US midterm elections ۲۰۲۶ live updates: polls begin to close as voters decide direction of Congress for remainder of Trump’s term

in Austin, Texas

There is a slow but steady flow of voters at the Austin Recreation Center in Austin, the Texas capital, which has emerged as one of the biggest battlegrounds of the midterm elections.

Maya Murshed, ۱۹, a student at the University of Texas, was voting for the first time in her life – but preferred not to say for whom. “It was a good experience. It felt good, being able to participate in it for the first time and voice what I want.”

Zach Garvey, a ۳۳-year-old software developer, said he approached the ballot as an independent voter, using nonpartisan online resources to evaluate each candidate. Ultimately, he backed Democrats down the ballot.

“I like to consider myself to be fairly nonpartisan. I’m looking for, do they promote individual liberty of a person like me maybe wanting to start a small business? And I feel like it ended up being Democrat after Democrat in the state.”

Garvey cited concerns over religious influence in public institutions and the platform of state Republicans as central to his decision. “I don’t particularly like a lot of the stuff that Ken Paxton is saying and I don’t like a lot of what the Texas Republican Party is doing right now.

“Economic freedom is as important as social liberties but I don’t feel like the current Republican party in Texas values that. It’s all large corporate profit above small businesses or religious dogmas that are being indoctrinated in our politics.”

Considering the prospect of a Democratic breakthrough in Texas after decades of Republican dominance, Garvey added:

It’ll be a shocker for sure. But it would make me very proud to be a Texan.

Heidi Gibbons, ۷۶, a retired nonprofit development director and Travis County Democratic precinct chair, recalled marching across the Congress Avenue Bridge after Ann Richards’s landmark victory in the ۱۹۹۰ gubernatorial election.

She said: “Democrats have heart and Democrats care. Paxton is busy breaking all the Ten Commandments. The person running against [James] Talarico is busy learning the Ten Commandments in seminary.”

Among those weighing their choices on election day was LaColby Tucker, ۲۹, a professional American football player currently filming a movie in Texas. Tucker voiced objections to Talarico, pointing to his Christian faith and interpretation of the Bible.

“He tries to make up his own thing and I don’t like that because he’ll try to say things basically the Bible says that aren’t true and he’ll make up his own stuff. I’m just going off the Bible.”

But with only hours left before the polls closed, Tucker admitted: “I don’t know who to vote for. I have to do my research. I’m not super into politics.”

Fabiola Cineas

in Columbus, Ohio

Throughout the afternoon, voters streamed out of Burbank Early Childhood School, a polling site located in a northwestern suburb of Columbus, Ohio. Many carried their “Ohio Voted” sticker in hand, with one first-time voter telling the Guardian he was excited to put the sticker in a special notebook to commemorate the moment.

As voters exited the school, voters shared their thoughts on the direction of the Buckeye State. The competitive senate race between Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican Jon Husted is a major test of whether Ohio will continue its rightward shift. Voters in the state chose Donald Trump in three consecutive presidential elections. The result of the race for the governor’s office between Republican Vivek Ramaswamy and Democrat Amy Acton will also signal whether Ohio can renew its title as a battleground state.

“We need more balanced power, not one party controlling all branches of the state. It should be divided power, not one party just being corrupt,” said Ranjan Manoranjan. “We should have a balanced Ohio to become a purple state instead of one color.”

His solution? Getting money out of politics. “Money has to be taken out of the elections.,” he said. “That’s the biggest problem we have. Private outside donors spending money in Ohio.”

Sunny Servoni, who has resided in Ohio since ۱۹۸۲ and is a self-described “Reagan Republican,” argued that Brown hadn’t done enough when he was previously in office for decades. Servoni voted for Ramaswamy because of his tax plan. “When you live on a fixed income, it’s all about lower taxes,” Servoni said. “My real estate taxes are killing me. I can’t afford $۱۲,۰۰۰ a year. That means I don’t eat one day a week.”

Jim Conrad felt that choosing between candidates on the left and on the right has grown increasingly difficult. “I’m tired of billionaires. The gap between the wealthiest and the poorest in this country has gotten bigger each year. [Ramaswamy] and Republicans in general don’t have compassion for the people who have the least,” he said. “On the other hand, I’m not crazy about the Democrats wanting to increase the budget to pay for things. It’s a difficult choice for people.”

Conrad has long voted as an independent, but felt powerless even between parties. “The trends in the world are going downhill. The weather change is causing people to move. There are nuclear weapons. There’s a war that nobody wants right now,” he said. “I was in the army during the Vietnam War. I thought that was a stupid war. I thought the Iraq War was a stupid war. We continue to do these stupid wars.”

Amy Barker, an immigrant from England who became a citizen three years ago, was thrilled to vote in the election. “I take my privilege and responsibility to vote seriously,” she said. Since gaining the right to vote in US elections, she has so far voted for Democrats. “You have to vote for your principles over your party,” she said. “The principles of most of the Democrats, not all of them, are aligning more with what I believe the country needs.”

in Rochester, New Hampshire

Rebecca Connors, ۴۹, is an independent, but today, she said, she voted “very Democratic”. Speaking outside her polling location during the after-work crush in Rochester, a small town in New Hampshire’s seacoast region, she said she voted blue to send a message of disapproval to Donald Trump, whose favorability is at a record low in the Granite State.

Trump was the first reason Connors gave for going out to vote, saying, “He’s wreaking havoc.” But she also cited the top issues driving many voters to the polls, like the cost of living. “I want the economy to come back down again. I want to be able to get gas for below $۳.۵۰,” said Connors. “We work hard every day, and yet, we can’t get ahead.”

She added that it was important for the democratic process to put some “checks and balances” on Trump, and she wanted elected officials who would question him, “as opposed to getting down on their hands and knees and kissing his feet.”

Connors was also concerned about her LGBTQ+ loved ones, who she fears are more vulnerable under Republican control, and about ICE, which she believes should be disbanded.

After this morning’s announcement that the Trump administration was sending Department of Justice monitors to all ۵۰ states, Connors was even afraid to vote, citing the current political environment. “There’s no reason you should be doing that,” she said of the decision to send in monitors.

The state of the country right now scares me, because I feel as though this administration has fostered animosity and hatred … I just hope there’s some changes coming.

David Smith

in Austin, Texas

Greetings from the Austin Recreation Center in Austin, Texas, where Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic candidate for governor, greeted supporters clutching “Save our schools” signs to highlight cuts to public education.

No Democrat has won a Texas gubernatorial election since Ann Richards in ۱۹۹۰, but Hinojosa, running against the incumbent Republican governor Greg Abbott, insisted that “everything is different” this time.

She told reporters: “For one, Greg Abbott had never seen a poll that he was losing ever before when he ran for governor. I don’t know, there’s been like ۱۵? I mean, so many. This election is within the margin of error and it is because Greg Abbot has done so much damage to public schools.

“It is because what he has done to public schools is one example of a governor doing the bidding of the moneyed interests and not the people of Texas. Datacentres are another example. There are people all across the state very angry at this governor who no longer fears the voters and voters are fighting back in this election.”

Asked how critical the Latino vote will be in this campaign, Hinojosa, ۵۲, a civil rights and labour lawyer, replied: “It’s huge. Look, we know that when Beto [O’Rourke] ran in ۲۰۱۸ and came so close as a Democrat to winning [a Senate race], he got ۶۴% of the Latino vote. When I get that I win because there’s more of us in the voting population than there were then.

“Latino voters are angry about what we’re all angry about. They’re angry about schools. They’re angry about this high cost economy, which is harder to make it today than it was ۱۲ years ago before Greg Abbott. They’re angry about the corruption and they are angry about being treated less Texan, less American than everybody else. That’s why you see Latinos turning out in big numbers.”

The majority of polls in Indiana and Kentucky have now closed. As parts of both states are also in the central time zone, some polling places will remain open until ۷pm ET.

Here’s an hour-by-hour guide to when election sites across the country will shut throughout the night:

As polls begin to close on election night, some early House and Senate races could indicate which way the election is trending – whether Democrats are set for the blowout they’re hoping for, or whether Republicans will defy the polls and hold onto control of Congress.

There’s a strong possibility we won’t have an idea which party will come out on top until tomorrow or later this week. But these states might provide some early signs (timings are in ET):

It’s almost ۶pm ET on Tuesday ۳ November, and the first round of polls in the US midterm elections are about to close. After months of campaigning, debate and analysis, Americans have been casting their ballots in these critical elections that will take the political temperature of the nation halfway through Donald Trump’s second term – and determine the trajectory of the remainder of his presidency.

Americans, who have already voted early in record numbers and are turning out in numbers significantly outstripping the totals from the ۲۰۲۲ midterms, will decide the balance of power in Congress and, therefore, Trump’s ability to advance his agenda for the next two years.

With the US president almost unprecedentedly unpopular, Democrats are aiming for what would be stunning victories in seats where, for decades, turning blue would have been unthinkable. Trump is not on the ballot, but this election is very much a referendum on the direction of the country under his Republican party.

Results will soon begin trickling in for what will be a defining moment for American democracy, so stick with us as we bring you all the latest news, analyses and commentary as it all unfolds.