Every House seat, 35 of 100 Senate seats and governor's races in 36 states are on the ballot November 3. Here's what's being decided and where to find official information.
By News Unc ·
Americans vote Tuesday, November 3, in the 2026 midterm elections. All 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are on the ballot, along with 35 of the 100 Senate seats, 33 regularly scheduled and two special elections to fill vacancies, and governor's races in 36 states and three territories.
Going into the election, Republicans hold 53 Senate seats and Democrats 45, with two independents who usually vote with Democrats, according to Britannica; Republicans are the incumbents in 22 of the 35 Senate seats being contested. Control of both chambers of Congress is at stake. Many states also have legislative races, statewide offices and ballot measures.
Polling hours, ID rules and mail-ballot deadlines differ by state. Vote.gov links to every state's official election office, where you can check your registration, find your polling place and see a sample ballot. News Unc will report results from state election officials and race calls from the Associated Press, and will say clearly when a race has not been called.
The House passed the bill 370-48 under fast-track rules, keeping agencies funded at current levels past October 1 and setting up a new deadline after the midterms.
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President Trump signed a stopgap funding bill on Wednesday, September 2, that keeps the federal government open at current spending levels through December 11, after the House passed it 370 to 48 on Tuesday under a procedure that requires a two-thirds majority, Breaking Defense and The Hill reported. The Senate had advanced its version in August.
'This clean, short-term continuing resolution simply keeps the government open, protects the progress we've made, and preserves the path to full-year appropriations,' said Rep. Tom Cole, the Oklahoma Republican who chairs the House Appropriations Committee. None of the 12 annual spending bills for the fiscal year that begins October 1 had passed both chambers. The government shut down twice earlier in 2026, including a 76-day lapse in Homeland Security funding that ended April 30.
The appointed senator beat Rep. Ralph Norman to become the party's nominee for her late brother's seat. She faces Democrat Annie Andrews on November 3.
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Sen. Darline Graham won South Carolina's special Republican Senate runoff on Tuesday, August 25, defeating Rep. Ralph Norman with about 52 percent of the vote to 48 percent, according to NBC News's projection and unofficial results. She becomes the Republican nominee for the seat held by her brother, Lindsey Graham, until his death in July.
Graham, who was appointed to the Senate in July and endorsed by President Trump, led the 10-candidate special primary on August 11 but fell short of a majority. Rep. Russell Fry, who finished third in that primary, endorsed her for the runoff, the Associated Press reported. In the November 3 general election, she faces Democrat Annie Andrews, a Charleston pediatrician. Whoever wins will be the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from South Carolina; Graham is already the first woman to represent the state in the Senate.
The appointed senator led a 10-candidate special Republican primary but fell short of a majority. The runoff is August 25, and the winner faces Democrat Annie Andrews in November.
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Sen. Darline Graham, appointed in July to finish her late brother Lindsey Graham's term, finished first in South Carolina's special Republican Senate primary on Tuesday, August 11, but short of the majority needed to win outright, according to unofficial results. She received about 32.7 percent, Rep. Ralph Norman about 24.6 percent and Rep. Russell Fry about 19.7 percent, with former Gov. Mark Sanford among the other candidates, Decision Desk HQ and NBC News reported.
Graham and Norman advance to a runoff on Tuesday, August 25. Graham has President Trump's endorsement; Norman is a five-term congressman who ran for governor earlier this year. The special primary was needed because Lindsey Graham, who won the June primary, died on July 11. The Republican nominee will face Democrat Annie Andrews, a Charleston pediatrician, in the November 3 general election.
The defense secretary and the Joint Chiefs chairman asked Congress for about $67 billion in emergency funding, much of it to replace munitions used in the war.
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, July 21, that the war with Iran has cost the Defense Department about $37.5 billion so far, up from an estimate of nearly $29 billion in mid-May, Military Times reports. He and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, testified in support of the administration's request for about $67.1 billion in supplemental defense funding.
Hegseth called the money an urgent and necessary injection of funds, PBS News Hour reports, and said it would restock weapons used against Iran and cover budget shortfalls. In written remarks, he said the Pentagon is seeking $21 billion to speed purchases of high-end missiles and other munitions, according to The National. Senators from both parties pressed the officials for details on the war's costs and goals at what several outlets described as a contentious hearing. Congress must approve the request before the money can be spent.
The Sunshine Protection Act would end the twice-yearly clock change. It now goes to the Senate, where it faces opposition from senators who prefer permanent standard time.
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The House voted 308 to 117 on Tuesday, July 14, to pass the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving time permanent and end the twice-yearly clock changes, Reuters reports. President Trump supports ending the clock change. States and territories that now stay on standard time all year, such as Hawaii and most of Arizona, would not be required to switch.
Supporters, including business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Retail Federation, say permanent daylight time would give communities more evening light, according to The Center Square. Many medical, education and safety groups favor permanent standard time instead, citing darker winter mornings; some senators, including Sen. Tom Cotton, have opposed permanent daylight time for that reason. The House on Monday rejected a request to vote on a permanent standard time proposal. The Senate passed a similar bill unanimously in 2022, but the House never took it up then.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster appointed Darline Graham Nordone, the late Sen. Lindsey Graham's sister and a former commissioner of the state's Commission for the Blind, to serve the rest of his term, which ends in January, CBS News reports. Graham became her legal guardian when he was 22 and she was 13, after both of their parents died. The appointment does not decide who will be on November's ballot; Republicans will choose a nominee in a special primary.
The four-term Republican, who had won his party's nomination for a fifth term in June, died after what his office called a brief and sudden illness.
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Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who served in the Senate since 2003, died Saturday, July 11, at age 71, his office said, after what it described as a brief and sudden illness. Before the Senate, he served four terms in the U.S. House and in the South Carolina House, and he was an Air Force lawyer and reserve colonel.
Graham had won the Republican primary in June with 57 percent of the vote and was running for a fifth term in November, Time reports. Under South Carolina law, the governor appoints a temporary senator to serve until the end of the term in January, and a special Republican primary will choose a new nominee for the November ballot; local reports put that primary on August 11.