A campaign ad in which Amy Acton’s estranged mother urged Ohioans not to vote for her daughter sparked controversy in the final weeks of the Ohio governor’s race. 

The ad, created by the campaign of her Republican opponent, Vivek Ramaswamy, drew broad criticism from Democrats as well as some of Ohio’s most prominent Republicans, including Gov. Mike DeWine. Ramaswamy, President Trump and Vice President JD Vance all defended the ad.

Acton, a pediatrician and former head of the Ohio Department of Health, has been open about her “difficult” childhood, including the allegations of sexual abuse she made against her stepfather when she was a child. Acton’s mother, Donna Arthur, sided with her stepfather and denied the allegations. Both women say they have not seen or spoken to each other since a court hearing in which Acton testified against her stepfather nearly 50 years ago.

The ad drew even more attention to an already competitive midterm gubernatorial race. Once a key swing state, Ohio has steadily become redder in recent decades. Four years ago, DeWine won reelection by more than 25 percentage points. But polls suggest a closer contest this year as Acton seeks to break the GOP’s long run of control.

Some Americans are taking their civic duty to new heights … from space.

NASA astronaut Anil Menon posted a video on X today explaining how he could cast his ballot from the International Space Station. Menon said he filled out an electronic form from his computer to vote in Harris County, Texas.

“Yes, you can even vote from space!” Menon wrote in the caption. “All three US crew members had the privilege of voting from space station. We filled out an electronic ballot and sent it securely to the election officials.”

Just like any other American who will be away from home on Election Day, astronauts can request an absentee ballot. They fill out an electronic ballot on the ISS, then it travels through NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System to the White Sands Test Facility in Las Cruces, N.M., according to NASA. From there, it goes to Mission Control at NASA’s Johnson Space Center and then to the appropriate county clerk.

The ballot is encrypted, so only the astronaut and the clerk can access it.

Officials in Fulton County, Ga., are warning voters about scam text messages people say they’ve received notifying them that polling locations have been moved.

“Some Fulton County voters have reported receiving text messages regarding polling place changes. These text messages were not sent by Fulton County,” the X post reads.

Voters in Fulton County are urged to verify their polling places on the Georgia My Voter page or call 404-612-7020.

All 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are on the ballot today. There are several races that will be crucial for determining the balance of power for the 120th Congress.

Democrats would need to gain at least three seats to take control.

One of the races that is expected to come down to the wire is in New York’s 17th Congressional District, which Kamala Harris won in the 2024 presidential election. Republican Rep. Mike Lawler won the seat in 2022 and again in 2024.

Democrat Cait Conley, an Army combat veteran, is challenging Lawler in the fiercely contested race.

Today, Westchester County, located in NY-17, is experiencing technical issues with ballot readers at polling locations.

Both candidates urged voters to stay in line and to make sure they voted. They assured voters that every vote will count.

Opposition to data centers was barely on anyone’s radar in the 2024 election. But it’s an issue that’s taken center stage in the lead-up to this year’s midterms, uniting voters across the political spectrum.

According to a Gallup poll conducted in March, more than 70% of Americans are opposed to AI data center construction in their local area. It makes sense when you consider that this midterm cycle is heavily focused on rising living costs. Data centers — facilities that store, process and distribute digital data, and have become more common in the AI era — use up massive amounts of water and electricity, raising concerns that the costs will be passed down to local communities in the form of electric bill hikes and water rate increases. 

In Ohio, the issue has been a centerpiece of former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown’s ad campaign against incumbent Republican Sen. Jon Husted, who Brown has tried to label as “the face of data centers in Ohio” for his past support of the facilities.

But Ohio isn’t the only state where data centers have taken center stage — and Brown isn’t the only candidate spotlighting his opponent’s support for them. 

In Michigan, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed has criticized his Republican opponent Mike Rogers in the Senate race for his investments in companies tied to data centers (the sound of a data center is all you hear in one of El-Sayed’s campaign ads). In August, Rogers called for a one-year moratorium on new data center development. 

In Florida, Democrat David Jolly and Republican Byron Donalds have both run ads on the issue in the gubernatorial race. Jolly has called for a moratorium and criticizes Donalds for receiving donations from AI and data center companies. Donalds has called for companies building the data centers to absorb their costs. 

Read more about how data centers have impacted the midterms here. 

Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican candidate for Ohio governor, cast his vote in Columbus on Tuesday alongside his wife, Apoorva. Ramaswamy, a billionaire entrepreneur whose campaign featured a $4 million television ad campaign, is running against Democrat Amy Acton.

Mike Rogers, Michigan’s GOP Senate candidate, also cast his vote on Tuesday. Rogers, who spoke to reporters after voting in White Lake, Mich., commended Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens’s surprising decision to vote for him.

“Took a lot of courage for her to do that, to stand up for America,” he told reporters.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer voted Tuesday morning. Speaking to reporters, he described his outlook as “nauseously optimistic.” 

Schumer, who voted at William Penn Elementary School in Brooklyn, N.Y., told reporters he thought Democrats were closer to retaking the Senate than anyone expected. “A year ago, no one thought we could do this. No one thought we’d be even close to taking the Senate back,” he said.

Schumer was also asked about the fallout from Michigan Democrat Rep. Haley Stevens’s decision to endorse Republican Mike Rogers in the state’s Senate race two days before the election.

A clearer picture of what’s happening in the polls is expected around 7 p.m. ET, when polls close in Georgia and South Carolina, with North Carolina and Ohio following half an hour later.

Control of the Senate may not be known on election night, with close races in states that count mail ballots for days potentially taking a week or more to call.

Texas Democrats are pinning their hopes of ending a three-decade statewide losing streak on U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico, a 37-year-old state lawmaker who has become one of the party’s breakout stars of the midterms.

Talarico gained greater national attention in March, when he defeated U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett in a high-profile intraparty primary battle. His Republican opponent is Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who bested longtime incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in an often contentious Republican primary runoff. 

By fusing progressive politics, a soft-spoken demeanor and unapologetic Christian faith, Talarico has built a broad base of support among Texas voters. He has maintained a steady — yet small — lead in the polls in the months leading up to Election Day. Forecasters list the race as a toss-up. 

Paxton is a favorite of Trump’s MAGA base, but he has also faced a series of controversies: a suspension from office after being impeached on accusations of abusing his office to help a real estate investor (he was later acquitted by the Texas Senate); a 2015 indictment on securities fraud charges that were dismissed in 2024; and a recent divorce filing by his wife, a Republican state senator who accused him of adultery. 

Talarico’s chances of victory depend on his ability to consolidate a diverse coalition of Texas voters, including those who would be supporting a Democrat for the first time. 

“In Texas, you cannot do this with just Democrats,” political strategist Mike Madrid, a centrist Republican, told Newsweek after Talarico’s primary win. “You have to win Republicans. His whole approach has been about building a bigger coalition.”

The Protect Our Vote NC coalition said it received more than 1,900 calls to its voting protection hotline during North Carolina’s early voting period, which ran from Oct. 15 to Oct. 31, Fox8 reported.

The calls included 82 reports of alleged voter intimidation across 23 counties. Of those, 43 involved in-person intimidation or the presence of police officers or private security inside or near polling places.

Volunteers with the 888-OUR-VOTE hotline worked throughout early voting to resolve reported issues, which ranged from poll worker misconduct to phone threats and parking concerns at voting sites.

The figures come as the Department of Justice sends federal election monitors to Wake, Mecklenburg and Alamance counties on Election Day. Earlier, the Justice Department confirmed it was deploying about 1,000 monitors and observers across all 50 states, which it described as its largest monitoring effort in history.

North Carolina voters are choosing between Democrat Roy Cooper and Republican Michael Whatley for the U.S. Senate. All 14 of the state’s U.S. House seats are also on the ballot.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul emphasized that “every vote will be counted” as polling locations across Westchester County experience technical issues that prevent voting machines from accepting ballots. She said the issue is “being resolved in a bipartisan way.”

“The backup plan is in place. And so voters in Westchester should feel very confident that they should show up, they should continue to vote. If they’re in line, stay in line and there’s a backup plan for all the contingencies,” Hochul told NY1 on Tuesday. “The state board of elections and the county board of elections are working in coordination to make sure we get through this.”

An unknown number of voters in Broward County, Fla., were turned away on Tuesday morning following a countywide software glitch that left poll workers unable to submit ballots, NBC News reported.

Speaking at a news conference, Joe Scott, the supervisor of elections for Broward County, urged voters who were turned away earlier to return by tonight’s deadline — 7 p.m. local time — to cast their ballots. Scott said the issue, which took 20 minutes to fix, has since been resolved.

In a state as red as Nebraska, Democrats have opted not to run their own candidate against incumbent Republican Sen. Pete Ricketts. Instead, they’ve thrown their support behind Dan Osborn, an independent candidate who could give the GOP one of its closest Senate contests in the state in decades. 

Osborn is a military veteran and former union leader who led workers at a Kellogg’s factory in Omaha in a 77-day strike that drew national attention in 2021. This is his second attempt to unseat a Republican senator in the past two years. In 2024, he lost to GOP incumbent Deb Fischer by about 6.5 points. Polls suggest that this time around, although Osborn is still a slight underdog, he has a chance of pulling off the upset. 

Osborn has consistently been critical of both parties and has emphasized his goal of breaking their hold on American politics. That could make him something of a wild card if he’s elected to the Senate. In an evenly divided Senate, Osborn’s vote could determine whether a Democrat or Republican serves as majority leader, a position that gives its holder significant influence over which legislation comes to the floor, committee leadership and the chamber’s legislative agenda. 

Rep. Haley Stevens told NewsNation that she predicts a Democratic “majority” as she walked to the polls with her mother in Birmingham, Mich., on Tuesday. Her comments come just days after the Democrat endorsed Trump-backed Republican candidate Mike Rogers for the state’s U.S. Senate seat over her own party’s candidate, Abdul El-Sayed.

The NewsNation reporter pressed Stevens for comment on the backlash she has received from other members of the Democratic Party, to which she replied, “Look, I’m with my mom. This is our tradition here and, you know what this is — it’s the people’s day.”

She said as she continued walking, “And I told this to our next speaker of the House, Hakeem Jeffries: it’s Majority Maker’s Day.”

The humble “I voted” sticker is one of the most recognizable emblems of Election Day.

While there are competing claims over who created it, the sticker’s design has taken on a life of its own, with many now created by children and local artists.

In Newfields, N.H., stickers designed by fourth and fifth graders in a contest are on display at a polling station. The entries include a bear holding a “voted” sign, a covered bridge and a state outline filled with the stars and stripes.

In Alaska’s Matanuska-Susitna Borough, the sticker features a wreath of colorful wildflowers around “I Voted Mat-Su” in yellow lettering.

For more on the history and design of “I voted” stickers, see USA Today’s full story.

Republican governors have outnumbered their Democratic counterparts for the last 15 years straight (and for 26 of the last 30 years overall). But this year, Democrats have a chance to close the “governor gap.” They need a net gain of one governorship to tie Republicans at 25; net two, and they’ll secure a gubernatorial majority for the first time since 2011.

Here are their best pickup opportunities:

Alaska hasn’t elected a Democratic governor in 28 years. But that could change today, as Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins has emerged as the frontrunner to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Mike Dunleavy. Kreiss-Tomkins, a 37-year-old former state representative, is the only Democrat competing on the ballot against three Republicans, including conservative activist Bernadette Wilson.

Georgia hasn’t elected a Democratic governor since 1998. Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has a chance to break the pattern today. The latest polls show her leading health care billionaire Rick Jackson, who won the GOP nomination without Trump’s endorsement.

Iowa is another state that hasn’t elected a Democratic governor in decades — 20 years, to be exact. But Democratic state auditor Rob Sand has led Republican businessman Zach Lahn in every poll conducted this cycle, often by double-digit margins. 

In Nevada, incumbent GOP Gov. Joe Lombardo won in 2022 on a law-and-order message. But Nevada is a blue-collar swing state, and Democratic state Attorney General Aaron Ford is running on his working-class roots. Only a few polls have been conducted since Labor Day. They show Ford and Lombardo trading leads. 

Ohio Democrats have lost all but one gubernatorial contest there since 1990. But some recent polls have shown Amy Acton, a Democrat who previously served as Ohio’s chief public health officer, leading billionaire pharmaceutical and biotech entrepreneur (and former GOP presidential candidate) Vivek Ramaswamy. The only survey conducted since Ramaswamy released a controversial attack ad against Acton earlier this month also shows Acton ahead.

The Department of Justice said Tuesday it is deploying 1,000 election monitors — across all 50 states for the first time — in what it described as the “largest” federal monitoring effort in history.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division said in a statement, “Election integrity has been one of the top priorities for this Administration and this Division.”

In a Tuesday press release, the DOJ released the complete list of cities and counties here.

President Trump promised $1 million rewards in an Oct. 26 social media post for anyone providing information leading to “the arrest and conviction” of anyone committing voter fraud.

On Monday night, a federal judge rejected an emergency request from the NAACP to block the DOJ from using staff from federal law enforcement agencies as monitors on Election Day.

The civil rights organization argued that the presence of monitors could intimidate voters and violate the Voting Rights Act.

U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton wrote in the order that the DOJ must ensure that election monitors are unarmed, out of uniform and do not display any insignia identifying them as federal employees.

A federal appeals court agreed late Monday to rehear the Trump administration’s appeal of a temporary order barring the Justice Department from threatening election workers with criminal prosecution if they don’t set aside ballots suspected of coming from noncitizens, The Hill reported.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ vote to rehear the case with a larger group of judges wiped out a ruling issued hours earlier by a split three-judge panel, which had paused the order. The temporary restrictions on the Justice Department are back in effect for now.

Two labor unions and political-interest groups that sued say the Justice Department’s demands could push local officials into withholding legitimate ballots, costing eligible voters their say. 

Democrats currently hold 47 Senate seats, including two independents who caucus with them — they’d need 51 to control the chamber. (A 50-50 split would give Vice President JD Vance the tiebreaking vote.) Polls suggest that they have a chance of flipping at least four Republican seats. 

Maine: Democrat Troy Jackson, who replaced Graham Platner following allegations of sexual assault, has led Republican Sen. Susan Collins by anywhere from 2 to 7 percentage points in recent polls. 

Ohio: Former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown has edged incumbent Republican Sen. Jon Husted in nearly every poll conducted since the first week of October, with margins ranging from 2 to 6 percentage points. 

North Carolina: Former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper leads former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley by nearly 11 points, on average.

Alaska: Surveys conducted in October show former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola leading Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan by anywhere from 2 to 7 percentage points. 

Iowa: Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson and Democratic state legislator Josh Turek have traded narrow leads in polls released since Iowa’s June 2 primaries. 

Texas: Nearly every poll conducted this fall has shown Democratic state legislator James Talarico leading Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, with margins ranging from 2 to 8 percentage points.

Nebraska: Polls are few and far between. But the most recent nonpartisan results suggest Democrat-backed independent Dan Osborn could be competitive (even as a New York Times/Siena University survey released on Saturday gives Ricketts a 6-point lead).

Kansas: Only one poll conducted over the past month shows incumbent Republican Sen. Roger Marshall ahead (by a single point) of megachurch pastor and Democratic nominee Adam Hamilton. The rest (save one tie) give Hamilton a slight edge (between 1 and 5 percentage points). The final New York Times/Siena University survey shows Hamilton ahead by 5.

Democrats currently hold 47 Senate seats, including two independents who caucus with them. They’d need 51 to control the chamber. (A 50-50 split would give Vice President JD Vance the tiebreaking vote.) In the states where Dems are playing defense — Michigan, Georgia, New Hampshire — their polling leads appear to be solidifying. 

Michigan: Eighteen polls have been conducted in October. Seventeen have shown Democrat Abdul El-Sayed leading former Republican Rep. Mike Rogers by 1 to 11 percentage points. 

Georgia: Democratic incumbent Sen. Jon Ossoff holds a solid lead over Republican Rep. Mike Collins, with October polls putting him ahead by an average of 9 percentage points.

New Hampshire: Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas and former GOP Sen. John E. Sununu were previously locked in a closer race to replace retiring Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. But Pappas appears to have opened a substantial lead — average margin: 7.5 percentage points — over the past month.

Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson has issued an emergency declaration allowing some San Juan County voters to receive and return their ballots electronically, after days of flooding made travel hazardous in the rural area, Utah News Dispatch reported.

Henderson, the state’s chief election officer, signed the declaration Monday evening. It directs the county clerk to offer the option to affected voters, in addition to traditional voting.

“We want every eligible voter in San Juan County to be able to cast a ballot if they have not done so already,” Henderson said in a news release.

The declaration cites a countywide flood alert from San Juan County Emergency Management.

It says the county’s size and the long distances to polling places and drop boxes, combined with flood damage, have made access “extremely difficult or impossible” in some areas, namely Aneth, Bluff, Dennehotso, Halchita, Mexican Hat, Mexican Water, Navajo Mountain, Oljato and Red Mesa.