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Voting has finished in some states in US mid-term elections that could cost President Donald Trump’s Republicans control of the Congress.
Polls have closed in South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia and most of Florida. The final votes will be cast in Hawaii and Alaska late in the afternoon Australian Eastern Daylight Time.
A struggling economy is expected to hurt the Republicans, who have 53 seats in the 100-seat Senate and control the lower house by 218 to 214 seats.
Mid-term elections for one third of the Senate and all of the House of Representatives usually attract a voter turn out of 45 to 50 per cent in the non-compulsory system compared with 60 to 66 per cent for presidential elections, which are held every four years.
A loss of Congress could lead President Trump to concentrate more on foreign policy in the last two years of his term because presidents have almost unfettered control over military and diplomatic matters.
Thirty-six of the 50 states are choosing governors. Numerous state and local positions are up for election too.
Key Events
Donald Trump turns to X to promote Republican candidates
President Donald Trump usually prefers to communicate through his social media site, Truth Social.
But Mr Trump turned to X, where he has 111 million followers, to encourage Americans to vote for specific Republican candidates in the mid-term elections.
The Nightly counted 106 similar posts on the site formerly known as Twitter from the president. They were sent over a two-hour period on Tuesday afternoon in Washington, where the president is waiting at the White House for counting to begin.
In the posts, Mr Trump personalised his messages for Senate, House and state candidates, many of whom he called America first patriots or MAGA warriors.
The Republican party is encouraging people to vote using the slogan “Swamp the vote USA”. Mr Trump pinned a post linking to a Republican campaign page at the top of his X feed.
Elon Musk has a lot invested in the US election: $680 million
“Vote red today!” Elon Musk posted on his X social media site this morning.
The world’s richest man has a lot invested in today’s election. He has spent $US474 million ($680 million) supporting Republican candidates, according to a tally by the New York Times of public records, which go up to October 14 and therefore many undercount his contributions.
Most of the money has gone to Republican-aligned super political action committees, which are fundraising vehicles. They cannot donate to individual candidates but can pay for advertising that helps them.
The top beneficiary of Mr Musk’s support is Texas Senator Ken Paxton, who is struggling to hold off Democrat James Talarico, according to prediction markets.
Mr Musk’s Tesla operates a factory outside the Texas capital of Austin. If Democrats take control of Congress, they have promised to investigate Mr Musk’s relationship with the White House.
The only individual who has spent more on a US election is former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, who unsuccessfully ran for president in 2020 at an estimated cost of about $1.4 billion.
When to expect results in each state
When we start to see results in the midterms depends on the state.
Here is a state by state breakdown of when polls close, and when we can expect to see a winner.
$2.1BN wagered on mid-term elections
Never before has so much money been bet on an election outcome.
About $2.1 billion has been wagered on the US mid-term elections for the House of Representatives and the Senate through prediction markets such as Polymarket and Kalshi, Reuters reports.
According to Polymarket, the result is clear. The Democrats have a 94 per cent chance of retaking the House, which they lost four years ago, and a 74 per cent chance of taking the Senate, which they lost when Donald Trump won the 2024 election.
In one of the most-watched contests, the Michigan Senate seat, Polymarket predicts that Democrat Abdul El-Sayed has a 76 per cent chance of beating Republican Mike Rogers. Mr El-Sayed wants to cut US military aid to Israel, a position likely to appeal to Michigan’s large Arabic-speaking population.
Prediction markets have taken off over the past two years in the US and elsewhere, although questions have been raised about their integrity after revelations relatively small bets can have a big impact and concerns about insider trading.
Three US candidates were fined by Kalshi in April for betting on their own races, although each said they bet $US100 ($143).
Polymarket is banned from Australia by the Australian Communications and Media Authority, which regulates online gambling services.
Polls about to close in some US states
Polls will close in some eastern states at 10am Australian Eastern Daylight Time and stay open in Hawaii and Alaska until late in the afternoon AEDT.
Follow us for live updates as early results come in.
‘They don’t need it’: Trump’s shock Israel announcement
US President Donald Trump says he made a deal with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the United States will stop funding Israel after the end of this year.
Speaking to Fox News, Mr Trump said Israel no longer needed the $US4 billion ($A5.7 billion) in annual funding and that some Democrats were using the US financial support to Israel as a talking point to criticise Republicans.
“You can consider it barter. You can consider military aid or cash,” Mr Trump said.
“Look, we give them $US4 billion of things and money, and they don’t need it. And I was approached by Bibi Netanyahu, and we’ve been talking about it for a couple of years because it’s a lot of money.”
- Reuters
Read the full story here.
Trump’s confidence as midterms race heats up
Voters struggling with high prices and angry over an unpopular war with Iran are deciding whether to drastically shift power in Washington DC, with surveys favouring Democrats to wrest the House of Representatives from Republicans while control of the Senate remains uncertain.
Democrats were cautiously optimistic as they watched Republicans spend the campaign’s final stretch pumping tens of millions of dollars into states and districts that US President Donald Trump won handily two years ago.
They’re betting that discontent over Mr Trump’s failure to deliver on his promise to tackle rising costs and perceptions that he has focused more on gilding the capital than their pain at the pump will depress Republican turnout and drive their own voters to the polls.
- AP
Read the full story here.
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