The first polling stations opened across the United States on Tuesday, marking a pivotal 2026 midterm election. All 435 House seats and 35 of the 100 Senate seats are being contested, along with governorships in 36 states.
Under US rules, polling hours are set by each state. The first polling stations opened in Vermont, New Jersey, Virginia, Connecticut and Kentucky, with the remaining states due to begin voting later in the day.
As of the eve of the election, more than 57 million Americans had already cast early ballots. Early voting was heaviest in some of this year's biggest political battlegrounds, including Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas.
On the current balance of power, Republicans hold the Senate majority with 53 of 100 seats, while Democrats and the independents who caucus with them hold 47. In the House, Republicans also lead their rivals by a slender margin of four seats.
Democrats enter the election pledging to tackle the cost-of-living crisis and to end President Donald Trump's war with Iran. The party is aiming for a historic win in both chambers of Congress, which could reshape the trajectory of the president's final two years in office.
Republicans, despite President Trump's approval rating sitting near record lows and a historical pattern in which the incumbent president's party typically loses seats in midterms, are pinning their hopes on their most loyal voters and concerns about radical politics to turn the tide.
Notably, this year's election comes shortly after Haley Stevens, who lost Michigan's Democratic Senate primary in August, voiced support for Republican candidate Mike Rogers over her own party's nominee, Abdul El-Sayed.
The outcome of this year's midterms is expected to have far-reaching consequences for the US political landscape in the years ahead.
