Live updates — Midterm elections: Control of U.S. Senate, House still unknown with key races too close to call

Former President Donald Trump hosted an election night party Tuesday at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida resort, and invited a full pool of reporters to document what he hoped would be a Republican landslide.

But as returns began to come in Tuesday evening, the Republican rout driven by Trump’s chosen candidates never materialized.

In one of the country’s most high-profile races, Trump’s handpicked Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, Dr. Mehmet Oz, lost to Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, according to NBC News. The result cost the GOP a Senate seat.

In Michigan, Trump-endorsed Republican Tudor Dixon lost a gubernatorial race, while 2020 election denier Kristina Karamo lost her Trump-backed bid for secretary of state, NBC projected.

In Arizona, Kari Lake, a former newscaster turned gubernatorial candidate who is one of Trump’s most high-profile picks, trailed Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs in a race that NBC considered too early to call. Trump-endorsed Senate hopeful Blake Masters, who is challenging Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, also lagged in a race that NBC said was too early to call.

— Christina Wilkie

Voters in Michigan, California and Vermont have amended their state constitutions to protect abortion as a right, NBC News projects.

Michigan will become a crucial safe haven for reproductive rights in the Midwest, a region where abortion access is shrinking as states such as Indiana and Ohio have passed very restrictive laws.

Although abortion was never under threat in liberal California and Vermont, the state constitutional amendments will protect access for future generations.

In conservative Kentucky, voters were asked whether the state constitution should be amended to say that it does not protect abortion as a right.

The votes are still being counted and NBC News has not made a call yet. So far, however, 51.4% of Kentuckians have voted against the anti-abortion measure while 48.6% have voted in favor with 82% of the vote in.

— Spencer Kimball

Ballots are still being tabulated from Tuesday’s midterm elections leaving which party controls either chamber of Congress uncertain, but one thing is clear: The Republican “red wave” did not materialize.

Venture capitalist J.D. Vance scored an early win for Republicans, retaining Ohio’s vacated U.S. Senate seat for the GOP by beating U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan. But Democrats saw critical wins in Pennsylvania where Lt. Gov. John Fetterman flipped a U.S. Senate seat blue by defeating TV personality Dr. Mehmet Oz. Pennsylvania’s Democratic attorney general, Josh Shapiro, won the governorship, beating state Sen. Doug Mastriano who attended the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Unlike the 2020 election, Pennsylvania was not among the last to be called, but several other critical races remain undetermined Wednesday morning. Senate races in Nevada and Arizona are still too close to call, with Georgia’s U.S. Senate race looking likely to go into a December runoff. Neither party has claimed control of the U.S. House with several seats left uncalled. Republicans are still more likely to take control of the House majority, but it won’t be with the margins they had hoped.

“Definitely not a Republican wave, that is for darn sure,” said Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina on NBC News on Tuesday evening. “A wave would have been, like, (winning) New Hampshire and Colorado.”

— Emma Kinery

Republican Sen. Mike Lee is projected by NBC News to hold onto his seat, with independent challenger Evan McMullin conceding early Wednesday morning.

Lee is the top Republican on several Senate committees and subcommittees. He serves as the ranking member of the Joint Economic Committee and subcommittees within the Judiciary and Energy and Natural Resources Committees.

McMullin told supporters at his election night headquarters in Taylorsville, Utah, that he’d called Lee to acknowledge his reelection, according to NBC News.

“I truly hope that he upholds his oath to the Constitution in his upcoming term,” McMullin added.

— Lauren Feiner

While the U.S. midterm election results roll in, the vote is being closely watched in Ukraine and Russia with both gauging how the election could impact the war and global geopolitics.

Moscow is seen to favor a win for the Republicans in the midterms in the hope that a big power shift could bring about a change in the U.S.? foreign policy toward Ukraine — and could deepen rumblings of discontent among Republicans over the massive financial support the U.S. is giving Kyiv to fight Russia.

There are some signs that bipartisan support for such immense and ongoing aid could be waning with prominent Republicans starting to question how long the U.S.? largesse can continue, particularly against a backdrop of inflation, potential recession and rising living costs.

Russia could well hope that a shift in power after the midterm elections could herald a cooler attitude toward Ukraine, but analysts say Moscow could be disappointed unless former leader Donald Trump is able to return to power. Trump signaled he could announce next week a plan to run for the presidency again in 2024.

Read more here: Russia’s hopes for a Republican landslide to hurt Ukraine are vanishing fast

— Holly Ellyatt

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said her party’s congressional candidates beat expectations, as Republicans appeared on track to win fewer House seats than many thought entering Election Day.

“While many races remain too close to call, it is clear that House Democratic Members and candidates are strongly outperforming expectations across the country,” the California Democrat said.

Pelosi’s party could still lose its narrow majority in the House. But discussion of a Republican rout died down as votes were counted across the country.

While NBC News has not projected House control, an NBC estimate suggests Republicans will hold 220 seats and Democrats will have 215 after the election.

— Jacob Pramuk

During every election season, candidates from both sides of the aisle are fond of suggesting that a win by their opponent will produce economic Armageddon and tank the stock market. And time and again, it never quite turns out that way, regardless of the outcome.

To be sure, markets and investors care about elections – just not as much as many think. Still, it’s interesting that stocks have typically done well in the aftermath of midterm elections. In the 12 months after October 31 during each midterm year since 1962, the S&P 500 has jumped by an average of 16.3%, according to U.S. Bancorp Investments data.

Will we see a bounce over the next year, like after past elections? Over the short term, it seems possible, if not likely. Looking further down the road? That’s when things could get dicey. 

— Andrew Graham, founder and managing partner of Jackson Square Capital

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told his supporters that he believes Republicans will win control of Congress, even as the fight for the lower chamber grows much tighter than many had foreseen.

McCarthy, who took the stage at his watch party shortly before 2 a.m. ET, began by highlighting a handful of Republican victories in key House races that have already been projected.

“It is clear that we are going to take the House back,” McCarthy said.

His brief speech touched on a number of issues that he said a GOP-led House would prioritize, including inflation and crime.

“The American people are ready for a majority that will offer a new direction, that will put America back on track,” he said, and “Republicans will deliver it.”

— Kevin Breuninger

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers of Wisconsin won his reelection bid, NBC News projected, in a race that was seen as a bellwether for how Democratic governors in swing states would fare.

Evers defeated businessman Tim Michels, the Republican nominee and a former Senate candidate. Michels conceded the race, telling his supporters, “Unfortunately the math doesn’t add up.”

Evers will likely reprise his role as the governor of a state with a Republican majority legislature, a split that resulted in bitter battles over voting rights legislation, public school curriculums and a proposed abortion referendum.

During his first term in office, Evers vetoed scores of bills passed by the GOP state House and Senate, and he often referred to himself as a “goalie,” blocking the Republicans’ agenda from going through.

Michels spent approximately $15 million of his own money on the race.

— Christina Wilkie

Michigan’s Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer won a second term after defeating Republican challenger Tudor Dixon, who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, NBC News projected.

Whitmer led by about 6 percentage points with more than 70% of the vote in, according to NBC.

The election marked the first time that women have been at the top of the ticket for both major parties in Michigan. The incumbent was consistently ahead in the polls, though her lead shrank as Election Day approached.

— Emma Kinery

President Joe Biden started calling Democrats who had won their races in the House, Senate and state houses to congratulate them.

Among the Democratic officials Biden called were New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, Rep. Andy Kim of New Jersey, Rep. Sharice Davids of Kansas, and Representative-elect Maxwell Frost of Florida.

The White House tweeted a photo of Biden on the phone.

Many of the closest congressional races were still outstanding, but Democrats had already outperformed what many analysts predicted would be a terrible night for the party, in no small part because of Biden’s low approval ratings.

— Christina Wilkie

A new NBC News model of party control within the U.S. House of Representatives estimates that Republicans will ultimately win 219 seats and Democrats will win 216, with a 13-seat margin of error.

While these numbers are merely estimates, they offer a window into what is turning out to be a better-than-expected night for Democrats in the House. Many in the party and in the Biden White House began the day expecting to lose the razor-thin Democratic House majority by at least 20 seats.

But unexpected wins by Democrats such as incumbent Rep. Abigail Spanberger in Virginia and challenger Wiley Nickel in North Carolina, according to NBC News projections, changed their calculus.

NBC’s new model also suggests there is still a possibility that Democrats could maintain a majority, an outcome that seemed unthinkable just a few hours ago.

President Joe Biden spent the night at the White House, calling victorious Democratic candidates to congratulate them.

Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump hosted an election night party at his Florida resort with a full pool of reporters present.

Trump has endorsed hundreds of Republican candidates running for office on his MAGA platform. But instead of celebrating scores of victories on Tuesday night, the former president gave a very short speech before spending several hours mostly at a table in the reception room, surrounded by friends and aides.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy reserved a party room in Washington, D.C., for what was expected to be a speech celebrating the Republican takeover and his future title of House speaker.

As of 1 a.m. ET on Wednesday, however, McCarthy had not shown up at his own event.

— Christina Wilkie

Pennsylvania’s Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman will defeat Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz in a pivotal Senate race that could prove a decisive blow in the battle for control of the upper chamber of Congress, NBC News projected.

Fetterman will succeed retiring GOP Sen. Pat Toomey, moving a Republican-held Senate seat into Democratic hands.

Democrats, who held the slimmest-possible Senate majority heading into Election Day, were banking on flipping the seat in the key swing state, where President Joe Biden defeated former President Donald Trump two years earlier.

The projected verdict deals another blow to Trump, who backed Oz in a hard-fought GOP primary election and campaigned for him in the general election.

— Kevin Breuninger

Michigan’s Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson will win reelection against her Trump-backed Republican challenger Kristina Karamo, NBC News projected.

Karamo, who sought to become Michigan’s top elections official, has spread claims bolstering the falsehood that former President Donald Trump won the state in the 2020 presidential election.

— Kevin Breuninger

Republican Senate hopeful Dr. Mehmet Oz told his supporters that he is still predicting victory over Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman in the neck-and-neck race in Pennsylvania.

“When all the ballots are counted, we believe we will win this race,” Oz said in a brief speech delivered before midnight Tuesday.

The Keystone State’s must-win Senate race, which could determine control of the upper chamber of Congress, is still too close to call, NBC News projected, with 88% of the vote in.

But Fetterman is leading Oz, according to NBC’s projection.

— Kevin Breuninger

Michigan voted to approve a constitutional amendment that protects the right to abortion and to reproductive rights more broadly, NBC News projected.

The amendment includes protections for abortion, contraception, prenatal care, postpartum care, miscarriage management, sterilization and infertility. Michigan could regulate abortion for a viable fetus but cannot prohibit abortion if a woman’s life, physical or mental health is at stake.

Activists have spent more than $28 million through the political action committee Reproductive Freedom for All to support the amendment, according to campaign filings. Opposition has spent more than $16 million through the PAC Citizens to Support MI Women and Children.

— Jack Stebbins

Vermont voters will pass a state constitutional amendment protecting abortion access, NBC News projected.

The amendment has 76% support among Vermont voters with 72% of the vote currently in, according to NBC. The amendment guarantees an individual’s right to personal reproductive autonomy.

While abortion rights were not in immediate jeopardy in the largely liberal state, the referendum guarantees the right is maintained even if the state’s political situation changes in the future.

— Jack Stebbins

Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger of Georgia, who clashed with former President Donald Trump over the state’s election results in 2020, will win his bid for another term, NBC News projected.

Raffensperger came into the national spotlight after the 2020 presidential election, when Trump called him and asked him “to find 11,780 votes” to reverse President Joe Biden’s win in Georgia. Raffensperger pushed back on Trump in that call and afterward. That call is now part of a criminal investigation.

— Kevin Breuninger

Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul defeated Republican U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin in her bid to keep her office, NBC News projected.

Hochul assumed the governor’s office in 2021 after former Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned. She served as lieutenant governor to Cuomo from 2015 to 2021.

Zeldin currently represents New York’s 1st Congressional District in the House. Hochul was leading by about 11 percentage points with more than 70% of the vote in, according to NBC.

— Chelsey Cox

Republican Ted Budd won his bid for Senate in North Carolina, defeating Democrat Cheri Beasley, NBC News projected.

Budd will replace GOP Sen. Richard Burr, who is retiring from his seat.

He had garnered nearly 51% of the vote in North Carolina with more than 90% of the state reporting.

— Jack Stebbins

The make-or-break Senate race in Georgia between incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican rival Herschel Walker is too close to call, NBC News projects.

With 86% of the vote in, Walker and Warnock appear to be inching toward a majority of the vote, separated by a margin within 1 percentage point. Chase Oliver, a Libertarian candidate, holds 1.9% of the vote.

If no candidate wins a majority, the Senate race will head to a runoff, with an election set for Dec. 6.

Warnock, who took office in 2021, and Walker, the former football star backed by former President Donald Trump, are competing for one of the most important races of the midterms cycle. The seat in the purple state, which President Joe Biden narrowly won over Trump in 2020, could tip the scales on which party takes majority control of the Senate.

— Kevin Breuninger

Republican J.D. Vance defeated Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan in Ohio’s U.S. Senate race, keeping the seat red and boosting the party’s bid to flip control of the chamber, NBC News projected.

Vance’s win will increase the GOP’s chances of regaining control of the Senate, which is currently split 50-50 by party.

Vance and Ryan were vying for the seat made vacant by retiring two-term Republican Sen. Rob Portman. Ohio has shifted to be more reliably Republican in recent elections, voting for former President Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2020.

Both Vance and Ryan positioned themselves as populists seeking to appeal to working-class Americans.

— Emma Kinery

Incumbent Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan has won reelection in New Hampshire, defeating Republican challenger Donald Bolduc, NBC News projected.

The race is a key victory for Democrats in the swing state, which also reelected Republican Gov. Chris Sununu. Hassan’s defense of her seat boosts Democrats’ attempt to hold the Senate.

Hassan led Bolduc by about 12 percentage points of the vote with 50% of New Hampshire reporting.

— Jack Stebbins

Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott won a third term over Democratic opponent Beto O’Rourke, NBC News projected.

Abbott was leading O’Rourke by about 10 percentage points with about two-thirds of the vote in, according to NBC. The incumbent prevailed despite historic fundraising by O’Rourke’s campaign.

O’Rourke gained notoriety in 2018 when he ran a surprisingly close U.S. Senate race against Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.

— Chelsey Cox

Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger has been reelected to the House in Virginia’s 7th District, defeating Republican challenger Yesli Vega, NBC News projected.

The central Virginia district was widely considered a litmus test for how Democrats might fare in swing districts during an election cycle that historically favors Republicans. The GOP came into Election Day heavily favored to win House control, but Spanberger’s swing district was seen as a crucial one for Democrats to hold in order to curb their losses.

Spanberger, a former CIA agent, was first elected to Congress in 2018, winning a seat in a district that includes Richmond suburbs that are typically friendly to Democrats. She won reelection in 2020.

But redistricting shifted Spanberger’s district north to the outer suburbs of Washington, D.C., where the electorate is 20% Latino and voters are more socially conservative than those in the previous 7th District.

— Christina Wilkie

Democrat Josh Shapiro won his bid for governor of Pennsylvania, defeating election denier Doug Mastriano, NBC News projected.

Shapiro will replace Democrat Tom Wolf, who reached the commonwealth’s two-term limit.

Shapiro has served as Pennsylvania’s attorney general since 2017 and was previously a state representative. He outraised and outspent Mastriano by more than 10 times in the race, with his campaign using $44 million to Mastriano’s less than $4 million.

— Jack Stebbins

Half of voters approve of President Joe Biden’s plan to forgive some student debt, according to an NBC News exit poll, with younger voters favoring the plan more than their older counterparts.

The poll found that 50% of voters nationwide approve of the plan to forgive some debt, while 48% disapprove. Of voters ages 18 to 29, 75% approve of the plan.

That compares with 56% approval from the 30-to-44 age group, 44% approval from voters ages 45 to 64, and 41% of voters 65 and up.

Biden’s plan, announced in August, would forgive up to $10,000 in debt for borrowers who earned less than $125,000 in 2020 or 2021. The majority of student debt is held by younger voters, and the debt relief program has already received tens of millions of applications.

— Jack Stebbins

The tight Senate race in Nevada between incumbent Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and Republican political scion Adam Laxalt is too early to call, NBC News said as polls closed in the state.

The seat appeared to be a dead heat in the polls heading into Election Day. Republicans considered the seat held by Cortez Masto, the state’s first Latina senator, one of their best pickup opportunities.

Laxalt, formerly Nevada’s attorney general, was endorsed by ex-President Donald Trump and had echoed some of Trump’s attacks on the FBI and his false claims about election fraud in 2020.

Another Senate race, in Utah, where incumbent Republican Sen. Mike Lee is defending his seat against independent challenger Evan McMullin, was also too early to call when polls closed, NBC projected.

— Kevin Breuninger

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Wes Moore has won the race to be the next governor of Maryland, NBC News projected.

Moore, an author and former head of the Robin Hood Foundation, captured the nomination Tuesday night after facing Republican Dan Cox. It represents a pickup for Democrats after the seat was held by Republican Larry Hogan for two terms. Hogan, who has feuded with President Donald Trump, was term limited.

Prior to leading the Robin Hood Foundation, Moore had a stint on Wall Street working at Citibank as an investment banker. He was also once a White House fellow assisting then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

— Brian Schwartz

A judge in Arizona rejected an effort by a handful of top Republican groups and key political campaigns to extend the polling times in Maricopa County, citing a lack of evidence to justify the extension, multiple outlets reported.

The decision came minutes before polls closed in the swing state, where high-profile candidates are running for Senate and governor.

The Republican National Committee and National Republican Senatorial Committee, and the campaigns of GOP Senate hopeful Blake Masters and gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, claimed that “widespread technical malfunctions” caused some voters to leave their places in line. Their lawsuit, filed earlier in the day, asked the Arizona Superior Court in Maricopa to extend voting times in the county by three hours, until 10 p.m. local time.

Arizona officials had identified tabulation issues in machines at some polling sites in Maricopa County earlier in the day. They later said they found solutions to those tabulation problems.

— Kevin Breuninger

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the Republican former Trump White House press secretary and Arkansas political scion, will win that state’s race for governor, NBC News projected.

Sanders is the daughter of Mike Huckabee, a two-time GOP presidential candidate who served as governor of Arkansas until 2007.

Sanders defeated Democrat Chris Jones in the election.

— Kevin Breuninger

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., defeated Democratic opponent Marcus Flowers to win reelection to the House, NBC News projected.

Greene, a member of a core group of conservative Republicans who promote far-right and antisemitic conspiracy theories, has served in Congress since 2021.

The House voted that year to remove her from assignments on the House Budget and Education and Labor committees for spreading racist and polarizing conspiracy theories on social media.

— Chelsey Cox

Republican incumbent Matt Gaetz won reelection in Florida’s first congressional district, defeating the Democratic challenger, Rebekah Jones, NBC News projected.

Gaetz is currently the subject of a federal sex trafficking probe, relating to an alleged relationship with a 17-year-old girl. Prosecutors, however, recently recommended against charging him. Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing since the allegations were first reported in March 2021.

— Jack Stebbins

High-profile gubernatorial races in Arizona, Michigan, New York and Wisconsin are too early to call, NBC News said as polls closed in those states.

The governor’s race in Texas is also too early to call — but incumbent Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is leading his Democratic rival, Beto O’Rourke, according to NBC.

In Arizona, Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs is facing off against Republican Kari Lake.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, is running for reelection against GOP challenger Tudor Dixon.

Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York is defending her seat against Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin.

In Wisconsin, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers is facing Republican businessman Tim Michels.

— Kevin Breuninger

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer won reelection in New York, NBC News projected as polls closed in the state.

Meanwhile, polls closed in two of the races that will determine whether Schumer’s party still holds the Senate majority in January.

The Arizona Senate race, where Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly is defending his seat against Republican Blake Masters, was too early to call, according to NBC News.

Republican Sen. Ron Johnson’s reelection bid against Democratic Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes in Wisconsin was also too early to call, according to NBC News.

— Jacob Pramuk

Tropical Storm Nicole was approaching eastern Florida on Election Night, the National Weather Service said. The storm is forecast to make landfall on Florida’s East Coast as a hurricane or a strong tropical storm late Wednesday night or early Thursday.

On Election Night, the storm was about 360 miles east of West Palm Beach, Florida. The storm’s unusually large wind field could make hurricane preparations difficult.

As the storm had still not made landfall, it was unclear how much the approaching weather affected several high-profile elections in the state before polls closed.

Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis won his reelection against Democratic former Gov. Charlie Crist, while GOP Sen. Marco Rubio prevailed in his race against Democratic Rep. Val Demings, NBC News projected. 

— Christina Wilkie

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was optimistic about Democrats’ chances in the midterms, saying “we intend to win.”

“We have far superior candidates. We own the ground out there today,” Pelosi told Judy Woodruff in an interview on PBS Newshour. “And just because a pundit in Washington says history says you can’t win is no deterrent for the enthusiasm we have out there. So I think you’ll be surprised this evening.”

She said the race isn’t determined by pundits, “it’s determined by the American people.” Pelosi said she wasn’t making any decisions on her future role in the party if Democrats lose control of the U.S. House. “That’s a conversation for another day. Let’s just get out the vote,” she said. 

But whatever the outcome, Pelosi said Democrats would respect the results of the vote.

She added that her husband, Paul Pelosi, who was attacked by an intruder with a hammer Oct. 28, is getting better day by day.

“He’s been deluged with prayers from all over — Georgetown University, Nuns of the Sacred Heart in San Francisco. Churches across the country pouring out prayers for him, and so I believe in prayer,” she said.

— Chelsey Cox

The race for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania between Democrat John Fetterman and Republican Mehmet Oz is too early to call, according to NBC News.

The Senate race in New Hampshire between incumbent Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan and Republican Donald Bolduc is also too early to call, according to NBC News.

Polls closed in both states at 8 p.m. ET.

— Jack Stebbins

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida will win his bid for reelection against his Democratic rival, Rep. Val Demings, NBC News projected.

Rubio, who sought his third term in the Senate, led Demings in the polls throughout the general election campaign.

— Kevin Breuninger

Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis will defeat Democratic former Gov. Charlie Crist to win a second term, NBC News projected.

DeSantis rose quickly from relative obscurity to win the Republican primary in 2018 and win a close race for governor. Four years later, DeSantis is a national rising star with a growing base of support for a potential 2024 presidential run.

This support has put DeSantis in the crosshairs of former President Donald Trump, who is the current favorite to win the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 if he mounts a third bid for the White House, as Trump is widely expected to do.

At DeSantis headquarters in Tampa, a large crowd of supporters have gathered in a massive convention hall and “the vibe is electric,” NBC News reported.

DeSantis is expected to address the crowd later in the night, as millions of Florida residents prepare for Tropical Storm Nicole to strengthen into a hurricane headed for Florida in the next 24 hours.

— Christina Wilkie

Lawyers for major Republican groups and candidates asked an Arizona court to extend voting hours in Maricopa County by three hours, claiming that “widespread technical malfunctions” caused some voters to leave their places in line.

Arizona officials identified tabulation issues in machines at some polling sites in the county, but at the time insisted that “everyone is still getting to vote” and that “no one has been turned away.” Officials later said they found a solution to the tabulation problems.

The Republican National Committee and National Republican Senatorial Committee, along with GOP Senate candidate Blake Masters and gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, asked the Arizona Superior Court in Maricopa to keep polls in the county open until 10 p.m. local time.

Maricopa, the fourth-largest county in the U.S., is home to Phoenix and has 223 polling sites.

— Kevin Breuninger

Seven voting precincts across Georgia were ordered to extend their hours due to late openings on the morning of Election Day, Robert Sinners, a spokesman for Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told CNBC.

Polling locations in Cobb and Fannin counties will extend hours until 7:45 p.m. ET, and two in DeKalb County will stay open for approximately 40 minutes past 7 p.m. ET. Closing times were extended for less than 10 minutes at a location in Fayette County and another site in Cobb County.

— Chelsey Cox

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has won his reelection campaign, NBC News projected. The Republican ran against Democrat Nan Whaley in a race defined by issues such as abortion and DeWine’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

— Christina Wilkie

The Senate race in Ohio between Democrat Tim Ryan and Republican J.D. Vance is too early to call as polls close in the state, according to NBC News.

Likewise, the Senate race in North Carolina between Democrat Cheri Beasley and Republican Ted Budd is also too early to call, according to NBC News.

Polls in both states closed at 7:30 p.m. ET.

— Jack Stebbins

Two of the Republican Party’s most promising future leaders are projected to win reelection to seats in the U.S. Senate: Sen. Todd Young of Indiana and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina.

NBC News projected the senators would win their races in safely red states.

Young ran his reelection campaign against Democrat Thomas McDermott, the mayor of Hammond, Indiana.

Scott faced Democrat Krystle Matthews in a race that became one of the most expensive Senate races in the country due entirely to how much money Scott raised.

The Senate’s only Black Republican has raised nearly $50 million, while his opponent raised a mere $135,000, according to the nonprofit Open Secrets.

Scott is widely seen as a potential running mate for whichever Republican ultimately becomes the party’s nominee in 2024.

— Christina Wilkie

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is under pressure to battle with corporate giants if he becomes House speaker, according to people briefed on the matter.

The House and Senate are both up for grabs in the midterms, with both parties vying for power in Congress. If Republicans flip the House, McCarthy will likely become speaker.

McCarthy has privately told allies and advisors that he is unhappy with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce after it endorsed Democrats in previous election cycles, these people explained. He also still hasn’t moved on from some major corporations pausing their campaign donations to Republicans after he and members of his party challenged the 2020 presidential election results after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, those close to McCarthy said.

Many of those corporations have resumed giving to Republicans running in 2022.

McCarthy and House GOP leaders are also frustrated with how corporations, such as Delta and Coca-Cola, opposed Georgia voting laws that passed in the state last year.

This focus on corporations and their stance on key issues is part of a new push from Republican lawmakers against big business. The GOP has labeled companies, including Disney, too “woke” as they speak out against certain social policies.

A spokesman for McCarthy did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

Ahead of Election Day, Matt Schlapp, the chairman of the Conservative Political Action Coalition, encouraged House Republican leaders to stop taking meetings or calls with corporate leaders who run businesses that have waded into hot-button political or cultural issues, including abortion and voting rights.

Schlapp would not say which leaders he has encouraged not to engage with corporate leaders, but he did concede that the Republican Party is no longer going to be on the side of big business. “The Republican Party is not aligned with large publicly traded companies anymore,” Schlapp said in an interview.

— Brian Schwartz

Major elections for U.S. Senate and governor in Georgia are too early to call, according to NBC News, as polls closed in the Peach State.

The race between incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and his GOP rival, Herschel Walker, is considered one of the pivotal Senate elections that will determine which party will control the upper chamber of Congress.

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp is seeking a second term against Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams.

— Kevin Breuninger

More voters reported a downturn in their family finances this year than in any midterm since the end of the Great Recession, an NBC News exit poll found.

The House and Senate are both up for grabs in the election as Republicans aim to reclaim power from Democrats in the next Congress.

According to the poll, 46% of voters said their family’s financial situation is worse than it was two years ago. A smaller share, or 35%, said their family financials are about the same as they were two years ago. Only 18% said their situation was better.

The last time family finances were roughly this gloomy was 2010, when 41% of voters said their family finances were worse than two years prior, according to NBC News.

Voters’ outlooks are similarly bleak about economic conditions nationally.

The NBC News exit poll found that 39% of voters describe the economy as poor, and an additional 36% describe it as not so good. Only about a quarter of voters, or 24%, say the economy is good or excellent.

— Brian Schwartz

Pennsylvania counties are holding off on tallying mail-in ballots that are undated or incorrectly dated as a legal challenge to their validity winds through the courts, the state’s secretary of state confirmed.

The decision comes after Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court ruled Nov. 1 that those votes shouldn’t be counted in the midterms, invalidating thousands of votes if the ruling stands. The state is segregating and holding those ballots at the local level.

The state conference of the NAACP, the Pennsylvania ACLU and other local groups filed a complaint in the state’s western district days after the decision, seeking to have these votes counted. The court is expected to hold a conference Wednesday morning discussing the timetable of a decision.

“These votes should count in the 2022 election and that is what we will fight for,” Ari Savitzky, a senior attorney with the ACLU said Tuesday. “We will be pushing expeditiously to build a record and get to a decision over the coming days and weeks.”

— Jack Stebbins

Police in West Bend, Wisconsin, reported that a knife-wielding intruder had entered a public library that was serving as a polling place and demanded that staff “stop the voting.”

“Voting was paused for just over 30 minutes while the scene was secured and the initial investigation was conducted,” the West Bend Police Department wrote in a media advisory on its public Facebook page.

A 38-year-old man was taken into custody by police “without incident,” and there were no injuries, the advisory said.

“All library staff, election officials, and citizens are safe and the polling site is re-opened,” the advisory said.

Across the country, election authorities are bracing for the possibility of violence in a highly polarized environment.

Wisconsin has a competitive Senate race this cycle, with incumbent Republican Sen. Ron Johnson defending his seat against the state’s Democratic lieutenant governor, Mandela Barnes.

“The incident remains under investigation and charges will be forthcoming. There is no further threat to the community,” the police wrote.

— Christina Wilkie

Most midterm election voters feel negatively about the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, according to an NBC exit poll.

The poll shows that 21% of voters nationwide are “dissatisfied” and 39% are “angry” about the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, while only 16% are “enthusiastic” and 21% are “satisfied” by the recent opinion on abortion.

In these midterms, 27% of voters say abortion is the most important issue to them, making it second only to inflation, which 32% of voters listed as their primary issue in the midterms.

Of those polled, 60% of voters nationwide think abortion should be legal and 36% think it should be illegal, with 52% trusting the Democratic Party more than the Republican Party to properly handle the issue of abortion access.

— Jack Stebbins

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson fired back at former President Donald Trump’s unproven claims about the state’s absentee voting process.

“The Absentee Ballot situation in Detroit is REALLY BAD,” Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social. “People are showing up to Vote only to be told, ‘sorry, you have already voted.'”

Benson accused Trump of “fomenting lies” and “encouraging political violence” in Michigan.

The Michigan Bureau of Elections assisted the Detroit City Clerk’s office in resolving reported issues with e-poll books, which are used to confirm voters are registered and that they have not already voted absentee, said Aneta Kiersnowski Crisp, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of State.

Poll workers provided a numbered ballot to each voter after confirming each was registered and had not been issued an absentee ballot or voted absentee, Crisp explained.

“Occasionally this morning some e-pollbooks then displayed an error message stating that the number on the ballot at the polling place was the same as the number on an absentee ballot that had already been issued,” she added. “When this occurred, voters were correctly checked in on a paper backup list and issued ballots that were cast by the voters. These ballots will be counted.”

— Chelsey Cox

Inflation and abortion were at the front of voters’ minds as they cast their midterm election ballots, according to an NBC News exit poll.

Asked to pick among five policy issues, a 32% plurality of U.S. respondents said inflation mattered most in deciding their vote, according to the survey. The second-largest group of voters, 27%, chose abortion.

Meanwhile, 12% of voters picked crime, 12% chose gun policy, and 10% chose immigration.

Rising inflation during the first half of President Joe Biden’s term contributed to a difficult environment for Democrats, as the party tries to defend its slim majorities in the House and Senate. Republicans tried to leverage soaring prices in their effort to flip both chambers.

Meanwhile, Democrats looked to mobilize voters concerned about the Supreme Court’s June decision to overturn the constitutional right to abortion.

— Jacob Pramuk

Voters were turned away from dozens of polling places in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, after those sites ran out of printer paper for ballots.

The reported shortage prompted a judge to extend polling place hours in Luzerne by two hours, to 10 p.m. ET. Luzerne has a population of over 326,000 people.

“Voters in Luzerne County through not fault of their own, were disenfranchised and denied the fundamental right to vote,” wrote Judge Lesa Gelb of the county’s Court of Common Pleas in a one-page order extending the voting hours.

Pennsylvania Department of State spokeswoman Amy Gulli told CNBC in an email: “A judge extending polling hours because of polling place issues is not unprecedented by any means.”

Approximately 44 county polling places were affected by the shortage, Gulli said — nearly one-quarter of the county’s polling sites.

— Kevin Breuninger and Jack Stebbins

Officials in Maricopa County, Arizona, said they have identified a solution for problems seen in a number of machines that tabulate paper ballots in some polling places.

The announcement came hours after officials said some machines were spitting out every fourth or fifth ballot in the affected machines.

“Maricopa County has identified the solution for the tabulation issues at about 60 Vote Centers,” the Maricopa County Elections Command Center said in a statement.

“County technicians have changed the printer settings, which seems to have resolved this issue,” the statement said.

“It appears some of the printers were not producing dark enough timing marks on the ballots. This solution has worked at 17 locations, and technicians deployed throughout the county are working to resolve this issue at the remaining locations,” it added.

Maricopa, the fourth-largest county in the U.S., has 223 polling sites.

Before the fix was announced, Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates said that despite the problems, “Everyone is still getting to vote.”

“We do not believe anyone has been disenfranchised because no one has been turned away,” Gates said.

He also said that Maricopa has a “strong level of confidence” that the rejected ballots, which were placed into separate bins at the polling places, will be successfully tabulated by the machine at the main tabulation site in Phoenix.

If that process does not work, a team composed of one person from the Democratic Party and one person from the Republican Party will hand duplicate a specific ballot, which then will be tabulated.

— Dan Mangan

Champaign County, Illinois, said it was targeted with a cyberattack on Election Day, and an official at the federal cybersecurity agency CISA said it was aware of the issue.

The Champaign County Clerk’s Office said “connectivity issues and computer server performance [were] being impacted” and it “believes these are due to cyber-attacks on the network and servers.”

“For the past month the Champaign County Clerk’s website has been the target of repeated D-DOS attacks,” the clerk said on its verified Facebook page.

None of the attacks have been successful, however, and “no data or information has been compromised and the election is secure.” Champaign County is home to approximately 200,000 people.

“These cyber-attacks are a strategic and coordinated effort to undermine and destabilize our democratic process. The intent is to discourage you from voting. Please do not fall victim to this,” the clerk’s office said.

It was not clear who was behind the attacks. But an official at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the federal government’s chief agency charged with identifying and preventing cyberattacks, said the agency was aware of the apparent attack and would follow up with officials in Champaign County.

American intelligence and cybersecurity agencies are on high alert during these midterm elections for any signs of foreign attempts to target voting infrastructure or undermine confidence in the election results.

— Christina Wilkie

An Arizona elections official accused former President Donald Trump of “spreading misinformation” after he cast doubts on the integrity of the state’s midterm elections.

Arizona Assistant Secretary of State Allie Bones accused Trump of sowing false claims about the state’s hotly contested midterms “for the sole purpose of causing fear and mistrust in our election processes.”

“I remain confident that our election is safe and secure because we have a robust mechanism of catching issues like these and addressing them,” Bones said in a statement to CNBC.

The statement came after Trump, on his social media site Truth Social, claimed without providing evidence that “Maricopa County in Arizona looks like a complete Voter Integrity DISASTER” and that “Reports are coming in from Arizona that the Voting Machines are not properly working in predominantly Republican/Conservative areas.”

Trump also posted complaints about the elections in Michigan and Pennsylvania, two more swing states hosting key midterm races. Trump lost all three of those key states to President Joe Biden in the 2020 election and falsely claimed fraud led to his defeat.

Bones’ statement added that Arizona’s tabulators “are equipped with secure drop boxes as a backup in case there is an issue.”

“This is not a partisan issue, and it is not atypical for ballots to be tabulated at a central count facility — in fact, 8 counties (out of 15) only count ballots at central facilities after the close of polls,” Bones said. “Ballots that aren’t tabulated at a voting center today will be taken to the central count facility for tabulation after the polls close at 7 p.m. Every eligible voter can be confident that their voice will be heard, and their vote counted.”  

— Kevin Breuninger

Florida’s top elections official is blocking federal election monitors from entering polling sites in three counties where they had been deployed to ensure compliance with a federal civil rights law.

“They can certainly be outside of the polling places,” Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd, a Republican, said of the Department of Justice’s election monitors when asked about the policy at a press conference.

GOP officials in Missouri also kept DOJ monitors out of polling locations.

“This is not to be confrontational in any way,” Byrd said when asked if the monitors had been physically blocked from entering polling places in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.

Byrd argued that the DOJ, not Florida, had changed its policy by asking to enter the sites. He said that some counties had consent agreements with the DOJ in the past to allow those federal monitors to enter polling sites but said that those agreements had expired and had not been renewed for 2022.

A DOJ official noted to CNBC that the agency has been monitoring elections as a standard practice for decades to confirm compliance with the Voting Rights Act of 1965. DOJ election monitors did not go inside polling places in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The DOJ on Monday announced its plans to monitor polls in two dozen states, in a press release that closely matched similar announcements in previous election cycles.

— Kevin Breuninger

Former President Donald Trump will host an election returns party at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida resort, where he is expected to tout the role he has played in endorsing and stumping for Republican candidates.

The media is invited to cover the event, and Trump has issued a new press release detailing all he has done to help more than 330 Republican candidates this year in primary and general election races nationwide. The release also notes that Trump has held 30 rallies since he left office in 2021, and held 50 in-person fundraisers to benefit Republican candidates.

Trump’s splashy election night event at his private Palm Beach club comes just a day after the former president teased Nov. 15 as the date on which he might launch his 2024 presidential campaign.

Trump’s daughter Tiffany Trump will be getting married at Mar-a-Lago on Nov. 12.

— Christina Wilkie 

A brief thaw appeared in the cold war between former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, when Trump voted for his fellow Republican on Election Day. 

Coming out of a polling place in Palm Beach, where he lives, Trump confirmed that he had voted to give DeSantis a second gubernatorial term. 

“Yes, I did,” Trump told reporters who asked if he had backed the governor, just days after calling him “Ron DeSanctimonious” at a rally in Pennsylvania.

The simmering rivalry between the Republican Party’s two most popular potential 2024 presidential candidates is shaping up to be a dominant theme of next year’s GOP primary. Polls consistently show that Trump holds at least a 20 percentage point lead over DeSantis among Republican voters. But the Florida governor is the only other GOP presidential prospect who polls in the double digits, making him Trump’s chief rival for the nomination. 

Trump is expected to announce the launch of his 2024 campaign on Nov. 15. 

DeSantis has not publicly confirmed that he will run, but he has spoken privately to donors and party operatives about mounting a campaign. 

— Christina Wilkie

Louisiana Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin said he is “exceedingly grateful” for law enforcement’s prompt response to a bomb threat at a polling site.

Officers responded to a threat at the Kenner Discovery Health Sciences Academy, about 20 minutes away from New Orleans. The school served as a polling location for two precincts in Louisiana, though early indications did not point to election-related motives, according to law enforcement.

“I am exceedingly grateful to Kenner Chief of Police Keith Conley and Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joe Lopinto for their prompt response and thorough investigation, which appears to show that this was never targeted toward voters or election workers,” Ardoin said. “I also applaud our department’s elections staff and Jefferson Parish Clerk of Court Jon Gegenheimer for this quick response to move the location and inform voters of the emergency move.”

The polling location was moved to a neighboring elementary school.

— Chelsey Cox

Officials in Maricopa County, Arizona, said technicians are examining a number of vote tabulating machines that are not accepting some submitted ballots for unknown reasons.

But “everyone is still getting to vote,” Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates told NBC News. “No one has been disenfranchised.”

A senior official with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said the agency is talking with Maricopa County and Arizona officials about the problems with the machines. Ballot tabulating issues were experienced at about 40 out of 223 polling sites in the county, which is the fourth-largest in the United States.

Gates said that “maybe every fifth or fourth ballot” was being rejected by the affected machines.

“When we test these machines, that’s part of the process,” Gates said. “We go through it for every election. And in this particular instance, this is something we didn’t anticipate … We’ve got techs out there. They’re doing what they can to get these back online.”

The Maricopa County Elections Department tweeted out a video of Gates and County Recorder Stephen Richer detailing the problems with machines.

The CISA official said the technical issues in Maricopa County “should not affect anybody’s ability to cast a ballot,” she said. 

“One of the great things about Arizona is it is an all-paper ballot state,” the official said.

“There will be, if necessary, audits and recounts,” she said.

But the official added that local officials in Arizona “have confidence in the security and integrity of their voting systems.”

— Dan Mangan and Eamon Javers

President Joe Biden, beset by a relatively low approval rating, has mostly avoided campaigning in states holding critical midterm election races.

On Monday, the day before the election, Biden participated in a campaign event in Maryland for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wes Moore. The president campaigned Sunday in Yonkers, New York, for incumbent Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is facing an unexpectedly tough challenge from Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin. Hochul, previously lieutenant governor, became governor last fall after former Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned.

Both New York and Maryland are traditionally blue states, but polls indicate Democrats are not certain to win this cycle. Losses in either state would reflect poorly on the administration and Democrats overall.

Biden has not campaigned in any of the 2022 battleground states in the past two months, apart from Pennsylvania, his childhood home state. Biden most recently visited on Saturday alongside former President Barack Obama. He rallied with lieutenant governor and Senate hopeful John Fetterman, who is in a tight race against Republican Mehmet Oz, and Josh Shapiro, who faces Republican Doug Mastriano in the governor’s race.

Biden’s last visit to Ohio was in early September for an Intel facility groundbreaking ceremony.

In the week leading up to Election Day, Biden made stops in Maryland, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, California, New Mexico and Florida. On Wednesday he gave a speech from Washington’s Union Station warning Americans about the state of democracy and urging them not to vote for election-denying candidates.

Obama, meanwhile, has made appearances in many of the critical states in the days ahead of the election, stumping in Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin and Nevada. He’s also appeared in ads for candidates for U.S. Senate and governor in Illinois, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

— Emma Kinery

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams said she’s feeling good and believes Democrats can win in Georgia.

“This is winnable, and we know it’s winnable because they are working so hard to convince you not to try,” Abrams said in an interview with the radio show The Breakfast Club with DJ Envy, Angela Yee and Charlamagne tha God. Abrams, who is running against incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp for the second time, has spent the last four years advocating for voting rights in the state after her first loss.

“We’ve been encouraging people to get it done fast, get it in early, get it out of the way so that we only have to focus on the folks who had no other choice or didn’t know that they can do it a different way,” Abrams said. “But we can get this done.”

She stressed the importance of voters casting ballots at their correct precinct, saying a law change since the last election means votes cast in the correct county but wrong precinct will not count. Abrams said prior to the law change, in the 2020 election, more than 7,000 provisional ballots were cast in the wrong precinct. The votes counted then, but would no longer count under the new rules.

— Emma Kinery

Pennsylvania’s acting secretary of state clapped back at Republican legislators who had raised concerns to her about alleged “unverified voters” casting ballots.

“The claims made in the letter by fifteen members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives were parroted from internet election deniers,” Leigh Chapman, the acting secretary, wrote in a letter sent Monday to two Republican state Senate leaders.

Chapman, the state’s top election official, noted that unverified ballots by state law shall not be counted unless a voter provides proof of identification that can be verified by a county election board within six days after Election Day.

“As of today, there were fewer than 6,900 ballot applications statewide that still require voter identity verification as provided by law,” Chapman wrote.

Later in her letter, Chapman urged the Senate leaders to back legislation that would allow Pennsylvania to begin counting mail-in ballots before Election Day.

The state has been criticized by national Republicans since the 2020 presidential election for delays in tabulating ballots.

“I too agree that voting is the cornerstone of democracy and share the opinion that election results should be available sooner,” Chapman wrote.

“To that end, I again encourage the General Assembly when they return next session to prioritize making changes to allow counties meaningful pre-canvassing time in future elections,” she wrote.

— Dan Mangan

It’s become common for party control to change in Congress, but it wasn’t always so.

The Senate has flipped eight times since 1980. Prior to that it had remained in the control of the Democratic Party for 26 years.

The House has flipped five times since 1994, after 40 years under the Democrats.

With slim margins in both the House and the Senate, every seat counts. Even small gains by Republicans could result in either chamber changing party control, and that would lead to big changes in the legislative agenda. The party in power decides which bills are put up for a vote and when.

— Emma Kinery

The U.S. is expected to reach its borrowing limit sometime early next year, and Congress will have to raise the debt ceiling to continue funding the government’s spending.

That could spark a row between the White House and Congress, if Republicans win control of the House, as expected.

Strategists say Republicans are expected to seek reductions in spending in exchange for raising the ceiling. The limit was last raised by $2.5 trillion in December, 2021.

“This is the first time since 2011 that it’s an honest risk. It’s a legitimate market issue,” said Ed Mills, Raymond James Washington policy analyst. “Since 2011, the market really hasn’t reacted too much to the debt ceiling fights. They learned that D.C. will ultimately fix it. It’s a little bit of a game of chicken between D.C. and the markets. D.C. doesn’t feel the pressure until the markets react, and the markets don’t react until D.C. lets it go close to the deadline.”

–Patti Domm

The outcome of Tuesday’s midterm elections will decide whether Democrats have any prospect of reinstating federally protected abortion rights in the near future.

President Joe Biden has promised to sign legislation reinstating the rights granted under Roe v. Wade if Democrats pick up at least two Senate seats and maintain control of the House. Twelve states have completely banned abortion since the Supreme Court struck down federal protections in June.

But Democrats are up against historic inflation, pessimism about the economy and a longstanding pattern of voters rejecting the incumbent president’s party during midterms.

Heading into Election Day, Republicans were favored to retake the House while the Senate is considered a toss-up. If Congress is divided or the GOP takes back both chambers, the battle over abortion will continue to play out at the state level for the foreseeable future.

In that case, abortion will remain illegal in the 12 states that currently have bans in place and other conservative states will likely follow suit. In these states, there is little prospect for the reinstatement of abortion rights in the absence of federal intervention.

Four states are voting directly on abortion rights.

Voters in California, Michigan and Vermont are voting on state constitutional amendments that would protect abortion rights. Kentucky, on the other hand, is voting on an amendment that explicitly says the state constitution does not protect abortion.

— Spencer Kimball

The White House issued a lid at 11:25 a.m. ET, meaning don’t expect any appearances from President Joe Biden today.

Biden received his daily briefing in the morning and participated in a taped interview with the D.L. Hughley Show before calling a lid for the day.

The election following a president’s first term in office is typically seen as a referendum on the incumbent’s performance. Biden said Monday evening he felt optimistic about Democrats’ odds of keeping the House and Senate but added that he’s always optimistic and that maintaining a majority in the House will be “tougher.”

— Emma Kinery

The balance of power in the narrowly controlled Congress may not be known by the time polls close across the U.S. tonight.

Several states have laws that require automatic recounts in tight races. Some Republican candidates also have already said they plan to challenge the results — if they lose — setting the U.S. up for another round of contentious and drawn-out legal battles and recounts reminiscent of the 2020 race, which former President Donald Trump still falsely claims he won.

Recounts or audits that could delay final results are likely in Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia, Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Texas.

— Jack Stebbins

Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters expressed confidence that he would unseat Democratic incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly in the hotly contested Arizona race as voters started heading to the polls Tuesday morning.

“We’re the underdog, but we’re gonna win,” Masters told conservative radio show host Hugh Hewitt.

Masters said his campaign can fight Kelly to at least a draw in Democratic Maricopa County, where Phoenix is located, and will win in rural counties.

Masters said Democrats have an advantage in early voting but that he was confident his voters would show up at the polls today.

“We’ve got the momentum. Again, we’re not gonna get complacent,” Masters said.

In an interview with Fox Business News, Masters accused Kelly of failing to secure the U.S. southern border.

The Republican candidate has come under fierce criticism from Kelly and Democrats for his anti-abortion positions, particularly his previous support for a federal law that would grant the same rights to fetuses as any other person.

Masters has since sought to soften his position somewhat, saying he supports a ban on abortion after the 15th week of pregnancy.

— Spencer Kimball

Republican venture capitalist J.D. Vance said on Fox News he is confident he will win in the race for Senate in Ohio, and he expects his party to win so many seats that the White House will take notice.

“I do expect to be part of the incoming Senate majority on the Republican side,” Vance said. Vance is running against Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan for the seat made vacant by retiring Republican Sen. Rob Portman.

“Joe Biden will still be president, but I actually think after the shellacking we hope to deliver tonight, I’m hoping the Biden administration will actually work with us,” Vance said.

— Emma Kinery

GOP candidate Herschel Walker said he felt “we can avoid a runoff” in Georgia in his race against Democratic incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock.

“We’re looking for a big win tonight,” the former football star said in an interview with The Hugh Hewitt Show.

“People in Georgia, they’re speaking louder, speaking clear, that they want … change,” he said.

If neither Walker nor Warnock garners more than 50% of the vote in Georgia, they will head to a runoff on Dec. 6. Recent polls have shown a very close race.

Warnock and fellow Georgia Democrat Sen. Jon Ossoff both won their seats due to runoff elections in January 2021.

Their victories gave Democrats majority control in the Senate. And if the party is to maintain control starting in 2023, it may again require Warnock to win.

— Dan Mangan

The Department of Justice said officials visiting polling sites in Missouri as part of its routine mission to ensure election integrity will “remain outside,” after the secretary of state posted a complaint on Twitter.

Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft posted a Nov. 3 email to his Twitter account Sunday from Charles M. Thomas, an assistant U.S. attorney working for the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. The email was addressed to Steve Korsmeyer, identified by Ashcroft as a clerk in Cole County, Missouri, and concerned the officials’ intent to monitor polls Tuesday.

Korsmeyer had “rightfully declined to allow this over-reach,” Ashcroft, a Republican, wrote in the tweet. “And the secretary of state’s office fully supports him.”

“While the U.S. DOJ could clearly learn a lot from Missouri about non-partisanship and how to administer accessible, secure and credible elections, it would be highly inappropriate for federal agents to violate the law by intimidating Missouri voters at the polls on Election Day,” Ashcroft wrote.

Senior Justice Department officials later told NBC that “Department of Justice staffers will visit Cole County polling sites on election day but have agreed to remain outside.”

— Chelsey Cox

Democratic Senate nominee Lt. Gov. John Fetterman is “even more radical than Joe Biden,” Republican challenger Dr. Mehmet Oz said on Fox News.

“What I’m hearing is folks are upset that Washington keeps getting it wrong with radical positions,” Oz said. “I’ve been arguing that I stand for balance. I’ll cut through bipartisan bickering, I know how to bring solutions to the forefront, and that’s what people want. They’re angry, they’re frustrated, what they desire is hope.”

Oz added that he thinks the Democrats have “no real agenda for prosperity. That we’re not actually going anywhere with the current Biden agenda — and Biden is – is more moderate than Fetterman.”

Fetterman and Oz are engaged in one of the most closely-watched races in the country that will help determine which party will control the Senate. Fetterman has been outspoken about issues like ending the filibuster to protect voting rights and protecting reproductive healthcare access.

Fetterman’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

— Lauren Feiner

The top U.S. cybersecurity agency doesn’t see any major threats to the midterm elections as voters head to the polls across America, NBC News reported.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has been helping state and local election officials prepare for the race over the last two years, a senior agency official told reporters on a call. The official, who asked not be named as part of the terms of the call, said the agency knew of “no specific or credible threats to disrupt election infrastructure today.”

However, the official cautioned: “There are 8,800 election jurisdictions and we see issues pop up every election day.” Low-level cyberattacks against election websites or accidental website outages are always potential issues, the official said, adding “it’s important to remember that such incidents would not affect a person’s ability to cast a ballot.”

— Dawn Kopecki

President Joe Biden says he’s “optimistic” about the Democrats’ chances on Election Day.

“But I’m always optimistic,” Biden told reporters as he exited Marine One at the White House. The president was returning from a campaign stop supporting Maryland gubernatorial candidate Wes Moore at Bowie State University on Monday night.

“I think it’s going to be tough, but I think we can,” Biden said when asked if Democrats could keep the House. “I think we’ll win the Senate. I think the House is tougher.”

The president said a Republican-controlled Congress would make his reality “more difficult.”

— Emma Kinery

Polls open in California, Nevada, Alaska and elsewhere in the West at 10 a.m. ET (7 a.m. local time).

Races to watch in these states include Alaska’s incumbent Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who’s facing Kelly Tshibaka, also a Republican, and Democratic opponent Patricia Chesbro for U.S. Senate.

Incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-N.V., will also defend her Senate seat against former Arizona attorney general Adam Laxalt, who’s been endorsed by former president Donald Trump.

— Chelsey Cox

Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidates John Fetterman, a Democrat, and GOP challenger Dr. Mehmet Oz cast their ballots in person Tuesday morning. 

Fetterman voted at New Hope Baptist Church in Braddock while Oz cast his ballot at Bryn Athyn Borough Hall in Huntingdon Valley.

Pennsylvania is one of a handful of Senate seats that’s open due to the retirement of an incumbent senator.

It’s considered to be one of the most hotly contested races in the country with the Cook Political Report reporting the race as a toss up.

The candidates are statistically tied, Oz with a 0.4 percentage point edge, in the Real Clear Politics average.

— Emma Kinery

Though President Joe Biden has asked voters to think of the upcoming election as a “choice” rather than a “referendum,” midterms historically have been a referendum on the party in power.

That’s not a great sign for Democrats who control the presidency and both chambers of Congress. Former President George W. Bush was the exception to the trend. Political analysts attribute the GOP gain in the House to the rallying effect post 9/11 attacks.

Here’s how recent presidents’ parties have fared in the U.S. House in the midterm races held during their first terms:

• Bill Clinton: Democrats lost 54 seats
• Bush: Republicans gained 8 seats
• Barack Obama: Democrats lost 63 seats
• Donald Trump: Republicans lost 41 seats

— Emma Kinery

Biden’s approval rating stands at 44% going into Election Day, according to a poll released Sunday by NBC News.

It puts him in similar standing as former Presidents Donald Trump (46%) and Barack Obama (45%) in the final NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll taken before the midterm elections.

The poll, which has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points among likely voters, found 48% preferred Democrats to control Congress and 47% preferred Republicans. It’s a reverse from October, when 48% of likely voters preferred Republicans and 47% preferred Democrats in the NBC News poll. Both are within the margin of error.

— Emma Kinery

Voters in the middle of the country started heading to the polls at 7 a.m. ET in Missouri and lined up for voting starting at 8 a.m. ET in Arizona, both 6 a.m. local times.

The races between Democratic senatorial candidate Trudy Busch Valentine and Republican rival Eric Schmitt in Missouri and incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly and Republican senatorial candidate Blake Masters in Arizona are big ones to watch in these states.

Polls also open at 8 a.m. ET in Wisconsin (7 a.m. local time) where Republican incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson is running against Democratic candidate and Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes.

Voters choose between Republican incumbent Mike Lee or Independent Evan McMullin for U.S. Senate in Utah, starting at 9 a.m. ET (7 a.m. local time).

— Chelsey Cox

Former President Donald Trump said Monday night he will make a “big announcement” on Nov. 15 at his Mar-a-Lago resort, where he is widely expected to launch his 2024 presidential campaign.

“I’m going to be making a very big announcement on Tuesday, Nov. 15 at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida,” Trump said at a Save America rally in Vandalia, Ohio on the eve of the midterm elections.

Trump is eager to jumpstart his third run for president, and staffing conversations have ramped up significantly in recent weeks. An early list of potential top aides has already trickled out.

Trump’s line about Nov. 15 came near the end of a more than 90 minute speech for GOP candidate J.D. Vance in Ohio. Instead of focusing on Vance, the former president railed against Democrats, judges who have ruled unfavorably in cases against his family, run down U.S. airports and above all, President Joe Biden.

A Trump spokesman did not respond to a request from CNBC to confirm that his Nov. 15 event will be a campaign launch.

As Trump inches closer to formally kicking off the 2024 presidential race, polls show he enjoys unparalleled support among Republican voters.

Trump would also enter the race with more than $60 million in cash held by his leadership PAC, Save America, and a prodigious small dollar fundraising operation that vacuums up online donations from the Republican base.

— Christina Wilkie

Voters can head to the polls as soon as 6 a.m. ET in Virginia and as early as 6 a.m. ET in New Hampshire, with North Carolina and Ohio following close behind at 6:30 a.m. ET.

Polling places open at 7 a.m. ET for voters in Florida, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Big races to watch in these states are the showdown between incumbent Republican Sen. Marco Rubio and Democratic Rep. Val Demings in Florida for U.S. Senate. Democratic incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock is also running against controversial Republican first-timer Herschel Walker in Georgia, and incumbent Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer takes on Republican Tudor Dixon for governor of Michigan.

— Chelsey Cox