Midterm Elections Live Updates: Voters Will Decide Control Of Congress In Major Test Of Trump’s Second Term

Election Day is here. Voters across the country will decide control of the U.S. House and Senate. Democrats must flip four seats in the Senate and three seats in the House to wrestle control of the chambers from Republicans.

Power in Congress would give Democrats a means of rebuffing President Donald Trump’s agenda during the final two years of his term. The battle for control is playing out mostly in states and districts Trump previously won by wide margins. All eyes are on Senate contests in Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Ohio and Texas. House battlegrounds are scattered across the country.

Democrats have homed in on Trump’s poor approval rating, dissatisfaction with the war in Iran and concerns over affordability. Republicans have focused on social issues, while Trump has made himself the central character of the midterms.

Democrats make push in Alaska Senate, gubernatorial races
Alaska voters last elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 2008 and as governor in 1998. But Democrats are making strong pushes in both races ahead of the ranked choice general election.

In the Senate race, two-term Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan has gotten support from Trump and Vance as he seeks to fend off Democrat Mary Peltola, a former congresswoman. Peltola finished first in August’s open primary.

Two other candidates, including another Dan Sullivan, also are running but have done almost no campaigning. Trump has directed the Justice Department to investigate the presence of another candidate with the same name as the incumbent, even calling for Peltola’s prosecution. He also continued voicing his opposition to the state’s use of ranked voting.

State Republican leaders have long expressed skepticism about ranked voting but nonetheless encouraged voters to rank the Republicans. Many Republicans see the strategy as essential to winning the governor’s race, featuring Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins and three Republicans, including Trump-backed Bernadette Wilson.

Arizona voter hopes to see a ‘more conservative’ government after the election
John Shaw of Phoenix said he showed up to the polls on Tuesday to support “American values” and “patriotic things.”

Shaw, who declined to say which candidates he picked, said he hoped to see government “be a little more conservative” and to see “less government” overall after the election.

Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs is seeking a second term but faces a challenge from Republican Rep. Andy Biggs. Voters will also decide a full slate of contests, including congressional and state legislative races that could shift the balance of power both in Washington and in the state government.

While there were long lines at Shaw’s polling place, he said it was still exciting to talk to fellow voters.

Voting machine programming blamed for election issues in a New York county
The vote-counting issues bedeviling Westchester County stem from a program update that happened after polling equipment was initially prepared and tested, according to the state Board of Elections.

A change in an unnamed local race required an update that wasn’t made to machines in other counties, the board said. As a result, those tabulators were unable to recognize completed Election Day ballots.

State officials said they’re working with their counterparts in Westchester County to restore ballot-scanning capability to at least one vote-counting machine at every polling location. Voting continues through established emergency ballot procedures.

Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins vowed to launch a bipartisan investigation into what he called a “debacle.”

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS