50
*includes 2 independents
33/35 races called
218 to win
First results expected after 18.00 EST (15.00 PST, 23.00 GMT, 10.00 AEST)
Most US election seats are reliably won by one party, so control of Congress comes down to a few competitive “battleground” seats. Experts track these to predict overall results; if a party wins seats they were expected to lose, it often signals a successful night. In the charts below, blue shapes on the right signal a good night for the Democrats, and red shapes on the left signal that the Republicans have done well.
Senate
Before the election, the Cook Report classified six Senate races as genuine “toss-ups”. The Democrats need to win at least three of these, alongside the other races they are expected to win.
Likely DemocratLikely Dem.
Lean DemocratLean Dem.
Toss-upToss-up
Lean RepublicanLean Rep.
Likely RepublicanLikely Rep.
House
Democrats were favoured in enough House seats to take the chamber without winning any of the 18 seats the Cook Political Report classed as “toss-ups”. If they won every seat they were expected to win, they would comfortably win a majority. The balance of power rested on whether Democrats would hold the 18 seats rated “lean Democratic”. Republicans, favoured in 195 seats, would have needed to sweep all 18 toss-ups and flip five Democratic-leaning seats to win.
Thirty-three of the 100 members of the upper chamber were being elected regularly this year, along with two other special elections. Republicans had the Senate majority before the election. Senators serve six-year terms.
50
*includes 2 independents
33/35 races called
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Republicans were defending a majority in the 435-member House. Democrats held 212 House seats and needed 218 to win control. Members of the House of Representatives serve two-year terms and face re-election every even year.
218 to win
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Gubernatorial elections were taking place in 36 states, as well as three territories. Republicans and Democrats held 18 of these state governorships each before the election. Three incumbent governors were retiring.
34/36 races called
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How the elections work
The US legislature, Congress, has two chambers: the House of Representatives and the Senate.
How is the House of Representatives elected and how do they work?
The lower chamber, the House of Representatives, has 435 voting seats, each representing a district of roughly similar size. There are elections for each of these seats every two years.
The speaker of the House is the chamber’s presiding officer, elected by the representatives. The House has several exclusive powers, such as the power to initiate revenue bills, impeach federal officials and elect the president in the case of an electoral college tie.
How is the Senate elected and how do they work?
The upper chamber, the Senate, has 100 members, who sit for six-year terms. One-third of the seats come up for election in each two-year cycle. Each state has two senators, regardless of its population; this means that Wyoming, with a population of less than 600,000, carries the same weight as California, with almost 40 million.
Most legislation needs to pass both chambers to become law, but the Senate has some important other functions, notably approving senior presidential appointments, for instance to the supreme court. The Senate also has the sole power to provide advice to the president, consent to ratify treaties and try impeachment cases for federal officials referred to it by the House.
In most states, the candidate with the most votes on election day wins the seat. However, Georgia and Louisiana require the winning candidate to garner 50% of votes cast; if no one does, they hold a runoff election between the top two candidates.
Maine and Alaska use ranked-choice voting as opposed to the first past the post voting system in congressional elections. Voters rank candidates in order of preference. If no candidate receives a majority of first-choice votes, the least-supported candidate is eliminated and their ballots are transferred to each voter’s next-ranked candidate. This continues until a candidate wins a majority.
In some states, an election can feature two candidates from the same party. Under top-two or “jungle” primary systems, candidates from all parties compete in the same primary and the two receiving the most votes advance, regardless of party. The congressional election candidates could both be Democrats or both be Republicans.
Florida and Ohio are having ‘special elections’ for the Senate because the previous holders of their seats – Marco Rubio and JD Vance – resigned to join the executive branch following the 2024 presidential election.
How are governors elected and how do they work?
Governors are elected by direct vote in their states. The candidate with the highest number of votes is declared the winner.
In every state, the executive branch is led by a governor. They serve for four years in office, with the exception of Vermont and New Hampshire where tenures are two years long.
Governors are responsible for implementing state laws, and have a range of powers available to them such as executive orders, executive budgets and legislative proposals and vetoes.
How are the results reported?
The election results on this page are reported by the Associated Press. AP will “call” the winner in a state when it determines that the trailing candidate has no path to victory. This can happen before 100% of votes in a state have been counted.
Estimates for the total vote in each state are also provided by AP. The numbers update throughout election night and in the following days, as more data on voter turnout becomes available.
Antonio Voce, Seán Clarke, Ed Gargan, Anna Leach and Ashley Kirk
