WASHINGTON.- More than 58 million Americans had already cast their ballots before Election Day on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, a record for a midterm election that already surpasses the roughly 45.9 million early votes cast in the entire 2022 midterm cycle, according to figures from the University of Florida Election Lab cited by national outlets. Voters across the country are now deciding all 435 seats in the US House of Representatives, 35 of the 100 Senate seats and 36 governorships, in an election that will determine control of Congress for the second half of Donald Trump's presidency. Democrats enter the day leading the national congressional ballot by about 51.5 percent to 43.1 percent in the RealClearPolling average, with Nate Silver's final average putting the Democratic edge at 8.9 points.
The early-vote surge has been led by Texas, with more than 7.7 million early ballots, up from 4.2 million at the same point in 2022, followed by Florida with more than 5.4 million, Georgia and North Carolina with 2.8 million each, and Michigan with 1.8 million. In states reporting party registration, Democrats account for about 43 percent of early ballots, Republicans 32 percent and independents or other voters around 25 percent, though party registration does not reveal how anyone voted. Polls opened Tuesday morning, mostly between 6 and 8 a.m. local time, and the first results will arrive Tuesday evening, though close races and different state counting rules could delay final certification. Affordability, rising fuel and living costs, and the fallout from tariffs and the war with Iran have dominated the campaign, which has seen total spending exceed $11 billion, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Supreme Court rejects last-minute California ballot bid
On Monday, the US Supreme Court rejected a Trump administration emergency bid to force California to set aside the mail-in ballots of more than 20,000 registered voters whose citizenship the federal government questioned, handing down an unsigned, one-sentence order with no noted dissents. The administration had initially claimed 190,000 noncitizens were on California's rolls before revising the figure to about 20,000, and every court to consider the case rejected the demand, with one district judge calling it brazen pre-election interference. The ruling was the administration's second major election-eve defeat at the high court, after the justices in September rejected its plan to change how mail ballots are sent nationwide. Democrats need a net gain of three House seats and four Senate seats to take Congress; Republicans start from a 218-214 House majority and a 53-47 Senate edge, and forecast models give Democrats a narrow advantage in both chambers.
Read more on The Wire Post: Donald Trump Faces the Verdict as Americans Vote in the 2026 Midterms for Control of Congress, Donald Trump Faces Supreme Court Fight Over California Ballots on the Eve of the Midterms and More Than 53 Million Americans Have Already Voted in the 2026 Midterms.
Fuentes: University of Florida Election Lab vía The Nation y Reuters, RealClearPolling, Associated Press y CNN, 3 de noviembre de 2026.