Overview
- Tuesday's vote renews all 435 House seats, 35 Senate seats and 36 governorships and is widely framed as a referendum on President Trump.
- Early returns are arriving as polls close in different states and exit polls are scheduled for around 23:00 Italian time, but final results may take hours or days to settle.
- Procedural rules such as Alaska's ranked‑choice system and large mail‑ballot counts in California and Washington can slow tallies and require later rounds of counting.
- Aggregated forecasts and late polls show Democrats with advantages in pivotal contests, raising the prospect they could retake one or both chambers if margins hold.
- Campaigns spent a record amount on ads, including extensive AI‑generated spots, and control of Congress would quickly affect nominations, oversight and foreign‑policy funding.