Live Election Day updates: Democrats poised to flip the Senate as key races break their way

In a strong sign for Democrats, early returns Tuesday night showed opposition to a GOP-backed voter ID initiative was leading with 59% of the vote compared to proponents with 41%, with 36% of the vote counted.
–Nadia Lathan

Democrat Adam Hamilton, a first-time candidate and pastor, defeated incumbent Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, a doctor. The Associated Press called the race. This is the first time Kansas is sending a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1932. A New York Times investigation found that he sued more than 700 former patients for failure to pay.
— Mikhail Zinshteyn

Former U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown is returning to Congress's upper chamber after defeating Ohio Sen. Jon Husted, the incumbent, according to The Associated Press. Brown lost his seat to current Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno in 2024.
— Mikhail Zinshteyn

California Democrat tells Republicans to ‘Lawyer up’

Long Beach U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia, who leads Democrats on the powerful House Oversight Committee, warned of incoming litigation against the Trump administration in a social media post as early returns showed Democrats likely to control the chamber.

The congressmember has vowed to launch investigations into President Donald Trump and his family if Democrats take back the House.
-–Nadia Lathan

The Associated Press declared Xavier Becerra the winner in the race to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom shortly after polls closed.
He will be the first Latino to serve as governor in a century and a half, and the first to be elected to the seat.
Read more on what his election means for California in our story by CalMatters' Jeanne Kuang.
— Adam Ashton

Democratic state Rep. James Talarico defeated Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, according to the Associated Press. That's the third U.S. Senate seat Democrats have flipped tonight. Talarico was leading in most polls for weeks. Texans last elected a Democrat for the Senate in 1988. Paxton GOP peers impeached him in the Texas House of Representatives for abuse of powers. The state Senate acquitted him.
— Mikhail Zinshteyn

Democrat and pediatrician Annie Andrews has flipped another U.S. Senate seat for Democrats, defeating Sen. Darline Graham. The Associated Press has called the race. Not since 2005 has a Democrat represented South Carolina in the U.S. Senate. After the Palmetto State stalwart Sen. Lindsey Graham unexpectedly died in July, his sister Graham was appointed as his replacement and ran to defend the party's, and family's, seat. But Democrats were unremitting in arguing that she lacked policy chops.

– Mikhail Zinshteyn

Editor’s Note: Our journalists are working through today and tonight to bring you the latest on the election. Plus, our voter guide informs millions of California voters. Thank our team with a gift to our 501(c)(3) nonprofit newsroom today. Please give.

California’s polling places all close at 8 p.m. today, but anyone who got in line to vote before 8 p.m., including those in line to drop off mail-in ballots, are allowed to do so after closing time. Poll workers are required to announce that the polls are closed, and if there is a line, poll workers are instructed to go to the back of the line at 8 p.m. to signify where the last votes will be counted.

In rare cases, polling hours can be extended past 8 p.m. The last time it happened in California was 2008, when some counties ran out of ballots. During the Democratic presidential primary in March 2020, Bernie Sanders asked a federal court in Los Angeles to extend polling times to 10 p.m. after voters faced long lines. The judge denied the request because it was filed too late in the day.

— Adam Echelman

After one flip by Democrats in the Senate, The New York Times' election model shows an 87% chance of Democrats taking control of the Senate and above a 95% chance of Democrats taking the House. But "it's still early," the Gray Lady says.
— Mikhail Zinshteyn

Former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper defeated Republican Michael Whatley in the contest for North Carolina’s open Senate seat after incumbent Republican Sen. Thom Tillis announced he would not seek reelection. The Associated Press has called the race.

— Mikhail Zinshteyn

The Trump administration has successfully, if narrowly, challenged a court order that would have barred it from contesting California ballots and prohibited it from intimidating election workers. The back-and-forth stretched out over the last two days of voting in California.
The latest ruling, handed down Tuesday in a tight 6-5 decision among 11 federal appellate court judges, suspends a restraining order sought by the Service Employees International Union.

The restraining order alleged violations of the Voting Rights Act and forbade the federal government from sequestering ballots and threatening election officials with prosecution.
In the new decision, the panel of 11 judges found that the federal government can request to investigate ballots despite rulings in a separate case in which California blocked the Trump administration from challenging 20,000 ballots.

Six judges ruled for the majority and five dissented.

“Here, we consider only whether the Government can make such a request in the first place,” wrote U.S. Circuit Court Judge Carlos Bea. “And as we explained above, we think that the Government has established that it likely can. We find these requests to be core Executive functions that did not actually disturb the states’ regulation of their own elections.”
The background is complicated and involves three separate court decisions: First, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said on Monday that challenging ballots was a right of the government and “core executive (branch) function.”

That decision was reversed by a larger panel of judges on the federal appellate court later on Monday.

Then, on Tuesday, another panel of 11 judges reinstated the stay.
– Nigel Duara

Polls have closed in six states, including two closely-watched Senate races and a number of competitive House seats.

The polls have closed in Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia.
At 4:30 Pacific Time, polls will close in North Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia. Another 16 states will close their polls at 5 p.m. Pacific Time.
– Nigel Duara

If in early returns tonight you see Republicans faring better than expected in California races, you might be experiencing the ‘red mirage.’

It happens in close races in almost every major election, CalMatters’ Ryan Sabalow reports. Then, as more votes are counted over the following days, the Democratic candidates start to pull ahead.

It’s a phenomenon that President Donald Trump and his supporters have used to accuse California Democrats of rigging elections. But in reality, Sabalow reports, it could be because Republicans turned in their ballots earlier than Democrats. That’s what happened in the June Los Angeles mayor’s race, on a ballot with an especially crowded field of Democratic gubernatorial candidates. Faced with so many choices, Democrats waited an extra long time to turn in their ballots.

And that could very well happen again this election with some of the races on the ballot.

– Marisa Kendall

About six in 10 likely California voters say they have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of trust that their vote will be counted in state elections, according to a recent poll by the Public Policy Institute of California. A little less than a quarter said they have very little trust in the system.

The proportion of likely voters that trust the vote has held steady since October 2024, before the last presidential election. But voter sentiment varies by party preference. While 64% of Democrats said they have a great deal of confidence in the system, just 11% of Republicans feel the same. More than half of Republicans said they have very little confidence their votes will be counted.

Most likely voters (71%) also said they approved of California’s switch in 2021 to universal mail-in ballots. Assembly Bill 37 required counties to mail a ballot to every registered voter before each election – a change that 91% of Democrats agree with, but 65% of Republicans say has been detrimental.

– Marisa Kendall

About 7 in 10 voters want Congress to do more to provide a check against the presidency, according to the Associated Press Voter Poll.
The national poll, released Tuesday afternoon, combines surveys of registered voters with exit polls.
The poll found disapproval of President Trump with roughly 6 out of 10 voters, while more than 7 out of 10 voters disapproved of how Congress was doing its job.
– Nigel Duara

More than 1.9 million ballots have been cast in Los Angeles County, representing about 32% of registered voters, Dean Logan, the county’s registrar-recorder and county clerk said during a news conference Tuesday afternoon.

Of those who have voted already, 1.5 million people voted by mail, and more than 387,000 people have gone in person so far.

Voting is proceeding with no issues, Logan said, despite Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ worries of federal interference.

“I’m pleased to report that so far, Election Day has been running smoothly across LA County,” Logan said. “We’ve had no reportable instances of significance.”

– Marisa Kendall

Editor’s Note: Our journalists are working through today and tonight to bring you the latest on the election. Plus, our voter guide informs millions of California voters. Thank our team with a gift to our 501(c)(3) nonprofit newsroom today. Please give.

Gov. Gavin Newsom isn’t on the ballot for a statewide election for the first time since 2010, when he won his race for lieutenant governor.

He and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom cast their ballots in Marin County today.

The governor left his mark on this election with Proposition 50, the initiative he carried last year that redrew five congressional districts to favor Democrats. That was meant to neutralize President Trump’s demand that Texas redo its congressional maps to lift up Republicans. We’ll see how those maps shake out tonight.

How did Newsom vote on the 14 ballot propositions? Well, we know he opposed Prop. 40, the billionaire tax. He also endorsed Prop. 42, a billionaire-supported measure meant to block future taxes on assets and personal property. Our Jeanne Kuang filed this report on where Newsom stood on the ballot measures.

— Adam Ashton

Republican Steve Hilton appeared in the Koreatown neighborhood of Los Angeles early Tuesday afternoon in the last bit of campaigning in his long shot bid for governor.

“It doesn't matter if you're Korean, Vietnamese, Latino, Black, White, Hungarian, or from any other background,” Hilton wrote Tuesday on his Facebook account. “We're all Californians, we're all in this together, and we all want a better future for our state.”

Hilton’s campaign has focused on California’s high cost of living, hoping to convince independents, undecided voters and even some conservative Democrats to join his call for fewer business regulations and lower taxes.

He has consistently trailed Democratic candidate Xavier Becerra in polls by double digits.

—Nigel Duara