2026 Midterms results: Follow the Independent’s live maps

Millions of voters have cast their ballots in elections that will determine the balance of power in Congress — and with it, the fate of Donald Trump’s final years in the White House.All 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for election, along with 35 seats in the 100-member Senate.The 2026 midterm elections have become a referendum on Trump’s second residency, with Democratic candidates blaming the administration for the growing cost of living crisis and economic fallout from the Iran war, among other issues that are driving voters to the polls in record numbers.Defensive Republicans, meanwhile, have sought to cast their opponents as too extreme.Control of the Senate will likely depend on the outcomes of elections in Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas. A party will need 51 senators to achieve a simple majority in the upper chamber.In the House, a party needs 218 seats to claim a simple majority.Full results are not expected in the immediate hours after polls close; polls won’t close in Alaska until 1 a.m. Eastern, and election officials will continue processing ballots received through Election Day. Potential Republican-led challenges and legal intervention from the Trump administration could drag results into the coming days and weeks ahead.Preliminary results from the Associated Press will inform The Independent’s charts and maps of election results and the nation’s shifting political landscape.