Washington, Nov 4 (AP) Voters across the country are deciding control of the U.S. House and Senate in the 2026

Washington, Nov 4 (AP) Voters across the country are deciding control of the U.S. House and Senate in the 2026

Washington, Nov 4 (AP) Voters across the country are deciding control of the U.S. House and Senate in the 2026

Washington, Nov 4 (AP) Voters across the country are deciding control of the U.S. House and Senate in the 2026 midterm elections.

    Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms won the race for Georgia governor, the first gubernatorial pickup for either party. She is the first Black woman elected governor of any state. In neighboring Florida, Republican Byron Donalds was elected as the state’s first Black governor.

    Democrat Roy Cooper won North Carolina’s Senate race, the first Democratic pickup of the night, and Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff was reelected in Georgia, another top battleground. Republicans fell short in their attempt to pick up a Senate seat in New Hampshire, while Democrats were unsuccessful in Florida.

    Democrats need a net gain of three more seats to take the majority. All eyes are on Senate contests in Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Ohio and Texas.

    Democrats have flipped three House seats. If they hold on to all the districts they currently represent, that’s enough to win the majority. Republicans are expected to pick up a handful of Democratic seats in states that redrew their district boundaries.

    The battle for control is playing out mostly in areas Trump previously won by wide margins. But high costs are weighing heavily on many Americans’ minds, according to The AP Voter Poll, and most voters appear to blame Trump’s administration and want Congress to impose more checks on him.

    Here's the latest:

    Clerk in New Mexico county ordered to accommodate Republican poll watchers

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    A state judge in New Mexico has sided with Republicans who filed a lawsuit on Election Day over concerns that a Democratic county clerk had placed restrictions on election challengers.

    The Republican Party of New Mexico, the Republican National Committee and the Republican Party of Doña Ana County sued County Clerk Amanda López Askin. They claimed GOP election challengers were placed in a corner where they could not properly see whether mail ballot envelopes contained the required signatures.

    The judge granted a preliminary injunction, ordering that the challengers be positioned where they could properly observe the processing of the ballots.

    “Transparency and accountability are fundamental to public confidence in our elections, and we will continue to stand up for those principles,” said Leticia Muñoz, executive director of the state party.

    López Askin is running for the secretary of state’s office.

    Voters cheer Keisha Lance Bottoms’ history-making win in Georgia

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    “I want to cry. I’m very grateful and excited that we finally got the first female governor,” said Conqula Milner, 54, who was wearing a long blue shirt with “Blessed” written on the back in silver sparkles.

    Milner, who was at Bottoms’ election night party, said she was confident Bottoms would win but thought the margin would be tighter.

    A veteran who works at the VA hospital in Atlanta, Milner says she believes Bottoms will do a lot to help veterans.

    Paula Sanders, 69, a retired school counselor, said she supports Bottoms because she strongly agrees “with her plan to make life better for all Georgians.”

    Dancing to the music with some friends as she waited for Bottoms to come out and address the crowd, she savored the election of the country’s first Black female governor: “This is a real history-making moment. So proud of Georgia!”

    Sen. Jon Ossoff calls Democratic wins a rebuke of Trump

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    Speaking to a cheering crowd in Atlanta, Ossoff cast the results as a defeat for the term-limited president, entering his final two years in office.

    “In sweeping and decisive victories, the American people have rebuked the depravity, corruption and incompetence of a failed lame duck President Donald J. Trump,” Ossoff said.

    He added that the country’s politics have been “small and selfish, bought by big money, unmoored from fixed moral principles, and resigned to intractable division.”

    He called for healing “brokenness” in the country, not just pushing back on the president.

    In sweeping language, he said the wealthy had benefited from inside information and favors while families suffered with “higher and higher” bills.

    Voting rights group says Election Day voting was ‘uneventful’

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    As Election Day voting is wrapping up across the states, Common Cause, a voting rights group that has previously sued the Trump administration, said their volunteers at polling sites noticed few disruptions.

    “It was, again, largely uneventful. As our elections should be,” Virginia Kase Solomón, the group’s president and CEO, said during a press briefing. “It is just really great to see a normal election happening.”

    Common Cause directors from Arizona, California, Hawaii, North Carolina and Texas didn’t report any serious incidents at polling locations. The relatively routine issues throughout the day included weather-related delays, long lines and electioneering near polling places. Most problems were quickly resolved.

    Newly elected Florida governor Byron Donalds thanks Trump in his victory speech

“I want you to hear from Florida that we are still red,” Donalds said to a crowd of cheering supporters. “Mr. President, I also want to tell you thank you for your support and thank you for being in my corner.”

    Donalds also thanked outgoing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, promising to continue the work DeSantis has done over the past eight years.

    Donalds defeated Democrat David Jolly, a former Republican congressman who switched parties and ran a centrist campaign.

     Democrats flip New Jersey House seat held by Republican Tom Kean

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    Democrat Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot, has defeated two-term Rep. Tom Kean, who missed four months of votes in Washington this year as he underwent treatment for depression, a diagnosis he did not disclose until his return.

    Kean represents a battleground district that includes Trump’s Bedminster golf club. His great-grandfather was a senator, his grandfather was a congressman and his father is the former two-term Gov. Tom Kean Sr.

    The seat has changed hands in the two most recent midterm election cycles, so it was automatically viewed as a competitive race going into this year.

     Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz says Florida Republican gerrymandering backfired

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    Republicans tried to tilt four more House seats to the GOP in Trump’s adopted home state. Moskowitz was among their targets, but the Democratic congressman decided to run anyway in one of the redrawn districts.

    “I’ve worked across the aisle. I’ve delivered results for my community, and they spent $26 million trying to beat me,” he said after his victory in Florida’s 25th District. “They lit that money on fire tonight.”

    Moskowitz said voters in his new district, like those nationwide, were most concerned about the economy and their ability to afford a good quality of life. But he said the redistricting and concerns about Trump’s business dealings angered voters, too.

    He said Democrats, should they control Capitol Hill in January, must use their power to address affordability but also to hold the Trump administration accountable.

    What to watch for after polls close at 10 pm ET

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    Polls close at 10 p.m. in Montana, Nevada and Utah, with some polls closing in the eastern portions of Idaho and Oregon.

    Key contests to watch in this hour include U.S. House races in Montana, Nevada and Utah and congressional and gubernatorial races in Arizona, where polls close at 9 p.m. but results are held until 10 p.m.

     Abdul El-Sayed’s supporters rally in downtown Detroit

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    The crowd at a watch party hosted by the state’s Democratic Party listened to music spun by a DJ underneath colorful lights as they watched election results roll in from around the U.S.

    Democratic leaders in the state, including Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, spoke from a podium flanked by American and Michigan flags.

    Attendee Sarah Karim came from Seattle to canvass for El-Sayed, who is friends with her husband after they attended the University of Michigan together, she said.

    “This race also represents something really powerful nationwide,” Karim said. “We feel the effect of it in the Pacific Northwest because of what Abdul is representing.”

    Energy buzzes through House Democrats’ election watch party

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    Democratic volunteers and staff are crowding the room for an election night watch party in Washington.

    Cheers erupt when Democratic candidates for House, Senate and gubernatorial races flash on the TV screens.

    “America is alive and well!” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries posted on social media.

    Democrat Juliana Stratton vows to fight for progressive agenda as Illinois senator

Stratton, the current lieutenant governor, told supporters at her victory party that she “won’t be sitting back and listening quietly when I get to Washington.”

    Stratton says she will fight “loudly” for affordable healthcare, reproductive freedom, workers’ rights, voting rights and for working families.

    “Working families have been left to pick up the tab for the wealthy and well-connected while the crook in the Oval Office enriches himself and his allies,” she said.

    Stratton supports Medicare for all, a $25 minimum wage and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

    Stratton defeated Republican Don Tracy, the former state Republican Party chair. She’s replacing retiring Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin. (AP)

AMS

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)