Democrats Win Control of the House and Senate

The vote decides which party controls each chamber of Congress for the remainder of Trump's second term. Republicans held the Senate 53-47, so Democrats needed to gain four seats for a majority. All 435 House seats were up, along with governor's races and state legislatures. The Associated Press described voters as fed up over high prices and angry over the direction of the country, casting ballots in what it called a referendum on Trump's second term.

Democrats won control of the House and the Senate, flipping six Republican-held Senate seats. Cooper will succeed Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who did not seek reelection. Ossoff defeated Republican Rep. Mike Collins in Georgia. Pappas defeated Sununu, a former senator, to keep retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen's seat for Democrats. In Florida, Moody, appointed to the seat Marco Rubio left to become secretary of state, defeated Nixon; she will serve the final two years of Rubio's term. Andrews, a pediatrician, defeated Graham, who was appointed in July to succeed her late brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham. Talarico defeated Paxton, the state attorney general, for the seat of Republican Sen. John Cornyn, who lost to Paxton in the primary. Brown, a former senator, defeated Husted, who was appointed to the seat JD Vance left to become vice president. Hamilton defeated Marshall, who was seeking a second term. Turek, a state representative, defeated Hinson for Iowa's open Senate seat. Bottoms, a former Atlanta mayor, defeated Jackson, a billionaire health care executive, to succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. NBC News reported that Cooper is the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in North Carolina since 2008, that Andrews will be South Carolina's first Democratic senator in more than 20 years, and that Bottoms is the first Democrat to win Georgia's governorship since 1998. South Carolina had not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1998, CBS News reported. In a phone call with the network, Trump congratulated Democrats. "My message is, congratulations to the Democrats, and I look forward to working with you for the good of our country," he said. "I have total veto power and I'm sure we'll be able to work things out," Trump said, adding that Republicans lost because he was not on the ballot: "If I was, we would have won."

U.S. stock futures fell as results came in. As of 11:26 p.m. Eastern, S&P 500 futures were down 1.3%, Nasdaq 100 futures were down 2.2% and Dow futures were down 410 points, or 0.8%, CNBC reported, citing speculation among traders that Democrats were headed for control of Congress. Bloomberg put the S&P 500 futures decline at 1.3% and the Nasdaq 100 drop at 2.3%, citing the growing prospect of a Democratic sweep of Congress. Fortune reported Dow futures down 0.73%.

In Kentucky, Republican Rep. Andy Barr defeated Democrat Charles Booker for the Senate seat held by Mitch McConnell, who is retiring. In New York's 17th District, Republican Rep. Mike Lawler faces Democrat Cait Conley.

Ballot scanners failed throughout Westchester County in the morning. The county board of elections first said the paper ballots were too thick, withdrew that explanation, and by afternoon linked the failures to an update to the county's election programming released after the machines were tested. "Every eligible vote will be counted," the board wrote, and New York Attorney General Letitia James said her office was monitoring.

In Georgia, some Fulton County voters received text messages about polling place changes that the county said it had not sent. In Toledo, Ohio, Beverly Elementary School received two bomb threats in the morning, and voting paused until police cleared the building. Heavy rain and flash flooding closed or disrupted some polling places in Florida and parts of the Southwest, USA Today reported, and some lines in Tarrant County, Texas, ran longer than two hours. North Carolina extended hours at some precincts after minor technical problems, and three precincts in Chester County, Pennsylvania, stayed open an extra half hour after machine set-up delays.

The Justice Department said it deployed about 1,000 monitors and observers, for the first time in all 50 states, coordinated by its Civil Rights Division, to check compliance with federal voting laws. By late afternoon there were no reports of armed federal officials at polling places, and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told reporters at the White House that he had not sent immigration agents to polling sites. Federal law bars troops and armed federal agents from polling places except to repel armed enemies of the United States.

Marc Elias, a lawyer who represents Democrats in voting cases, said he received a Justice Department letter telling him he is a target of a criminal investigation tied to the Alaska Senate race. The White House and the department have denied running politically motivated investigations.

Polls closed in stages through the evening, at 7 p.m. Eastern in Georgia, Virginia and South Carolina, at 8 p.m. in Florida, Pennsylvania and much of the Northeast, at 9 p.m. in Arizona, Michigan, New York, Texas and Wisconsin, and at 11 p.m. in California. News organizations call races from vote counts, but states take up to about a month to certify official results. If no candidate in Alaska's Senate or governor's race reaches 50%, ranked-choice counting will push the outcome weeks out.