Final sprint to Election Day
• Trump interview: President Donald Trump says he will “veto everything” if Democrats win back power in Congress. The party has detailed plans in place if it wins control of the House or Senate in the midterm elections. Trump closes the midterm campaign with telerallies and a speech later.
• Democratic hopes on midterm eve: A series of New York Times/Siena polls show Democrats leading in five of seven key battleground states that could decide Senate control. Michigan Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed leads the GOP’s Mike Rogers by 11 points and Texas Democrat James Talarico leads Ken Paxton by seven.
• Shock in Michigan: El-Sayed’s campaign had its biggest single campaign fundraising day after Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens’ surprise endorsement of Rogers. Stevens struggled at times to defend her decision in an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper.
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Updates
(33)Trump asks Supreme Court to segregate California ballots before midterm election
President Donald Trump on Monday urged the Supreme Court to force California to set aside potentially thousands of ballots the Justice Department claims may have been cast by noncitizens, a longshot request that multiple lower courts have rejected.
The Justice Department’s emergency filing came days after an appeals court in California barred the administration from intervening in the state’s mail-in ballot counting, concluding that the federal government has no power to dictate to states how to run elections.
“If the United States believes different procedures are necessary for vote-by-mail ballots, we believe it should take that suggestion to Congress, not the courts,” the court wrote in a 2-1 decision that was issued by US Circuit Judges Mark Bennett, a Trump nominee, and Gabriel Sanchez, who was named to the bench by former President Joe Biden.
"Mr. Veto" contemplates a potential new Washington reality
Is President Donald Trump finally contemplating life with a Democratic Congress?
This is the way it’s supposed to work when one party holds one or both chambers of Congress and the other has the White House.
The US system of divided government and national elections every two years makes such political cohabitation a design feature rather than a flaw to encourage compromise.
If Democrats gain a majority on Tuesday, Trump might try to reinvent himself as a great dealmaker. He said he’d be “Mr. Veto” and then after a month or two of hitting a dead end with their bills, Democrats would “come over, and you make a deal.”
But that’s easier said than done.
A new Democratic Congress would be elected as a repudiation of Trump, and his base isn’t looking for deals. Trump also has a history of making deals and then breaking them — so opponents find it hard to trust him.
And the atmosphere next year would be hardly conducive to accommodations when any new Democratic majorities launch relentless investigations into Trump’s administration and financial dealings.
Still, Democrats do have an interest in showing moderate general election voters they can do something to alleviate the affordability crisis. And Trump doesn’t want to leave office with the economy in crisis.
So at some point, a Democratic Congress and a Republican president would have to find some common ground. Wouldn’t they?
Trump's remarks will contrast Democrats' and Republicans' agenda, White House says
President Donald Trump’s closing midterm message, which he will deliver at the renovated Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Monday, is intended to draw a clear contrast between Democrats’ and Republicans’ agenda, a White House official told CNN.
“The President’s remarks will highlight this Administration’s achievements to make the country safer and wealthier while drawing a clear contrast between Republicans’ commonsense America First agenda and the Democrats’ radical, America last agenda,” the official said.
Trump told reporters on Sunday that he was holding the event at the Reflecting Pool, one of his many renovation projects in the Washington, DC, area, to “just show how beautiful is.”
Trump vowed to restore the Reflecting Pool as part of his executive order to make the nation’s capital “safe and beautiful.” However, the renovation project was plagued with issues from the start, and several of Trump’s advisers have urged him not to focus on his Washington construction projects in the lead-up to the midterm elections.
Vance campaigns on election eve for candidate who called Mamdani a “terrorist” and “demon”
Vice President JD Vance is spending the eve of the election campaigning for a congressional candidate who has an album focused on President Donald Trump — and another profanity-laden song that calls New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani a terrorist and demon whose “friends kill gays.”
Republican Anthony Constantino is running for outgoing New York GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik’s seat against Democratic second-generation dairy farmer Blake Gendebien. The district is rated “lean Republican” by the Cook Political Report, though it’s considered more competitive than it was in 2024.
“I happen to remember a man that we sent to Washington in 2016 because he wasn’t owned by his donors. That was President Donald J. Trump, and Anthony is cut from the same cloth,” Vance said at a Monday rally, where he touted other New York congressional candidates as well. Donald Trump, Jr., who was also at the event, called Constantino “one of the original (Trump) supporters.”
Constantino, who is the CEO of a custom-printing company called Sticker Mule, has an album on Spotify, called “Thank you President Trump,” with songs including, “Fight,” “Trump,” “MAGA Again,” and “Art of the Deal.” While Constantino defended his Trump album, calling it “G-rated,” the song that talks about Mamdani is far from it.
In the music video, “You Funny,” Constantino raps the attacks against Mamdani and Democrats, while wearing a black leather jacket with the American flag on the back. It was posted on YouTube in October 2025, shortly before Mamdani was elected.
“Terrorists aren’t flying planes into buildings anymore. They’re coming at us different, trying to install politicians who aren’t even from our country and our government to hurt our citizens. One is Zohran Mamdani. First off, f*** you b****. I see through your game. You ain’t from here. You from Uganda and your friends kill gays,” Constantino says.
Mamdani, who is a Democratic socialist, was born in Kampala, Uganda, and moved to New York with his family at age 7.
“Your mother raised a demon,” Constatino also says. “But since you a demon back to hell’s where you going.”
Trump gave Constantino his “complete and total endorsement” last week, calling him a “very good friend of mine.” In April 2025, Constantino gifted Trump a bronze statue of himself raising a fist, appearing as a $250,000 gift in the president’s financial disclosure, which the New York Post first reported.
This post has been updated with additional developments.
Haley Stevens’ confounding CNN interview
Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens of Michigan spoke with CNN’s Anderson Cooper for about 15 minutes on Sunday night — ostensibly to explain her shocking move to change her Michigan Senate race endorsement from Democrat Abdul El-Sayed to Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers.
Politicians are often evasive, but this was on another level.
By my count, Cooper gave Stevens 12 opportunities to explain the switch. She kept vaguely referring to El-Sayed being “angry” but didn’t go much deeper than that. She repeatedly spoke in generalities and mentioned how the move had taken a “weight” off her shoulders.
Cooper noted that El-Sayed had recently rebuked a controversial ad from an outside group, as Stevens had called for him to do and for which she praised him. Cooper also cited Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell having said Stevens told her the night before that she wouldn’t endorse Rogers.
In a tense Sunday night interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) refused to say directly why she withdrew her support from Michigan Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed and backed GOP candidate Mike Rogers in the high-stakes race.
It seemed about the only thing that had changed was that El-Sayed’s campaign had said Stevens was no longer welcome at his events. But Stevens wouldn’t even confirm that was her breaking point.
“Look, I appreciate all the introspection and how I make decisions and how I reach this moment,” she said.
At one point, Stevens cited how “I haven’t cast my vote yet” — but denied that she was saying she could switch again.
Stevens also cited other reservations about El-Sayed, including him having campaigned during the primary with controversial streamer Hasan Piker. But Cooper noted that she had continued to support El-Sayed long after those things were known.
Toward the end of the interview, Cooper gave Stevens a chance to directly dispute what Dingell had said, but she again stopped short of a direct answer.
“That is, you know, nice editorializing,” Stevens said. Cooper emphasized that he was giving her a chance to address the claim.
Cooper concluded: “You don’t want to say whether you had a conversation with Debbie Dingell? Okay.”
Stevens didn’t quibble with that conclusion. But it was far from the only thing she didn’t want to address with any specifics.
Former Sen. Manchin defends supporting Susan Collins over Democratic challenger
Former West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a longtime Democrat turned independent, said he is supporting Sen. Susan Collins of Maine in her reelection campaign against Democrat Troy Jackson because she is someone who gets things done and works across the aisle.
“I think when you lose Susan Collins, you lose really the heart of the Senate, the soul of the Senate,” Manchin told CNN’s Pamela Brown Monday. “She knows how it works and how it’s supposed to work. It’s not working now. And she’s fighting like heck to fix it.”
Manchin said Collins holds President Donald Trump accountable and can encourage other Republicans to speak out when they disagree with the administration.
“She’s out there fighting. She’s on the inside,” he said.
The day before Election Day, a CNN Poll of Polls average shows Jackson leading Collins by 4 points: 50% to 46%.
Gas and diesel have never been this expensive on an Election Day
As voters head to the polls on Tuesday, they will be driving past a constant reminder of inflation and the Iran war: the most expensive Election Day gasoline on record.
The AAA national average price for regular gas was $4.17 a gallon on Monday.
Pump prices have been easing over the past few weeks, but Tuesday is still on track to shatter the Biden-era record on Election Day 2022, when the national average was $3.80 a gallon, according to a CNN analysis of AAA data.
Gas prices are sharply higher than the 2024 presidential election, when the national average was just $3.10 a gallon.
Prices for diesel remain near all-time highs. The national average for diesel stands at $6.29 a gallon on Monday, leaving the fuel firmly on track to blow away the prior Election Day record of $5.35 per gallon in 2022, according to AAA data.
Michigan, a major battleground state in this election, continues to face the biggest 12-month increase in gas prices among any US state.
While candidate Donald Trump promised in 2024 to bring back $2 gas, his war in Iran has helped cause the opposite. Gas prices are more expensive during President Donald Trump’s second term ($3.48 per gallon so far) than they were during the Biden administration ($3.471 per gallon).
When adjusted for inflation, this year’s Election Day gas prices don’t look as high by comparison. For instance, real (inflation-adjusted) gas prices were significantly higher at $5.07 per gallon in 2012 during the Obama administration.
However, voters typically don’t adjust for inflation when filling up their tanks, and polls show Trump is deeply underwater on the issue of gas prices.
Diesel will be at an all-time high on Election Day even on an inflation-adjusted basis.
Ads sum up closing arguments in key Senate races
Candidates and their allies have been making closing arguments to voters in the past few weeks.
Ads that got the most air time show which messages they wanted to emphasize:
Texas: Democratic nominee State Rep. James Talarico ran this ad more than 6,000 times in the final week of the midterms, according to AdImpact data, summarizing his populist case against Attorney General Ken Paxton, his GOP opponent.
“We can’t afford gas or groceries or health care because the system has been rigged by billionaires and corrupt politicians like Ken Paxton,” Talarico says in the ad.
On the other side, Texas PAC — a super PAC funded by national Republicans and Elon Musk — spent nearly $10 million to air this ad more than 5,000 times, accusing Talarico of associating with “radicals” and criticizing his stance on criminal justice reform.
Ohio: GOP Sen. Jon Husted is facing former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in the second-most expensive Senate race of the cycle, trailing only the Texas contest.
In Husted’s top ad in the last week, aired around 5,000 times, he urges voters to “turn off all that noise,” referencing the crush of attack ads in his race. He delivers a traditional conservative appeal to voters, dismissing his opponent’s comeback attempt as “the same old tired plays that have set us back.”
The top ad from Brown, aired nearly 4,000 times, features a 2024 Trump voter explaining her pivot to support the Democrat.
The voter bemoans higher prices, adding that Husted is “the reason we have so many data centers” — a flashpoint in the race and across the country this cycle.
Michigan: The ads running the most in Michigan over the final stretch capture the heated tenor of the race between Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers.
Senate Leadership Fund, the principal GOP super PAC focused on Senate races, has spent more than $3.75 million airing an ad around 1,500 times that implies El-Sayed supports “Sharia law” — one of several charged attacks focused on his faith.
El-Sayed’s top ad over the final stretch features his grandparents directly rebutting the accusations and praising his values.
“There’s lots of ads making our grandson Abdul seem different, and he is different, different about how he takes on the powerful. Stop listening to those lying ads,” they say.
Troy Jackson criticizes Trump’s tariffs as he kicks off event in southern Maine
Democratic Senate nominee Troy Jackson criticized President Donald Trump’s tariffs this morning as he argued for change in Washington while kicking off a canvassing event in Yarmouth, Maine.
“I’m tired of watching elected officials cater to people like Elon Musk. I’m tired of watching people I know, love and care about struggle and look at me with you know dismay and frustration. We can do better,” he added. “We can do a lot damn better in this country. I know it, and that’s what this race is about.”
Jackson is spending the day before Election Day in southern Maine, where his campaign is hoping to drive up Democratic turnout.
After finishing the canvass launch, Jackson hopped into the front seat of his minivan, which was loaded with yard signs and extra shirts hanging in the back, and drove himself to the next stop.
Trump says he would offer Musk, other admin officials preemptive pardons "if I needed to"
President Donald Trump vowed to “protect” Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who formerly led the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and other members of his administration with possible preemptive pardons.
“It’s talk, but if it is talk, we’ll protect them,” Trump told Miranda Devine on New York Post’s “Pod Force One.”
Trump spoke about how former President Joe Biden pardoned several people before leaving office. Pressed on whether he would offer pardons to people within his administration, Trump said: “I would if I needed to, sure.”
“Everybody who worked for you?” Devine asked.
“I would not even think about it; I’d do it. I did it for J6,” Trump said, referring to the mass pardons and sentence commutations he issued for those charged in the January 6 riot on the US Capitol.
Some background: In a separate interview with TIME Magazine last month, Trump said that he would consider issuing pardons to members of his administration toward the end of his term: “Yeah, sure I’d do that,” Trump said.
El-Sayed campaign breaks single-day fundraising record after Stevens’ endorsement switch
Michigan Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed raised $2.4 million in a single day on Sunday after Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens’ surprise endorsement of his GOP opponent, Mike Rogers.
It marked the biggest fundraising day for the campaign yet, an El-Sayed spokesperson said, just two days before Election Day.
“This record-breaking grassroots fundraising haul is a testament to the excitement that Abdul’s movement has inspired in the hearts of Michiganders—and a rejection of the status quo politics that’s left Michigan behind for far too long,” campaign spokesperson Cole Wozniak said in a press release.
The campaign added that the average contribution was $36.74 from more than 65,000 donors — 29,602 of whom were first-time donors to the campaign.
This comes after Stevens endorsed Rogers in a surprise move yesterday that was criticized heavily by members of the Democratic Party. The endorsement switch prompted national Democrats to further rally around El-Sayed’s candidacy.
Haley Stevens' mother "proud," as new Trump interview released. Catch up here
Election Day is tomorrow, and midterms candidates are rounding up their campaigning, as polls show that Democrats hold leads in five of the seven critical Senate races.
Catch up on the latest:
- The mother of Michigan’s Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens has said she is “very proud” of her daughter after Stevens’ endorsement of Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers, which stunned the political world.
- President Donald Trump has reiterated that he plans to exert his executive authority to veto Democratic-led legislation if they win back power in Congress. “I think we’re going to do great, but if we didn’t win, I veto everything,” he said.
- Trump also said, in an interview released today, that he’d love to run for president again if the Constitution allowed it. A clear restriction written in the 22nd Amendment bars a person from being elected “to the office of President more than twice.”
- Meanwhile, Election officials have spent months preparing to run the 2026 vote — and bracing for what could disrupt it. They’re training workers, tightening security and readying legal challenges for threats that could stretch well beyond Election Day.
CNN’s Michael Williams, Kit Maher, Gabe Cohen and Marshall Cohen contributed to this reporting.
Here are some of the reasons your party will (or won’t) have a good Election Day
Election Day is tomorrow, and while there are high expectations for Democrats, it’s impossible to know for certain what will happen in the race for control of Congress.
Many Democrats are worried about the polls overestimating the strength of their candidates again, while President Donald Trump and some in the GOP seem sanguine in the final days.
Here’s a look at some possible scenarios:
Why Republicans could have a good night
- The polls were wrong: Polls — especially in red states — could systematically underestimate Republicans because they don’t respond to them as much.
- The Senate map was just so red: Democrats need a net gain of four seats, which requires them flipping at least two states that Trump won by double digits.
- The GOP pulled an upset in a currently blue state: The number of GOP Senate seats Democrats need to pick off increases if they lose the ones they’re defending — namely Maine, Michigan or both.
- The GOP’s gerrymandering was too successful: If Republicans keep their majority in the House — or even just keep Democrats’ gains to a minimum — the GOP’s brazen mid-decade gerrymandering push will likely have played a role.
- Voters didn’t care much about the Iran war, corruption and other unpopular Trump ideas: If Republicans do better than expected, a big reason might be that voters didn’t care enough about Trump’s actions for them to matter.
Why Democrats could have a good night
- Trump’s historic unpopularity: By many measures, Trump is the most unpopular president in modern history heading into a midterm.
- Trump’s coalition broke down: Trump swept the swing states in the 2024 election in large part by making big gains with young people (especially men), Latinos and infrequent voters. Polls suggest all three groups have turned sharply against him.
- Trump’s neglect of affordability: Trump has neglected what almost always polls as a chief concern: affordability. He was elected in large part because of high inflation and his own promises to fix it quickly.
- Broken promises: Related to the two preceding items is that Trump simply didn’t do the things he promised. He said he wasn’t going to start wars, but he did. He said he was going to fix inflation, and it’s now worse.
- The GOP mobilized non-White voters — in the wrong way: Perhaps no demographic has swung against Trump by as much as Latino voters. There is also some evidence that the Supreme Court further weakening the Voting Rights Act and Republicans gutting heavily Black congressional districts could be mobilizing Black voters.
- Corruption: Corruption has emerged as a major concern for Americans — sometimes even polling above prices. But more significantly, there is growing evidence that voters’ concerns about corruption are more of a problem for Republicans than Democrats
Read more on this in our full article here.
"I'd love to run again if I had the chance," Trump says
President Donald Trump said that he’d love to run for president again if the Constitution allowed it.
“I’d love to run again if I had the chance, but the language is very exacting,” Trump told Miranda Devine on New York Post’s “Pod Force One.”
Trump has previously mused about running for a third term but has also referred to the clear restriction written in the 22nd Amendment, which bars a person from being elected “to the office of President more than twice.”
At a rally in Iowa last month, Trump said he believed he has “the right to run again because they cheated,” referring once again to his false claims of election fraud in the 2020 election.
“I think the law said — I’m not 100% sure — but I think the law says that I’m not allowed to run again. I’ve studied that phrase,” Trump said at the time.
Trump says he'll become "Mr. Veto," if Democrats win back power of Congress
President Donald Trump reiterated that he plans to exert his executive authority to veto Democratic-led legislation if they win back power in Congress.
The interview, which was taped on Friday, was released this morning. It comes as new polls suggest Democrats are within striking distance of Senate control.
Asked if he’ll be able to continue what he’s doing as president and work with Democrats if they win, Trump said: “Well, if that happens, I guess I’ll become Mr. Veto.”
“Then at some point, we’ll probably make deals. That’s what’s happened. I mean, this wouldn’t be the first time,” he said.
“They’ll be sending stuff up. You veto it, and eventually, after a month or two of getting all vetoed, they just waste — they come over, and you make a deal,” Trump added. “Hopefully, we don’t have to worry about that.”
Trump made similar comments to reporters in late October that while he believes “Republicans are going to win,” his plan is to veto Democratic-led legislation to force the other party into a negotiating position with Republicans.
Haley Stevens' mother says she's "very proud" of daughter
The mother of Michigan’s Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens told Reuters she is “very proud” of her daughter following Stevens’ endorsement of the Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers.
“I am proud of Haley for standing up for her values, for standing up for the Democratic Party, even though it feels like, ‘oh my gosh, you’ve done something bad,’” Maria Marcotte told Reuters.
“But you know, I think history will say she’s done something good for the party in that, take a look at yourselves, and look at what the values are. And take a look at standing for values and standing for the people of Michigan and for all the citizens of Michigan. I’m proud of her. I’m very proud of her.”
Stevens has been heavily criticized by members of her own party for the surprise endorsement of the Republican candidate in her state.
Marcotte, a retired advertising executive, told CNN in a statement yesterday that her daughter’s fiancé had nothing to do with the change of heart and that Marcotte herself had also voted for Rogers.
Mortgage rates have climbed since the Iran war began. A look at Trump's housing agenda
America’s housing market is paralyzed, with buyers pulling back and builders growing more pessimistic ahead of the midterms.
Adding to the strain: Mortgage rates have surged back above 7% in recent weeks, hitting a three-year high of 7.4% last month. The average 30-year fixed rate eased slightly to 7.24% last week, according to Freddie Mac.
President Donald Trump won the 2024 election amid growing frustration over the cost of living. Two years later, affordability remains a defining issue heading into the midterm elections.
But while the White House has taken some steps aimed at housing affordability during Trump’s second term, the issue has featured relatively little in the administration’s public messaging over the last two years.
Trump said on the 2024 campaign trail that his plan for tackling the cost of housing would primarily rely on lowering interest rates.
“We’re going to make it easier to buy. We’re going to get interest rates down,” Trump said at the start of this year.
For a brief moment, mortgage rates appeared poised to fall. In January, Trump directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored enterprises that underpin much of the US mortgage market, to buy $200 billion in mortgage-backed securities in an effort to push rates lower.
But the reprieve was short-lived. Mortgage rates climbed once again after the US began its war with Iran, and have remained elevated since.
Read more here on Trump’s housing agenda.
Trump is rounding out his midterms campaigning today. Here's what's on the schedule
President Donald Trump will be rounding up his midterms campaigning today, with appearances expected at several telerallies in a final push before Election Day tomorrow.
The president will also be holding an event at the Reflecting Pool “just to show how beautiful it is,” he told reporters yesterday. He is expected to talk about his DC projects and reopening the pool, but also make a broader “closing argument” about the midterms, people familiar with the matter told CNN.
Here’s some of the other events taking place today:
- In Michigan, Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers will hold a rally, a day after Democrat Haley Stevens announced she was breaking with her party to endorse Rogers over his Democratic opponent Abdul El-Sayed.
- El-Sayed will also be appearing at several rallies across the state, joined by officials including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin.
- In Texas, Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico will be holding his final rally before Election Day in Austin.
- His opponent, Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton will hold at least two events in the state, joined at one by Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz and another by former basketball player Enes Kanter Freedom.
We’ll bring you news from these events as we get them, as well as any other significant developments today.
CNN’s Molly English, Alayna Treene and Kevin Liptak contributed to this reporting.
The positions in the House and Senate up for election in this year's midterms
Voters have been casting their ballots in the midterm elections, but exactly what they are choosing depends on where they are based in the country.
Members of the US House of Representatives, as well as a third of Senate members, are elected in the midterms, while states can also add local races to their voters’ ballots.
Here’s a closer look at representatives, senators and governors, some of the key positions up for grabs in midterms races.
Representatives
A total of 435 representatives, or congressmen and congresswomen, make up the House of Representatives, also known as the House.
The House, alongside the Senate, makes up the US Congress, which has the sole authority to enact legislation and declare war, according to the White House. Both major US political parties want control of Congress.
Voted in every two years, representatives are able to introduce bills and resolutions, offer amendments and impeach federal officers, among other duties.
The number of representatives per state is proportionate to its population. There are currently 218 Republican representatives, 214 Democrat representatives, and one Independent representative in the House, according to the House Press Gallery.
Senators
In this year’s elections, 35 out of a total 100 Senate seats will be up for grabs. Each US state has two senators, whose terms last a total of six years. Roughly a third of Senate seats are on the ballot in any given election.
Currently, 53 Senators are Republican, 45 are Democrat and two are Independent.
The Senate is the only power able to confirm presidential appointments and ratify treaties, according to the White House, though there are two exceptions to this: when a vice president is appointed or when treaties involve foreign trade. Then, the House of Representatives must also approve.
The Senate also tries impeachment cases for federal officials.
Governors
Voters will be electing governors in 36 states on November 3.
The National Governors Association (NGA) describes governors as the “chief executive officers” of the country’s states, as well as US territories.
Governors are often responsible for implementing state laws and policies, appointing state officials, approving state budgets and handling local emergencies and disasters, according to the NGA. They also liaise with the federal government on behalf of their state.
Notably, the amount of power a governor can wield varies by state, the NGA says, depending on state constitutions, legislations, and tradition.
The term of a governor is typically four years, except in New Hampshire and Vermont, where gubernatorial terms last two years.
Election officials bracing for Trump's possible voting-day disruptions
Election officials have spent months preparing to run the 2026 vote — and bracing for what could disrupt it. They’re training workers, tightening security and readying legal challenges for threats that could stretch well beyond Election Day.
Planning for trouble is part of running elections. But this year’s preparations by state and local officials come amid a ramped-up campaign by President Donald Trump and his allies to undermine confidence in voting integrity and assert greater federal control over elections.
Officials have spent months considering what that might look like: a last-minute executive order, ballot seizures, federal agents at the polls or efforts to undermine trust in the results.
Trump and his allies continue to allege widespread noncitizen voting and election fraud, including in midterm voting already underway. They have threatened to prosecute election officials who fail to secure the vote or allow noncitizens to cast ballots and have filed lawsuits to restrict the counting of disputed ballots in California and the certification of results in Alaska.
Some election leaders have prepared for the administration to potentially take even more drastic steps on or after Election Day, like disrupting polling places, confiscating ballots or election equipment, challenging the results or going after election administrators.
So far, Trump’s attempts to interfere have mostly played out in the courts and with letters demanding that election officials set aside certain ballots so that those who cast them could be investigated — requests administrators have been rebuffing. Early in-person voting has been underway in states across the country — in some states, for weeks — and there have been no reports of major disruptions involving the federal government.
But officials are prepared in case that changes.
