2026 elections live updates on final day of midterm voting to determine Senate and House control

In his final rally before Election Day, Democratic pastor Adam Hamilton acknowledged that his bid to represent Kansas in the Senate hinges on the state's voters making a history-defying decision.

"The last time a Democrat was elected from Kansas to the United States Senate, Amelia Earhart flew across the Atlantic Ocean for the very first time," he said at an event next door to Church of the Resurrection, the large Methodist church outside Kansas City that he has led for decades.

To defeat Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, Hamilton will need to win over an electorate that backed President Trump by double-digit margins in all three of his presidential runs. He leaned hard into bipartisanship during Monday's rally.

"If I get elected tomorrow night, I'm going to become Jerry Moran's best friend," he said, referring to the state's other Republican senator. "Because I want to model from Kansas for the rest of our country: This is what it looks like when a Republican and Democrat work together. I'm going to work the Democratic side of the aisle. He's going to work the Republican side of the aisle, and we're going to get things done."

His speech focused on the cost of living, healthcare and "decency."

"We've got a lot of people who've lost their freaking minds. They are no longer asking questions like, 'Is this right? Is it decent? Is this good? Is it moral?'" he said.

CBS News spoke to Hamilton supporter Cherri Shannon, who said she and her husband have knocked on doors for about four hours every Saturday for the last few weeks.

"My husband and I sat and complained about politics for a long time," she said. "And finally, I looked at him. I said, 'We got to get off the couch. We got to go do something.'"

President Trump will be monitoring election night from the White House, an administration official said. 

Mr. Trump held several telerallies on Monday and gave remarks at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C. 

"We gave this a very strong shot," Mr. Trump said Monday. 

The Supreme Court on Monday turned down a last-ditch effort from the Trump administration to require California to separate mail ballots received from thousands of people that it claims are "likely" not U.S. citizens.

The court said in a one line, unsigned order that it was denying the Justice Department's request for an injunction requiring election officials from California to set aside the ballots from 20,000 alleged noncitizens. There were no noted dissents. 

The Justice Department sought the Supreme Court's intervention earlier in the day after a divided federal appeals court refused to order California election workers to set aside mail ballots cast by people on a government list.

Read more here.

Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell of Michigan said Rep. Haley Stevens' stunning endorsement of GOP Senate candidate Mike Rogers over Democrat Abdul El-Sayed is having the opposite effect of what Stevens intended. 

"You're seeing a backlash," Dingell said in an interview on "The Takeout with Major Garrett" on Monday. "It's galvanizing many communities." 

El-Sayed's campaign says it raised more than $2.4 million on Sunday, the same day that Stevens — his former Democratic primary rival — came out in support of Rogers. 

"I've had Black pastors talk to me and say, 'Who said she represented us?' There's a lot of anger in how she did what she did yesterday," Dingell said. 

The endorsement came after days of hostility between El-Sayed and Stevens, who were expected to appear together on Sunday before tensions boiled over. 

Read more here and watch Major Garrett's full interview with Rep. Dingell here. 

President Trump wrapped up his monthlong blitz of campaign appearances with remarks Monday at the Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C. 

"With your vote, we will decide these extremists will be given power or not power," Mr.Trump said. "We'll either keep America strong — I think we're having, this is the golden age of America. We've never done anything like it."

Mr. Trump said all the records he's made won't matter "if we're going to be foolish and let people who hate our country win an election."

The president acknowledged that a sitting president's party often loses in the midterms. 

"For some reason, the sitting president doesn't win the midterms," the president said. "But we gave this a very strong shot."

Alaska's Senate race has garnered widespread attention amid scrutiny over the presence of a candidate bearing nearly the same name as the sitting Republican senator, Dan Sullivan. The New York Times reported members of Democrat Mary Peltola's campaign recruited Daniel J. Sullivan, a teacher, to join the race, but she said she knew nothing about it.

The winner will be decided under the state's system of ranked choice voting, which was first implemented in 2022.

The top four candidates from the primary are listed on the ballot. Ranked choice voting allows voters to rank as many or as few candidates as they'd like in order of preference, rather than selecting a single candidate on the ballot. 

If nobody wins an outright majority in the first tally, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and their supporters' votes are redistributed to each voter's second choice. That process continues until one candidate wins more than 50%.

Read more here.

Two years ago, President Trump made historic gains with Hispanic voters nationwide and won a majority of Texas Hispanics, upending conventional wisdom.

But now, Democrats see signs that Hispanics could shift back, pointing to widespread frustration with the state of the economy and immigration enforcement, and Mr. Trump's sagging approval ratings.

Hispanics make up more than 30% of Texas' eligible electorate, making them a key constituency in the state's Senate, gubernatorial and House races. Polls show a tight contest between Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico and Republican Ken Paxton, and GOP Gov. Greg Abbott's reelection bid against Democrat Gina Hinojosa could be close, too.

"There's a Hispanic hurricane coming," predicted Democratic strategist and CBS News political contributor Chuck Rocha, who advises Talarico and Hinojosa's campaigns. "We just don't know quite yet if it's going to be Category 2 or Category 5, but it's washing ashore right in front of the GOP, and they don't know what to do about it."

But Republicans say enthusiasm for Democrats is still muted.

"I think most voters couldn't tell you what the Democrat plan is for bringing down prices," said Daniel Garza, president of the conservative LIBRE Initiative.

In one competitive House race in South Texas, both candidates expressed concerns to CBS News about the Trump administration's immigration tactics.

The Democratic candidate, Tejano music star Bobby Pulido, said "there's chaos in the streets" due to "aggressive ICE enforcement."

Incumbent GOP Rep. Monica De La Cruz predicted that Texas will remain red. "But I do think that it's a wake-up call for Republicans to remain focused on affordability, and to come to a solution when it comes to immigration," she said.

Read more here.

Control of the House of Representatives will come down to a number of battleground seats. CBS News has identified 47 House districts that will likely determine which party will have the majority.

Of those seats, 20 are currently held by Democrats and 27 are held by Republicans.  Republicans currently hold a razor-thin majority, with 218 seats, plus an independent who normally caucuses with them. Democrats hold 214 seats. There are two vacancies.

CBS News' Battleground Tracker model estimated on Oct. 25 that Democrats are on track to take control of the House with 229 seats. There is still a path for the GOP to keep the House: The Battleground Tracker's estimates ranged from 215 Democratic seats — which would give Republicans a narrow majority — to 237 seats.

On the Senate side, CBS News has identified 11 key races that could determine control of the Senate.

Eight of those seats are currently held by Republicans: Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas.

The other three are held by Democrats: Georgia, Michigan and New Hampshire.

Republicans currently hold 53 Senate seats to the Democrats' 47. 

Sen. Susan Collins is being challenged by Democrat Troy Jackson. Voters in Maine know their decision could impact the rest of the country. 

Norm Belanger said for him, it's about having "a balance of power and the checks and balances can hopefully once again work to make sure no one branch of government takes control, I think it's important."

Belanger said he and his wife Elizabeth typically vote for a person over a party. 

"Troy Jackson doesn't excite me. He would not have been my choice for the Democratic candidate," Belanger said. "On the other hand, I think he's the best choice of the two."

Another voter in Kittery said, "There's no white knight here in either party," adding, "Who I end up voting for, is going to be who I think is going to be the least damaging."

Read more from CBS News Boston here. 

CBS News will have extensive live coverage throughout the day, with election results and analysis on all platforms after the polls close Tuesday evening.

• What: Election coverage and results of the 2026 midterms
• Date: Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026  
• Time:
      - All day live coverage streaming on CBS News 24/7
      - 5 p.m. ET:  "Election 2026: The Nerd Show" on CBS News 24/7
      - 7 p.m. ET:  "America Decides: Election 2026," on TV, cable and streaming
• On TV: CBS television stations (find your local station here)
• Online stream: Live on CBS News in the video player above and on your mobile or streaming device 

Beginning at 5 p.m. ET, dive into the latest data on "Election 2026: The Nerd Show," hosted by CBS News executive director of elections and surveys Anthony Salvanto and CBS News congressional correspondent Caitlin Huey-Burns, joined by Democratic and Republican pollsters and other election data experts.

At 7 p.m. ET, CBS News prime-time special, "America Decides: Election 2026," covers the latest election results as polls close around the country, anchored by Tony Dokoupil and  Norah O'Donnell, with "CBS Mornings" co-host Gayle King, "Face the Nation" moderator Margaret Brennan, and a team of correspondents and political analysts around the country.

Watch on the free CBS News app on your connected TV or smartphone, on Paramount+, and all platforms where CBS News 24/7 is available, including CBSNews.com and YouTube.