WASHINGTON.- Donald Trump and the Democrats head into Tuesday, November 3, 2026, for midterm elections that will decide control of Congress, and the first results will arrive within minutes of the polls closing — but the full answer may take days, and in two cases weeks. Voters will decide 35 Senate seats, all 435 House seats and 36 governor's races, with polls closing in stages from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. Eastern Time. Many races will be called on election night, yet control of the Senate or the House may not be settled that night if the key races are close: Alaska counts its ranked-choice rounds on November 18, and a Georgia race without a majority goes to a runoff on December 1.
The hour-by-hour map is the voter's best guide to the night. Polls close first at 6 p.m. Eastern in parts of Indiana and Kentucky, then at 7 p.m. in Georgia, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia, with most of Florida and New Hampshire; at 7:30 p.m. in North Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia; and at 8 p.m. across more than half the country, including Alabama, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. The 9 p.m. hour covers Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Texas and Wisconsin, followed by Montana, Nevada and Utah at 10 p.m., California, Idaho, Oregon and Washington at 11 p.m., Hawaii at midnight and Alaska at 1 a.m.
Forecasts point to Democrats, but a forecast is not a result
The latest public forecasts lean toward the Democrats, with important differences between models. Sikt Intelligence's November 2 forecast gives Democrats a 71 percent chance of winning the Senate and a 90 percent chance of winning the House, while Decision Desk HQ puts those chances at 62 percent and 83 percent. Fox News' final Power Rankings rate the Senate race a toss-up and favour Democrats to regain the House, and the RealClearPolling average has Democrats ahead nationally by 51.5 percent to 43.1 percent. Tens of millions of Americans have already cast early ballots, and the House has taken more than a week to settle in two of the last three midterms, largely because California and other western states count mail ballots slowly.
The races to watch first are the ones that close earliest and decide control: Georgia at 7 p.m., where Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff is expected to beat Republican Representative Mike Collins; North Carolina and Ohio at 7:30 p.m.; Maine at 8 p.m., where an extra ranked-choice round applies if no candidate wins a majority; and Michigan, Iowa and Alaska later in the night. If control comes down to Alaska, the final answer may wait for the state's ranked-choice count on November 18, with certification aimed for November 25. Election night will bring a flood of calls — but the night to remember may be the days after it.
Read more on The Wire Post: Donald Trump Awaits Election Night as Polls Close Across the United States, Nate Silver Raises Democrats' Senate Chances in His Final Midterm Forecast and Piers Morgan Warns of an Existential Night for Pollsters in the Midterms.
Sources: Sikt Intelligence, Times Now News and NPR election-night guide, Outlook India, November 2, 2026.