Explained: how America’s midterm elections work
All 435 House seats and a third of the Senate are on the ballot halfway through a president’s term. What is being decided on 3 November 2026, how a majority is won and when the new Congress takes over.
US federal elections held halfway through a president’s four-year term. All 435 seats in the House of Representatives and about a third of the 100 Senate seats are contested, along with many state offices.
In the 3 November 2026 midterms, 35 Senate seats and 39 governorships — counting three in US territories — are on the ballot.
All 435 House seats and a third of the Senate are on the ballot halfway through a president’s term. What is being decided on 3 November 2026, how a majority is won and when the new Congress takes over.
Democrats lead the generic ballot in the latest PBS News/NPR/Marist poll. Nine Senate races are likely to decide who controls the chamber when Americans vote on 3 November.
The drone hit a platform as a commuter train prepared to leave. Days earlier, Kyiv and Moscow had said they were willing to resume US-brokered negotiations.
Americans vote on 3 November for every House seat and about a third of the Senate. The final stretch has been shaped by presidential rallies, a $1 million “voter fraud” reward and court fights over ballots.
The global benchmark settled at $113.17 a barrel on 22 October, up 4% in a day, as fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis intensified.