Voters across the United States cast ballots on Tuesday, Nov. 3, in midterm elections that will determine which party controls Congress for the remainder of President Donald Trump's time in office. Every one of the 435 House seats and 35 Senate seats is on the ballot, according to CNBC, as Republicans work to hold onto thin majorities in both chambers against a difficult political backdrop.
CNBC reports that dissatisfaction with the war in Iran, rising prices, concerns about government corruption and immigration policy could drag down Republican candidates this cycle. At the same time, Republicans hold most of the billionaire-funded campaign spending, while Democrats have dealt with turmoil in Senate races in Alaska and Michigan during the final stretch of the campaign.
FiftyPlusOne's projections give Democrats a substantial advantage in the House and make them the favorites in the Senate, with several key races growing closer in recent weeks, according to CNBC.
Why it matters
A Democratic victory in one or both chambers would bring an end to unified Republican control of Washington. According to CNBC, it would also complicate the president's legislative priorities and usher in a period of Democratic oversight and investigations targeting the Trump administration, its associates, and companies that have built close ties to the government over the past two years.
The election also serves as a verdict on the administration's extended effort to challenge how states run their elections. The Justice Department said Tuesday it is deploying roughly 1,000 election observers and monitors across all 50 states — a wider deployment than the agency has ever undertaken, CNBC reports.
Senate map stretches into unexpected territory
The Senate contests have expanded beyond the usual battlegrounds. According to CNBC, recent projections show races in reliably Republican states such as Kansas, South Carolina and Nebraska could become competitive, while Republicans may pick up seats in traditionally Democratic states like Minnesota and New Hampshire. The outcome of toss-up races in Alaska, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Ohio and Texas will decide which party holds the gavels in the next Congress.
In the House, Republicans are waiting to see whether partisan redistricting in states including Texas and Florida delivers the nine-seat gain they had hoped for. Democrats, aiming for a wave election, are contesting districts that in previous cycles were considered safely out of reach, according to CNBC.
Turnout and technology shape the day
South Carolina's election commission said the state set a record for total votes cast in a gubernatorial election, with nearly 1.8 million ballots by 4:30 p.m. ET, CNBC reports. The commission noted on X that the state's percentage turnout record of 54.6%, set in 2002, had not yet been broken but could still fall. The governor's race to succeed Henry McMaster pits Republican Attorney General Alan Wilson against Democratic state Rep. Jermaine Johnson.
In Texas, the governor's race and a Senate contest have drawn national attention as a gauge of voter frustration with data centers and the broader artificial intelligence buildout. Wells Fargo estimates that 27% of data center gigawatts are located in Texas, according to CNBC. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, once a supporter of the industry, has grown skeptical as public opinion has soured and halted data-center permitting in September. His Democratic challenger, state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, wants a moratorium on new data-center development until the legislature approves safeguards. Evercore ISI strategist Julian Emanuel wrote in a note that the health of the "AI Revolution" will be influenced by the Texas governor's race, with Abbott expected to lift current restrictions and Hinojosa expected to keep them, CNBC reports.
Artificial intelligence companies also said they are working to prevent the spread of false information that could affect the results. Anthropic told CNBC it has taken steps so its Claude assistant provides accurate, unbiased information from the nonprofit Democracy Works when users ask election-related questions. The company said it found people outside the U.S. using Claude to operate a fake news site echoing narratives from Iran, North Korea and Russia, and that a dedicated team is monitoring the platform for misuse. OpenAI told Politico it has set up its own operation to identify potential misinformation, according to CNBC.
Separately, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., accused Google of "extortion" after the company said schools that ban artificial intelligence would also lose Google Search access through student accounts, CNBC reports. Google said AI is too deeply embedded in its search tool to switch off, though it plans to disable other AI features by default for K-12 students next year. Sanders called for a pause in AI development. The dispute follows bipartisan scrutiny of Google's classroom AI rollout, and CNBC notes that the OECD's 2025 PISA assessment, covering 760,000 students in 91 countries and economies, found daily AI users scored 24 points lower in science on writing assignments — data that do not establish causation.
Polls begin closing at 6 p.m. ET, with Alaska the last to close at 1 a.m. ET. The Associated Press supplies vote data and race projections for CNBC. Watch for race calls through the night, with control of both chambers — and the scope of the president's remaining agenda — hanging on the results.
