Ohio voters learn results as US polls close in 2026 midterms
Sherrod Brown trails by three to five points in recent polls, while Governor Amy Acton leads Vivek Ramaswamy by seven.
By Emily Brooks ·
US midterm voting concluded for the majority of the country on Sunday evening, with Ohio and North Carolina polling places closing at 12:30 a.m. Eastern Time. This timestamp marks the end of voting in the Buckeye State, placing local results in the middle of a lengthy count that will stretch into the next week.
In the US Senate race, Sherrod Brown is attempting to reclaim his seat from Jon Husted, who was appointed to the position vacated by JD Vance. Recent polling data indicates Brown holds a lead of three to five points over Husted. In the concurrent race for governor, Democrat Amy Acton leads Republican Vivek Ramaswamy by seven points according to current surveys.
The count for Ohio will proceed alongside results from other eastern states. Virginia, Georgia, and South Carolina closed at midnight, with Virginia’s 2nd district expected to be the first major swing seat to report figures. Analysts are watching the margin in Virginia closely, as a Democratic lead there before 1 a.m. would signal a strong night for that party. If Democrats do not run ahead of their polls in Virginia, South Carolina, and Ohio by that hour, Republicans face a more difficult night.
Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Maine also closed at 1 a.m., joining the initial wave of major states. Pennsylvania counts postal votes slowly, a process that can delay final results. Ryan Mackenzie’s Lehigh Valley seat in Pennsylvania is considered a bellwether for national trends. In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed is narrowly ahead of Republican Mike Rogers for the open Democratic seat. El-Sayed maintains this lead despite an unexpected 11th-hour endorsement of Rogers by Democrat Haley Stevens, who lost her party’s state Senate primary to El-Sayed. Detroit expects to report about 95 percent of its ballots overnight, with a goal to finish counting by 9 a.m. Eastern Time.
Further west, Arizona, Iowa, Wisconsin, Colorado, and New York closed at 2 a.m. In Iowa, Ashley Hinson holds a narrow poll lead over Paralympian Josh Turek. Wisconsin’s open governor’s race between Tom Tiffany and David Crowley is currently a toss-up. Nevada, where Republican governor Joe Lombardo faces Aaron Ford, closed at 3 a.m. This race is rated as the closest governor’s contest in the country.
The West Coast states of California, Oregon, and Washington closed at 4 a.m. California counties have 13 days to report most ballots, a timeline that routinely leaves a handful of House seats uncalled until a week or more after Election Day. Alaska, which closed at 5 a.m. Eastern Time, presents a complex scenario with Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan facing Democrat Mary Peltola and an unaffiliated candidate also named Dan Sullivan. A US district judge dismissed a lawsuit by the US justice department on Sunday that sought to block certification of the results if the Republican incumbent lost.
If the race for control of the US House remains close, the final outcome may not be clear for a week or more due to the slow counting processes in California and the ranked choice voting system in Maine and Alaska.
