All the results from the US midterm elections so far

The first results have been called in momentous US midterm elections that will determine the balance of power in Washington DC and shape the rest of Donald Trump‘s presidency. The Democrat incumbent Mark Warner of Virginia has won re-election to the US Senate defeating Republican Bert Mizusawa, according to the Associated Press, an early result in the battle to determine who will control the upper chamber of Congress.. Meanwhile in the House of Representatives, Republican Hal Rogers is projected to win Kentucky’s 5th congressional district, and Democrat Morgan McGarvey is projected to win Kentucky’s 3rd congressional district, according to NBC News projection. Rogers has represented Kentucky’s 5th district since 1981. In Florida, Democrat Wasserman Schultz won the 20th congressional district, the Associated Press declared. Shorts Polls have also closed in Georgia, South Carolina, Vermont, and Virginia, and much of Florida. These early results are unlikely to offer much of a clue as to the final results, however. The real drama of the night is expected to come later, with the results from a handful of key battleground states in the race for the Senate: Iowa, Kansas, Alaska, Maine, Michigan, Texas and Ohio. All are currently held by Republicans apart from Michigan. Polls suggest that these elections could end in disaster for Trump’s party. A recent poll by The New York Times and Siena University found Democratic candidates ahead in Kansas, Maine, Ohio and Texas, Michigan, with an edge in Alaska and effectively tied in Iowa. Some of these tight contests should come in the next few hours: we can expect polls to close in Ohio at 12.30 UK time and 1am in Maine, which should offer some indications of how voters are feeling. These are followed by 2am in Iowa, Kansas, Michigan and Texas, and finally Alaska’s far west – the last polls to close – at 6am (1am ET). Timings for polls to close (GMT): 11pm: Parts of Indiana and Kentucky. Midnight: Georgia, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, most of Florida, the rest of Indiana and Kentucky. 12:30am: North Carolina (delayed), Ohio, West Virginia. 1am: Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Washington DC, the Florida panhandle and most of Kansas, Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota and Texas. 1:30am: Arkansas. 2am: Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, Wisconsin, Wyoming and the western parts of Kansas, Michigan, the Dakotas and Texas. 3am: Montana, Nevada, Utah, most of Idaho and eastern Oregon. 4am: California, Washington, most of Oregon and northern Idaho. 5am: Hawaii and most of Alaska 6am: The far west of Alaska North Carolina is another race to watch. Democrats are expected to take it from the Republicans despite its record of voting for Trump in all three of the presidential elections in which he has stood. Polls were set to close around 12.30am UK time but this has been delayed by around 45 minutes due to technical issues earlier in the day. Results are likely to take even longer elsewhere, and in some states we may not get a complete picture for hours or even days. Different states manage elections differently, and will count at different speeds. In 2022, it was days before the House could be called. States with a lot of mail-in voting will need more time to count – California accepts ballots postmarked by 3 November if they arrive as late as 10 November, while Alaska accepts ballots mailed from outside the US for 15 days after voting day. Meanwhile states like Maine and Alaska use ranked-choice voting, which can drag out count times if no candidates wins more than 50 per cent of first choice votes. Results could be further delayed if legal challenges are brought challenging the outcomes of races. The Trump administration has already. A federal judge has already dismissed a Justice Department (DoJ) lawsuit that sought to delay certification of Alaska’s Senate election if the Republican incumbent lost, while on Monday the DoJ asked the Supreme Court to block California from counting about 20,000 mail-in ballots from voters over the suggestion they might not be US citizens. The Supreme Court rejected that request. However, even before full vote counts are completed, US media outlets may start to call the results of races using modelling. While there is no official national results service, many look to the Associated Press, which will call nearly 7,000 races. What is at stake? Up for grabs in these elections is control of both chambers of Congress: all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate. Both chambers are currently controlled by Trump’s Republican Party, with 218 seats in the House to the Democrats’ 214, and 53 in the Senate to the Democrats’ 45. To flip the House, Democrats need a net gain of three seats, and four to take the Senate too. While the Democrats are largely expected to take control of the House of Representatives, Republicans are increasingly afraid that they will seize the Senate. With control of the House, Democrats could launch investigations into the administration, and subject senior officials to more scrutiny. They could also stop Republicans passing legislation, and even vote to impeach Trump again. If they win the Senate, they could block Trump’s nominees including ambassadors, judges and cabinet officials and force his administration to negotiate over legislation. Greater Democratic power in Congress could make it “very painful for the President to push through his agenda” and could trigger more investigations into potential corruption and abuse of power in the Trump administration, Natasha Lindstaedt, a professor of government at the University of Essex, told The i Paper.