First flip of the night a notable achievement for Democratspublished at 01:45 GMT

01:45 GMT

Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent in Washington DC

Image source, Reuters

We have our first Senate flip of the night.

For weeks it has appeared likely that former Governor Roy Cooper would win the North Carolina Senate race, given that he had a comfortable lead in the polls and Republicans had redirected their campaign spending from the state to other battlegrounds.

Still, it is a notable achievement.

The last time the Democrats won a Senate race in the state was 2008, despite the party making enormous investment in time and money behind their candidates in recent contests.

This was expected to be a tough fight. Instead, the Democrat cruised to victory.

With this pickup, Democrats now have to flip three more Republican-held seats, while holding all their own seats, in order to take control of the Senate.

Sakshi Venkatraman
Reporting from Washington DC

Poll closures typically travel from east to west (with some exceptions), and we’re about to see the last votes cast in midwestern states like Nebraska, New Mexico, Iowa and Minnesota.

Those last two in particular are ones to watch.

There’s a competitive Senate contest in Iowa, where Republican Ashley Hinson and Democrat Josh Turek are vying for a seat in a state Trump won three times.

In Minnesota, it’s the governor’s race we're following. Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat, is seeking to take the seat left by current Governor Tim Walz, who dropped out over a social services fraud scandal.

Nada Tawfik
North America correspondent in Detroit, Michigan

The Mike Rogers election night watch party is just down the street from Abdul El-Sayed’s one in Detroit.

I’ve took a moment before polls closed to get the Republican take on the state of the race. Strategist Jason Cabel Roe says he is still optimistic, but not confident that Republican Mike Rogers will win.

Republican polling shows independents are breaking towards Democrats, he tells me. But he says Republican turnout is higher than usual on election day, which he believes could help cut into the Democratic advantage.

Roe admits that El-Sayed is a better communicator than Rogers, and says the Republican's style is better suited to an earlier era of campaigning. He wishes Rogers would display his “gravitas” more.

But Roe also believes the Republican nominee’s “careful” approach has worked to his advantage compared to what he sees as El-Sayed’s “combative style".

He bets that has helped Rogers make inroads with black and Jewish voters who weren’t enthusiastic about El-Sayed.

Image source, Getty Images

Freya Scott-Turner
Live reporter

Want to dive deeper into the numbers, then head over to our live results page.

Blue wave or red wall? We have a map of the US that will gradually get filled in as we hear results. You can toggle between the Senate, House and governor races as well as search for candidates.

Follow the counting: For the Senate and House races, where we are tracking the percentage of votes counted so far in key races.

Looking for something specific? We also have state-by-state analysis for your perusal, complete with maps which you can filter by district or search for a specific town.

Image source, Getty Images

Trump has just released a short video on the Republicans' X page, calling on voters who are currently standing in line waiting to cast their ballots to stay in line - even after polls have closed.

"Hi Republicans. We're doing really well. If you're in line, stay in line," says Trump.

State voting rules say that voters who are already queuing when polls close can still vote as long as they wait for their turn.

"We're gonna win it big," Trump adds.

Carl Nasman
Reporting from Atlanta, Georgia

Well, that didn't take long.

Only about 40 minutes after the polls closed in Georgia, massive cheers rippled through the Georgia Democrats watch party as Senator Jon Ossoff was projected to win his race against Republican challenger Mike Collins.

Only a year ago Ossoff was considered vulnerable, but we have seen first hand the enthusiasm on the ground for him and his party across the state.

Now the question will be if it is a sign of things to come across the country tonight.

"Tonight's results are a wake-up call," Chris Pappas says in a speech as he celebrates his victory.

Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent in Washington DC

Image source, Getty Images

Florida, whose polls closed just over an hour ago, is typically very efficient at counting ballots. And there are already signs that tonight the state, which had been trending towards conservatives in recent elections, is a front-line battleground.

BBC media partner CBS is currently rating the governor’s election between David Jolly and Republican Congressman Byron Donalds as a "toss-up" with 80% of the vote recorded.

There are also signs that Democrats are outperforming past Florida elections at the House level despite state Republicans redrawing congressional district lines last year to make the map more favourable to their candidates.

Republican Congresswoman Marie Salazar, for instance, leads her opponent by a fraction of a percent with an estimated 95% of the votes counted. In 2024, she won her Miami-area district, with its large Hispanic population, by more than 15 points. Early this year, she aired a television advert criticising Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement policy – a sign of the shifting mood in her district.

There are other House seats in the state that Democrats have been more optimistic about winning in recent days. They’ve already held two seats that Republicans were targeting, for Representatives Kathy Castor and Jared Moskowitz. If Salazar is in a dogfight, that’s encouraging news across the board for Democrats in the sunshine state.

Chris Jeavans
Data journalist

We've been bringing you the results from a big survey of the US electorate, that asks people for their opinions and concerns about the country.

Here's what we learned in the first drop of data from the major poll of voters:

• Economy and the state of democracy are voters' top concerns
• A majority have a negative view of the state of the economy and almost two thirds say that President Trump’s policies have worsened economic conditions in the US
• More than four in 10 people say their family is worse off than two years ago and six in 10 say they are “very concerned” about the cost of petrol and the cost of food
• Six in 10 also say higher prices are more because of Trump’s policies than outside factors

Looking at other issues:

• Six in 10 also say the US made the "wrong decision" in taking military action against Iran and separately, three-quarters say the conflict was a “crucial or major factor” in their vote for Congress
• A large majority, 90%, also said that government corruption was a crucial or major factor in their vote
• Six in 10 say they disapprove of the way Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is handling its job
• A majority were confident that the election was being conducted fairly and accurately

The data comes from pollsters SSRS who have interviewed tens of thousands of voters across the US.

• Read more about the data here

As we've been reporting, several more projections have just come in for a number of races where the results were expected.

Let's take a look at where things stand:

• In Delaware, Democrat Chris Coons is projected to hold onto his Senate seat
• Same with Illinois, where Democratic candidate Juliana Stratton is projected to win the Senate seat
• In Massachusetts, Democrat Senator Edward J Markey has held onto his seat
• In Rhode Island, Democratic Senator Jack Reed has also held onto his seat
• Democratic Senator for New Jersey Cory Booker is projected to have held onto his seat too

As polls have begun to close, the BBC's US partner CBS News is rating some more key Senate races that will decide control of Congress.

Florida: Toss up

Maine: Toss up

We've just had a flurry of results come in, though they are coming from Senate races where the outcome was expected.

Democrats are projected by the Associated Press to win the Senate seats in Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Jersey.

Polls are now closing in Connecticut, Alabama, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Washington DC, Mississippi, Kansas and Tennessee.

As a reminder, there are toss-up Senate races in Kansas, Texas, Michigan and Maine, all contests that we are closely following.

Freya Scott-Turner
Live reporter

Things are starting to get interesting. Polls have closed in multiple states and we've had a couple of early results. Let's get up to speed:

• Hot-button issues revealed in voter poll: A survey of the US electorate showed that the economy and the state of democracy were voters' top concerns - we've got more from that data in our earlier post
• The findings from this voter poll might give Democrats a bit of comfort, for now - says our North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher
• First polls closed: Voting is done in Kentucky, Indiana, Florida, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia, Georgia, New Hampshire, Ohio, North Carolina and West Virginia
• Early results: CBS News is projecting that Democratic Senator Mark R. Warner will hold onto his seat - an expected outcome - while the Georgia Senate race has been projected to go to Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff
• White House reaction: An official at the White House, where there is a results viewing party in the East Room with Republican President Donald Trump, tells the BBC that the mood there is "cautiously optimistic"

Ossoff's victory is expected - but Republicans had hoped for a closer resultpublished at 00:51 GMT

00:51 GMT

Daniel Bush
Washington correspondent

Image source, Reuters

Less than one hour after polls closed in Georgia, we now have a projected winner: Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff.

His victory was not unexpected - Ossoff had a comfortable lead in the polls over his Republican challenger, Rep Mike Collins, heading into election day.

But Republicans had still hoped this would be a more competitive race. It’s a state that has voted reliably red for decades. President Donald Trump won it in 2024, after Joe Biden eked out a narrow win there in 2020.

An easy win by Ossoff in Georgia could portend a good night for Democrats, though it’s still too early to know.

And now that Ossoff has won re-election, the speculation surrounding his 2028 plan will ramp up in earnest.

The Georgia Democrat is considered a potential leading contender if he throws his hat in the ring. Tonight he’ll surely focus on his Senate win. But he’ll soon face questions on his White House ambitions.

Sakshi Venkatraman
Reporting from Washington DC

Grab a snack if you need to - because the next hour is an important one to stick around for.

Polls will be closing in 20 more states, bringing us to the back half of election day in the US.

Here are three states we’ll be closely following from this next batch:

• Texas - the state hasn’t sent a Democrat to the Senate in over 30 years, but former school teacher James Talarico is trying to change that. He is locked in close race with Trump-endorsed Republican Ken Paxton
• Michigan - a close Senate battle between Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers has captured national attention, with El-Sayed’s Democratic primary opponent endorsing Rogers at the last minute Sunday
• Maine - incumbent Susan Collins, a Republican who voted to impeach Trump, is fighting to hold her seat in the Democrat-leaning state, but is facing down a close challenge from her opponent Troy Jackson

As polls have begun to close, the BBC's US partner CBS News is rating some of the key Senate races that will decide control of Congress.

• Georgia: likely Democrat
• South Carolina: Toss up
• Ohio: Toss up