*** Election Night LiveWire *** Blue Wave or Bust for Democrats: America Votes as Both Chambers of Congress in Flux

It’s the moment of truth in America’s midterm elections in President Donald Trump’s second term in the White House as voters coast to coast cast ballots to determine which party controls each chamber of the United States Congress and key governors’ mansions around the country.

Expectations are sky high for Democrats in large part thanks to polls and prediction markets forecasting a clean sweep of control of the legislative branch of government at the federal level and governors’ races nationwide. Democrats, to have a good night, need to far exceed just taking a reasonably sized House majority–they have to sweep across the battlegrounds for U.S. Senate and take that chamber’s majority as well, tearing deep into GOP strongholds like Texas, Kansas, Alaska, Ohio, or Iowa to do it.

For Republicans, meanwhile, they seek to defy history and hold on to their Senate and House majorities–the former is far easier to do than the latter–while also holding on to or even flipping some governors’ mansions.

While Congress is increasingly irrelevant in the United States–the real power lies at the White House–either party could get energy coming out of this midterm election to set the stage with momentum for the upcoming all-important 2028 presidential election. Democrats could use any newly gained power to target Trump and those around him with investigations, whereas Republicans would almost certainly see holding on to any power as an affirmation of Trump’s 2024 electoral mandate.

Polls begin closing in parts of Indiana and Kentucky at 6 p.m. ET, and then close every hour or half hour afterwards throughout the night. Follow along here on Breitbart News for live results, news, and analysis from across the country as the nation weighs in with the 2026 midterm elections.

UPDATE 6:12 p.m. ET:

Exit polls are brutal for Republicans on economic numbers and inflation and cost of living:

But Scott Jennings says these are more of a mixed bag:

UPDATE 6:08 p.m. ET:

The first votes have posted in both Kentucky and Indiana, but the results are so minimal it’s impossible to read anything into them so far. Nonetheless, Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) leads the Kentucky U.S. Senate race and there are some House race votes in both places that have begun reporting.

UPDATE 6:03 p.m. ET:

Polls have closed in parts of Indiana and Kentucky. We are awaiting first results from those places.