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Midterms underway as Cook map favors Democrats in House, Senate toss-ups
States Newsroom reports more than 57 million early votes ahead of Tuesday's midterms, with Cook ratings favoring Democrats in the House and listing several Senate races as toss-ups.
Americans are voting Tuesday in the 2026 midterm elections that will decide control of Congress, with more than 57 million ballots already cast as of Monday, according to the University of Florida Election Lab as reported by States Newsroom and carried across its state sites1.
Polls close between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. local time, and federal law allows people already in line at closing to vote, the same report said1.
Republicans hold both chambers as President Donald Trump's second term began, the network noted, while also stating that the president's party has typically lost seats in midterms1.
Election forecasters cited by States Newsroom have favored Democrats to win the House, which would give them more power over legislation1.
The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, as summarized in that account, projects Democrats to pick up a Senate seat in North Carolina and lists six Republican-held races as toss-ups: Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Ohio and Texas1.
Democrats are defending an open Michigan Senate seat that Cook moved Monday from toss-up to leaning toward Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, according to the same copy1.
Analysts cited in the report have also said Democrats could take the Senate, which would let them block appointments, including a possible Supreme Court vacancy1.
States Newsroom said a federal judge on Sunday rejected a Trump administration lawsuit seeking to pause Alaska's U.S. Senate election after a New York Times report on a same-name candidate in that race, which the network said it had not independently verified1.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied a Justice Department request to force California to set aside about 20,000 ballots the administration said it suspected were from noncitizens, the report said1.
Other cases, including Democratic efforts to keep armed federal officials away from polling places, were still in court on Election Day, according to the same account1.
Rep. Joe Morelle, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, told reporters last week that more than 100 Senate staffers and 300 House staffers were trained as election monitors for 60 or 70 close races, States Newsroom reported1.
Control of the House was not projected until eight days after Election Day in 2022 and nine days after in 2024, the network said, adding that some 2026 races could take weeks because of state counting rules1.