reported experiencing problems getting their paper ballots scanned at polling sites.

The Westchester County Board of Elections said it was aware of the issue, urged voters to remain in line and said paper ballots would be placed in “designated orange emergency ballot bags, which will remain secure and monitored.”

“These ballots will subsequently be counted in accordance with applicable election procedures,” the board said. “No voter should be discouraged from participating in this election because of this issue. Your voice matters. Your vote matters.”

Westchester is located to the north of New York City.

— Dan Mangan

Consumers have reported feeling increasingly pessimistic about the state of the economy over the last year. The question now is whether that discontent will affect how they vote.

The University of Michigan’s closely followed consumer sentiment index dropped about 10% in September compared with a year ago. The index fell to all-time lows earlier this year.

The Conference Board said consumer confidence hit its lowest level since 2014 in September. Confidence rebounded in October, which the Conference Board attributed in part to easing gas prices.

— Alex Harring

Democrats are competing for Senate seats in traditionally red states such as Kansas, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas where GOP candidate quality and Trump’s low favorability have hampered Republicans.

Meanwhile, the GOP looks competitive in New Hampshire and Minnesota, where Democrats tend to dominate but are in tight races against formidable Republican opponents.

— Justin Papp

Economists and monetary policymakers have largely described today’s job market as stable but not booming, setting the backdrop for today’s elections.

The unemployment rate in September came in at 4.2%, down from 4.4% a year prior. Jobless claims in recent weeks have fallen to around their lowest since the 1960s.

Still, there are some worrying signs beneath the surface. For instance, the number of people classified as long-term unemployed — those who have been out of a job for at least 27 weeks — has surged this year. That’s a feature of what many economists have described as a “low-hire, low-fire” job market, in which companies are reluctant to both lay off staff and bring on new employees.

Average hourly earnings rose 3% in September compared with a year prior, marking the slowest 12-month increase since 2021. But consumer prices climbed 3.7% in the same period, meaning shoppers had less purchasing power compared with a year ago.

— Alex Harring

Tuesday’s elections could be a referendum on Trump, whose policies have angered voters and weighed down Republicans. Losses in the House or Senate, or both, could derail his legislative agenda as he enters his final two years in office. And a poor GOP performance would likely usher in an era of intense congressional oversight aimed at Trump, his associates and companies that have cozied up to the administration in the last two years.

— Justin Papp