An hour-by-hour guide to election night poll closings

CNN and NPR report that control of the Senate and House is at stake as Americans vote in the midterms, and both outlets walk through what to expect once polls close. CNN notes that Florida counts fast, with about 84% of its 2024 vote in by 8 p.m. Eastern.

Michigan gets attention from both. CNN says only a fraction of its 2024 vote, under 10%, was counted before polls closed statewide at 9 p.m., and Wayne County, home to Detroit, did not deliver its large Democratic haul until roughly 4 a.m. NPR adds that the Senate race there, between Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, could decide the chamber, and that a Republican pickup would raise the number of seats Democrats must take from four to five. El-Sayed's route, NPR says, runs through Black voters in Wayne County, where Democrats have needed 68% or more in the Trump era absent suburban overperformance.

NPR also flags Texas, where Democrat James Talarico's polling edge is within the margin of error against Republican Ken Paxton; no Democrat has been elected to the Senate there in 38 years.

Summarized by PolitiKool from CNN and NPR’s reporting. Read the full story at CNN → Also at NPR →