Washington — Polls are closing on the West Coast, as one of the most contentious and divisive campaign seasons in recent memory nears its end. Control of Congress and critical offices around the country hang in the balance in this year’s midterm elections.
CBS News has characterized Senate control as a toss-up, while House control leans Republican.
Polls have closed in several key battleground states, including Georgia, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Arizona, Wisconsin and Nevada. CBS News characterizes the races in the Senate battlegrounds Nevada, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Wisconsin as all toss-ups.
Full results and projections for every House, Senate and governor’s race can be found in the CBS News Election Center and in updates below.
All 435 seats in the House are up for grabs, as well as 35 Senate seats. Three dozen governorships hang in the balance, as well as hundreds of races to determine control of state legislatures.
In the race for the governorships, CBS News projected Texas Gov. Greg Abbott defeated Democrat Beto O’Rourke. In another closely-watched race, CBS News projected Democrat Josh Shapiro defeated Doug Mastriano in the Pennsylvania’s govenrors’ race. In Arkansas, CBS News projected Sarah Huckabee Sanders won the race for governor, making her the first woman elected to lead that state. CBS News characterized the New York governor’s race between Democratic incumbent Kathy Hochul and Republican Lee Zeldin as lean Democrat.
Democrats were able to hold onto two seats so far, with CBS News projecting Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet of Colorado and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire both will win.
WIth all eyes on Florida, CBS News projects Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Marco Rubio, both Republicans, won their reelection bids, boosted by support from Latino voters, early exit poll data showed. Both candidates lost the Hispanic vote in their previous elections in 2018 and 2016, respectively.
CBS News characterized the battleground Senate races in Ohio and North Carolina as leaning Republican.
Voters have Senate control of the chamber on their minds — in each of the Senate battlegrounds where CBS News has conducted exit polls, voters said control of the Senate is important to their vote. CBS News conducted statewide surveys in 11 key battleground states: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, New Hampshire, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin.
In each of these states, voters have negative views of the nation’s economy.
Right now, in most of the Senate battleground states, the issue of inflation is outpacing abortion in terms of the issue’s importance to voters. But in Pennsylvania’s closely-watched race, early exit polling shows abortion outpacing inflation as a concern for voters.
CBS News is providing live coverage of the midterm results throughout the night and into the early morning on the CBS News Streaming Network, and on CBS stations from 8 to 11 p.m. Elections officials at the state level have cautioned that counting all the votes will take time, and that delays in determining the winners of races or control of Congress are part of the process to ensure an accurate count.
Republicans appear in a solid position to take control of the House and challenge Democrats for control of the Senate. Early exit poll data showed voters have a pessimistic view of the economy, with 3 in 4 calling it “bad.” Nearly 8 in 10 say inflation has been a hardship for them, including about 20% who say that hardship has been severe. Most say they have been negatively affected by gas prices, and nearly half of voters say their financial situation is worse than it was two years ago, more than twice the number who say it’s better.
Democrats, meanwhile, were pinning their hopes on strong turnout among their core constituencies, including young voters, who they hope will be enough to stem the tide of GOP gains and retain control of Congress.
