It’s Election Day, and Americans have another opportunity to decide the limits of President Donald Trump’s power.
Voters across the country are choosing all 435 members of the House and 35 senators, with control of both chambers of Congress at stake.
Democrats are hoping for a wave strong enough to reshape the balance of power in Washington, while Republicans are fighting to preserve the congressional majorities that have helped Trump advance his agenda during the first two years of his second term.
The consequences extend well beyond who holds the gavel.
A Democratic-controlled House could launch investigations into the Trump administration and block parts of the president’s legislative agenda. A Democratic Senate could also complicate Trump’s appointments, including any future Supreme Court nomination.
Republicans, meanwhile, are fighting political history. The party controlling the White House has traditionally lost congressional ground in midterm elections, and this year the GOP enters Election Day facing voter frustration over affordability, high fuel prices and the war with Iran.
Trump has spent the closing weeks campaigning heavily for Republican candidates and repeatedly asking his supporters to “pretend I’m on the ballot.”
In many ways, he is.
Texas tests the Republican map
Perhaps nowhere is the pressure on Republicans more striking than Texas.
The longtime Republican stronghold is holding one of the most consequential Senate elections in the country, with Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton facing Democrat James Talarico.
Texas has not elected a Democrat statewide in more than three decades.
Yet Paxton and Talarico enter Election Day locked in a close contest after a campaign that became the most expensive Senate race in the country.
A Talarico victory would give Democrats their first statewide win in Texas since 1994 and could help determine control of the Senate.
It would also carry consequences far beyond a single Senate seat, potentially forcing both parties to reconsider assumptions about the political map heading into the 2028 presidential election.
Michigan’s Democratic rupture
Another race to watch is Michigan, where Republican Mike Rogers is trying to capture a Senate seat against Democrat Abdul El-Sayed.
The contest was jolted in its final days by Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens, who lost the party’s Senate primary to El-Sayed and then broke ranks to endorse Rogers.
Why would a lifelong Democrat reach such a decision?
Stevens laid out her reasoning in a lengthy post on X, stressing that the decision was hers alone. She framed her endorsement of Rogers as a choice to support someone in the mold of the late Sen. John McCain, who placed country above party.
“Abdul chose to campaign alongside Hasan Piker, whose rhetoric about Jewish Americans has been deeply disturbing. He took Piker to college campuses to tell our youth that Iran is not our enemy. Just days ago, Piker compared efforts to win over Jewish voters in West Bloomfield to canvassing a KKK neighborhood,” Stevens wrote.
El-Sayed has since expressed disagreement with those remarks, but Stevens said his decision to campaign alongside Piker remained deeply troubling..
Trump waits at the White House
Trump will spend Election Day largely out of public view before hosting an election-night viewing reception at the White House.
He has described the election as one of the most consequential midterms in American history and has urged the voters who supported him in 2024 to return to the polls for Republican candidates.
The stakes for his presidency are substantial.
Republicans currently control the Senate 53-47. Democrats need a net gain of four seats to win the majority.
The Senate battlefield stretches across nearly 10 competitive states, including Michigan, Texas, Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Nebraska, Ohio and South Carolina.
In the House, Republicans hold an exceptionally narrow advantage.
Democrats need a net gain of at least three seats to take the majority.
A change of control in either chamber would fundamentally alter the political environment Trump faces during the final two years of his presidency.
Trump has already begun describing how he would respond to divided government.
Asked recently what he would do if Democrats controlled Congress and began sending legislation to his desk, Trump offered himself a new nickname.
“Mr. Veto.”
The voters now decide whether he will need it.
2026 Election Day poll closing times
The first polls close at 6 p.m. ET, beginning an election night that will stretch into early Wednesday morning.
6 p.m. ET: Polls close in parts of Kentucky and Indiana.
7 p.m. ET: Polls close in Georgia, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia. The remaining polls in Kentucky and Indiana close, along with most polling stations in Florida and New Hampshire.
7:30 p.m. ET: Polls close in North Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia.
8 p.m. ET: Polls close in Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Washington, D.C. The remaining polls in Florida and New Hampshire close, along with most polling stations in Texas, Michigan, Kansas, North Dakota and South Dakota.
8:30 p.m. ET: Polls close in Arkansas.
9 p.m. ET: Polls close in Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Wisconsin and Wyoming. The remaining polls in Texas, Michigan, Kansas, North Dakota and South Dakota also close.
10 p.m. ET: Polls close in Montana and Utah, along with most polling stations in Idaho and Oregon.
11 p.m. ET: Polls close in California and Washington state, along with the remaining polling stations in Idaho and Oregon.
Midnight ET: Polls close across Hawaii and most of Alaska.
1 a.m. ET: The remaining polls in Alaska close, marking the end of voting across the country.
