Election Day 2026: Voters cast ballots with control of Congress on the line

California voters are set to cast their ballots to determine the fate of a proposed billionaire tax that could see the Golden State lose wealthy residents and may not deliver the revenue advocates hope for.

The ballot measure, known as Proposition 40, would impose a one-time 5% wealth tax on taxpayers and trusts with assets in excess of $1 billion and use the revenue to fund state healthcare programs, public education and food assistance.

The tax would be payable over five years and covered assets would include businesses, securities, art, collectibles and intellectual property – though real property, pensions and certain retirement accounts would be exempt.

The threat of the wealth tax, which as drafted would apply retroactively to those who were California residents as of Jan. 1, 2026, has caused some prominent billionaires to move out of the state or relocate businesses – including Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Oracle founder Larry Ellison and PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel.

Max Levchin, the billionaire co-founder of Affirm Holdings, told Bloomberg on Monday that he would "probably" leave California if voters pass the wealth tax.

"I love California. I think it’s beautiful," Levchin said. "But the notion of the popular opinion saying ‘Actually, we’re totally OK with asset seizure because we just really, really need it,’ I just think that is so wrong."

Proponents of the billionaire tax argue that it would bring in about $100 billion in revenue from the roughly $2.3 trillion in wealth held by the state's billionaires in mid-2026, though a recent analysis suggests the tax could permanently shrink the state's tax base over the long-term and with losses exceeding near-term revenue gains.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News' Eric Revell.

Ever since the 2016 presidential election that first got President Donald Trump elected and the ensuing Russiagate scandal, there has been increased scrutiny on foreign meddling in U.S. elections and threats to the American voting system.

Now, 10 years later, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is directing his entire intelligence and spy forces to ensure foreign adversaries do not interfere in Tuesday's midterms.

The Pentagon chief has ordered America's military intelligence and cyber agencies to mobilize against foreign threats to the 2026 elections by directing his department's sprawling intelligence apparatus to make election security a priority in what he calls a "no-fail mission."

The September directive reaches beyond U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, instructing the entire Defense Intelligence Enterprise — including agencies responsible for military and geospatial intelligence — to "mobilize every authorized asset, capability, and partnership" against foreign election threats.

The order puts some of the military's most sophisticated intelligence capabilities behind a mission that has grown considerably since Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election. But with Americans preparing to vote, the extent to which Hegseth's directive has changed the Pentagon's existing election-security operations remains unclear.

The Department of War declined to provide Fox News Digital with additional details about how the order is being implemented. Cyber Command separately declined an interview request about its election-security efforts.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News' Morgan Phillips.

Voters are casting their ballots in the midterm elections on Tuesday, with cost-of-living concerns in focus as Americans head to the polls.

A Fox News survey conducted Oct. 9-12 found that six in 10 voters said the cost of living is their top economic concern as they looked ahead toward Election Day.

A 74% majority of respondents to the survey gave the economy a negative rating, while 53% said they expect it to worsen next year. Just 18% of voters said their family is better off than two years ago.

Inflation is running well above the Federal Reserve's 2% target rate, with the most recent consumer price index (CPI) showing inflation up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis in September. That increase was driven mainly by gasoline prices jumping 9.1% on a monthly basis and sitting 34.2% higher than they were a year ago.

Ben Lieberman, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told FOX Business that gasoline prices are playing a central role in voters' assessments of affordability concerns in the economy.

"You can look at overall household budgets and motor fuels are only a part of that, but it's the one thing that we know what we pay for down to the tenth of a penny, so it has an outsize influence on how people feel about the economy and whether things are affordable," Lieberman said.

"Had it not been for the Iran war, I think the perception would be a lot better because gasoline prices would be lower," he added.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News' Eric Revell.

Florida voters in seven counties are being directed to temporary polling locations Tuesday, after widespread flooding prompted Gov. Ron DeSantis to issue an emergency order allowing election officials to relocate voting sites ahead of the midterm elections.

The Florida Department of State confirmed polling-place changes in Brevard, Highlands, Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee, Palm Beach and St. Lucie counties, according to its website, which was updated on Election Day.

DeSantis signed Executive Order 26-227 on Monday after a low-pressure system brought heavy rainfall across parts of Florida from Oct. 31 through Nov. 2, triggering flash flood warnings and threatening roads, schools and other critical infrastructure.

The order declared a state of emergency in Brevard, DeSoto, Hardee, Highlands, Indian River, Martin and St. Lucie counties. It also allows county election supervisors who cannot meet certain polling-place requirements to seek approval from Florida's secretary of state for alternative voting arrangements.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News' Stephen Sorace.

President Donald Trump says the term "Make America Great Again" is becoming obsolete under his administration as the U.S. is a "beacon" for the world.

"Our country is the greatest country anywhere in the world," Trump said during a Tuesday morning appearance on "Fox & Friends."

Trump predicted that Republicans will maintain control of both the House and the Senate, noting the 30-day blitz he executed campaigning across battleground states in the lead-up to Election Day.

"I think it's had an impact," Trump said, going on to tout the U.S. military's victories over Iran as well as cutting $4 billion in spending toward Israel.

President Donald Trump lashed out at Democrats in Alaska for reportedly orchestrating an independent run by a candidate with nearly the identical name as Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Ak.

Trump made the comments while calling into Fox News on Tuesday morning.

"They went out, they find a guy names Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., and he agrees to partake absolutely illegally," Trump said. "It's a total fraud. It's a fraud on the voters. It's a criminal act."

"Their policy is so bad that they have to create fraud," Trump said of Democrats. "It's so bad that they have to let illegal immigrants into our country, give them amnesty, get them registered, let them vote."

White House deputy press secretary Taylor Rogers joined "Fox & Friends First" to discuss President Donald Trump's closing message to voters and analyze the historic early voting turnout numbers.

Trump predicts the GOP will hold the House and Senate for the final two years of his presidency, maintaining their slim majorities in both chambers.

"We're going to win and let's make the next two years bigger and better and stronger than ever before," Trump told supporters Sunday night at a rally in Kansas.

But Republicans are fighting political history, as the party in power in Washington has traditionally lost seats during midterm election years. The GOP also faces a challenging political climate fueled by persistent inflation tied in part to what polls show is an unpopular war with Iran and Trump's increasingly negative approval ratings.

Early voting in the midterms has shattered previous records, with more than 54 million people already casting ballots, according to The Associated Press. That's nearly 9 million more ballots cast in early voting than in 2022, the previous midterm elections.

Election Day polls are open across the East Coast and are rapidly opening across the country Tuesday morning as the Midterm Elections hit the final stretch.

The earliest polls opened on the East Coast at 5 a.m. ET, while dozens more states have since opened their polls as of 7 a.m. ET.

Polls in California will not open until 10 a.m. ET, along with several other West Coast states.

The first polling places will begin closing in parts of Kentucky and Indiana at 6 p.m. ET, but most states will not begin closing until 7 p.m. ET.

Republicans are defending their slim congressional majorities, but President Donald Trump predicts the GOP will hold the House and Senate for the final two years of his presidency.

"We're going to win and let's make the next two years bigger and better and stronger than ever before," Trump told supporters Sunday night at a rally in Kansas.

Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers joined Fox News on Tuesday to highlight Democrat Haley Stevens last-minute endorsement of his campaign as voters head to the polls.

Rogers said Stevens displayed "courage" and chose "country over party" when she condemned his Democratic opponent, Abdul El-Sayed.

Rogers noted that Stevens says she is still a Democrat and is voting Democrat, "except for one extreme candidate that I don't think is good for the Democrat Party or America."

"That's courage. That's country over party," Rogers said. "She should be congratulated for it. Instead, the Democrats are absolutely apoplectic about this and trying to kick her out of the party and all that nonsense."

Four states have measures on Tuesday's ballot that could change who gets to compete in girls' and women's sports — and, in some cases, who gets to use their locker rooms.

Arizona and Nebraska already have laws restricting biological males from competing in female sports. A "yes" vote in either state would expand or strengthen those existing restrictions.

Washington and Colorado are different. Neither currently has the statewide sex-based restrictions proposed by these measures. If voters approve them, both states would establish statewide sex-based restrictions for school sports — a significant change in two traditionally Democratic states.

So what's at stake Tuesday? Here's a state-by-state breakdown of what the measures would do, what opponents are saying, how supporters are responding and what the betting markets are predicting.

Washington: Initiative 638

What a yes vote would do: Prohibit students defined as biologically male from competing in girls' K-12 interscholastic sports. Girls seeking to participate would have to provide documentation from a healthcare professional verifying biological sex based on "reproductive anatomy, genetic makeup, or normal endogenously produced testosterone levels."As it stands, K-12 athletes in Washington can compete based on their gender identity under current eligibility rules, which allowed a boy in Camas, WA, to switch to the girls' team mid-season earlier this year.What a no vote would do: Keep the current eligibility rules in place, without adding the initiative's new sex-verification requirements.What opponents say: Organizations such as No Hate in Washington State argue that the initiative would discriminate against transgender students and could subject girls to invasive genital examinations.

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News' Matt Calkins.

A federal judge ordered the Justice Department to ensure that poll monitors across the country are not sworn law enforcement officers.

The Monday order from U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton denied a wider request by the NAACP that the DOJ not send any law enforcement officials. The order now only blocks the DOJ from sending sworn law enforcement officers with the authority to make arrests.

"The Court will order that the defendants comply with their counsel’s concession that they will take action to ensure that the monitors participating in the DOJ’s Poll Monitoring Program are indeed administrative or clerical personnel and not law enforcement officials, will not be in uniform or display any other insignia indicating their affiliation with a federal agency, will not be armed with a firearm, and will not have the power to effectuate arrests," Walton wrote in the order.

Walton also required the DOJ to provide the court with a status report early Tuesday morning explaining, "how they confirmed that none of the election monitors participating in the DOJ’s Poll Monitoring Program on November 3, 2026 are in fact law enforcement officials and therefore do not have the power to effectuate arrests."

Music legend Bruce Springsteen expressed his support for Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and slammed President Donald Trump's administration in a statement issued on Monday.

"Dr. El-Sayed is a fighter for our American Constitution, he’s a fighter for our American Democracy, and he’s a fighter against the corrupt, lawless, and anti-American leadership currently in the White House. That’s why I’m in his corner 100%," Springsteen said in the statement.

Republican National Committee national press secretary Natalie Baldassarre said in a statement to Fox News Digital on Tuesday, "Bruce Springsteen backing Abdul El-Sayed doesn't change the fact that Abdul is a terrorist sympathizer who's platformed disgusting anti-American rhetoric and supports abolishing our private health care and the police." 

The White House pointed Fox News Digital to an April Truth Social post in which the president slammed Springsteen.

"Bad, and very boring singer, Bruce Springsteen, who looks like a dried up prune who has suffered greatly from the work of a really bad plastic surgeon, has long had a horrible and incurable case of Trump Derangement Syndrome, sometimes referred to as TDS," Trump declared in the post earlier this year.

"The guy is a total loser who spews hate against a President who won a Landslide Election, including the popular vote, all Seven Swing States, and 86% of the Counties across America. Under Sleepy Joe and the Dems, our Country was DEAD, and now we have the “hottest” Country, by far, anywhere in the World. MAGA SHOULD BOYCOTT HIS OVERPRICED CONCERTS, WHICH SUCK. SAVE YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY. AMERICA IS BACK!!!" Trump added.

El-Sayed is facing President Donald Trump-backed Republican Senate candidate former Rep. Mike Rogers in the race.

The Justice Department faces an uphill legal battle in its bid to overturn a federal judge's dismissal of its Alaska Senate election lawsuit, according to legal experts who questioned whether the government can secure meaningful relief before voting ends Tuesday — even as a separate criminal investigation continues.

DOJ filed a notice of appeal after Obama-appointed U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason dismissed its lawsuit Sunday over the presence of two candidates named Dan Sullivan on Alaska's Senate ballot. The judge ruled that federal officials lacked standing because they had not demonstrated how its proposed remedy could address potential voter confusion without compromising ballot secrecy.

With voting ending Tuesday, attorneys told Fox News Digital that even a successful appeal could leave the government scrambling to obtain an injunction or return to district court, while a defeat would leave the civil case dismissed without necessarily affecting potential criminal charges arising from the alleged recruitment of the second Sullivan.

"The federal judge dismissed on a procedural issue — standing," election attorney Jason Torchinsky of Virginia-based firm Holtzman Vogel told Fox News Digital. "So if the government were to prevail, it would either have to seek injunctive relief from the appeals court in the first instance; a very high bar, or go back down to the district court to seek relief."

"Given the time available between now and close of polls [Tuesday], this is a heavy lift for the government," Torchinsky added.

A reversal would not automatically change Alaska's election results. DOJ would still need to obtain specific judicial relief, potentially requiring further proceedings in district court.

President Donald Trump sought to reassure voters the day before the midterm elections that Iran is not a "forever war," but a "soft war" that the United States could end at any time.

"We're not fighting a war … When was the last time we fired anything? This isn't a war, this is a very soft war," Trump said Monday on "Hannity."

Iran could be a key deciding issue as voters go to the polls on Election Day Tuesday as Americans continue to grapple with surging gas prices and the economic fallout from the United States’ conflict, which began eight months ago.

"What’s a war? A war is fighting. Take a look at World War I, World War II. When was the last time you saw us fighting with them? We go months and months, we talk," Trump told host Sean Hannity.

"This is not much of a war, Sean, because there hasn't been shooting for months."

Trump’s comments come shortly after the United States struck Iran’s Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz Monday after Iran fired at a U.S. aircraft. Officials confirmed to Fox News that the "defensive" strike does not indicate a return to full-blown U.S. military strikes in Iran.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Vice President JD Vance addressed Rep. Haley Stevens’, D-Mich., endorsement of GOP Senate candidate Mike Rogers over his Democratic opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, saying that he believes the endorsement will "certainly" help Rogers in the midterm.

Vance spoke to reporters at Joint Base Andrews following two rallies for GOP candidates in New York and Ohio, responding to a question from Fox News Digital about the impact that Stevens’ endorsement will have on the race.

"I certainly think it helps," Vance said. "I mean, the message is whether you're a reasonable Democrat, a Republican, a conservative, an independent or just a liberal who loves the United States of America. El-Sayed is a crazy person and Mike Rogers is a patriot."

"I do think it drives home the message, maybe gives certain voters who, you know, wouldn't normally vote for a Republican permission, knowing that the Democratic Congresswoman of Michigan is going to support Mike Rogers."

It's Election Day in America, with voters heading to the polls to determine control of the U.S. House and Senate for the next two years.

Republicans are defending their slim congressional majorities, but President Donald Trump predicts the GOP will hold the House and Senate for the final two years of his presidency.

"We're going to win and let's make the next two years bigger and better and stronger than ever before," Trump told supporters Sunday night at a rally in Kansas.

But Republicans are fighting political history, as the party in power in Washington has traditionally lost seats during midterm election years. The GOP also faces a challenging political climate fueled by persistent inflation tied in part to what polls show is an unpopular war with Iran and Trump's increasingly negative approval ratings.

The GOP is also facing a potential turnout deficit, with public opinion polls indicating Democrats are more energized than Republicans to cast ballots in the midterms.

Early voting in the midterms has shattered previous records, with more than 54 million people already casting ballots, according to the Associated Press. That's nearly nine million more ballots cast in early voting than in 2022, the previous midterm elections.

With early voting traditionally favoring Democrats, Republican National Committee Chair Joe Gruters, pointing to Election Day turnout, recently told Fox News Digital, "If our voters turn out, we win."

Americans around the nation will flock to the polls this Election Day to vote in races that will determine whether Republicans or Democrats control the House and Senate majorities during the final two years of President Donald Trump's White House tenure.

Some of the widely-watched Senate contests include those in Texas, Michigan, Alaska, and South Carolina — there are also gubernatorial contests in dozens of states.

In Texas, Trump-backed Lone Star State Attorney General Ken Paxton is in a heated Senate race against Democratic rival, state Rep. James Talarico.

Trump is backing former Rep. Mike Rogers against Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan's Senate contest. Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Mich., who lost the Democratic Senate primary to El-Sayed, endorsed Rogers on Sunday.

The Senate race in Alaska, which is a ranked-choice voting contest, has captured significant national attention due to the inclusion of two men named Daniel Sullivan. The controversy surrounds the candidacy of Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr., whose name is substantially similar to that of incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, R-Alaska, the candidate endorsed by Trump.

In South Carolina, Trump is backing Sen. Darline Graham, R-S.C., who is currently filling the vacancy that arose earlier this year due to the death of her brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham — she is facing Democratic challenger Annie Andrews.

In Florida's gubernatorial contest, Trump-backed GOP Rep. Byron Donalds is facing former Rep. David Jolly, who served in Congress as a Republican, but is now a Democrat.

Ohio's notable gubernatorial race pits Trump-backed Republican Vivek Ramaswamy against Democratic candidate, Amy Acton, a former Ohio Department of Health director.

Some polls will close at 6 p.m. ET in Kentucky and Indiana, though because both states are divided between Eastern and Central time zones, some polls in those states will not close until 7 p.m. ET, when some other states close their polls as well.