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US Midterm Elections: House Needs 218 Seats, Senate Needs 51 as Results Take Hours to Weeks
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Control of House requires 218 seats; Senate needs 51, results may take hours to weeks. Counting pace depends on state laws and margins; mail-in and ranked-choice can extend timelines.
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When results emerge
Results are starting to filter through in the US midterm elections, and the timing of when the full outcome is known could stretch from several hours to days or even weeks. A party needs 218 seats to win a majority in the House of Representatives, while it needs 51 seats for an outright majority in the Senate. Early results will come from places considered safe bets for Republicans like Kentucky and Indiana or Democrats like Vermont, and analysts will focus on competitive races to gauge how things are going for Trump.
Polls close at 19:30 EST in Ohio and at 20:00 EST in Maine, and those races could provide early indications of the electorate's mood. The United States has begun counting votes in the midterm elections, with first results appearing after 6:00 PM Eastern Time when polls closed in Indiana and Kentucky.
Counting rules and calls
Elections are managed locally throughout the US, and it can take many hours, days or even weeks in more contested races. Paper ballots are typically tabulated by machines, with partial hand counts and audits checking those results for accuracy, and results are often uploaded in batches. The AP predicts a winner based on early, unofficial results, and the AP has said it doesn’t call races unless it is "highly confident of the outcome."
The results of the United States midterm legislative elections can take weeks to finalize because each state has its own rules for counting votes and certifying the results. "States are not fast or slow; everyone counts and certifies results according to the laws approved by state legislatures," quoting Ryan Macias.
What control depends on
Republicans are trying to hang on to slim majorities in both chambers while Democrats try to wrest power in Washington for the final two years of Trump’s term. Senate control is likely to be decided in eight races it rates as either toss-ups (Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Texas) or lean Democratic (Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire). Assuming Democrats win the states NBC News classifies as "likely" for that party, they still need to win five of those eight contests.
All 435 members of the House of Representatives are up for re-election and 35 Senate seats are up for grabs, and the governor’s offices of 36 states are on the ballot. The G.O.P. currently holds a fifty-three to forty-seven vote advantage in the Senate, and Democrats must defend seats in three key swing states, while flipping at least four of seven competitive Republican-held seats.