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    US voters share why they cast their ballots – from frustration with Trump to affordability concerns

    ‘It’s the disregard for the rule of law. It just seems like they’re thumbing their nose at it’US midterms 2026 live – latest updatesTrack live results from all 50 statesIn the battleground state of Maine, Todd Cox, 63, has supported the state’s incumbent Republican senator Susan Collins not once, but twice, in previous elections. Not this time.On Tuesday, Cox, a technology professional, cast his vote for Collins’s Democratic challenger, Troy Jackson – driven not by pressing local issues, but broader concern “for the direction the country is going in”, he said. Continue reading… More

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    Christian voters in Washington state divided by common religion: ‘I don’t think the US is God’s kingdom on Earth’

    Christians in the south of the state seek to vote their values – but a common faith does not mean a common politicsA few days before the Fourth of July, Ron Peterson, the 38-year-old pastor of Longview United Pentecostal church, stood beneath a large white tent in a parking lot in Longview, Washington.Surrounded by church members selling fireworks for a fundraiser, Peterson remembered watching area residents rally after an industrial accident at the local paper mill killed 11 people in May. “We can all come together,” he said. “There’s not going to be sections in heaven.” Continue reading… More

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    Americans head to polls in midterm elections seen as referendum on Trump

    Control of the Senate and House of Representatives, both currently held by the Republicans, is at stakeAmericans are heading to the polls today in US midterm elections widely seen as a referendum on Donald Trump’s second presidency and a chance for opponents to rein in his untrammeled power.Democrats and Republicans have scrambled in recent days to deliver their final pitches to voters with control of the US Senate and House of Representatives – both currently held by the Republicans – at stake. Continue reading… More

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    US reportedly strikes Iran’s Qeshm Island as Vance voices optimism about a deal

    Iranian state media reported the sound of explosions on the island in the strait of Hormuz, coming on the eve of crucial US midtermsThe ⁠US launched limited strikes on ​Iran’s Qeshm Island late on Monday, ⁠according to reports in US media, hours after vice-president JD Vance said he was optimistic diplomatic efforts to end the war were moving in the right direction.The strikes were reported as being “defensive”, and not thought to be a signal of a return to full hostilities, but came on the eve of crucial midterm elections in which Donald Trump’s Republican party is expected to be punished by voters for the cascading effect the war has had on the US cost of living. Continue reading… More

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    Backstabbing endorsements, dodgy ads and Nicki Minaj: our midterm awards – podcast

    It’s election day in the US, so Jonathan Freedland is chatting to humour writer Alexandra Petri of the Atlantic to run through this campaign cycle’s most effective ad campaigns, surprising allies and embarrassing gaffes before the polls close later, and we start learning who the big winners and losers areBuy your tickets to the Guardian’s post-midterms live event, hosted by Jonathan Freedland.Watch Jonathan Freedland on our new Politics Weekly YouTube channel.Send your questions and feedback to [email protected] Continue reading… More

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    Five dimensional chess: inside James Talarico’s extraordinary bid to break Texas Democrats’ losing streak

    The Texan could pull off a historic victory in the Lone Star state, which hasn’t elected a Democratic senator since 1988When a young, untested former school teacher stood up to address a modest gathering of local donors in Austin, the state capital of Texas, Wendy Davis felt sorry for him. “Poor kid,” she remembers thinking.Then James Talarico began speaking. “He was like five or six sentences in and I knew that something was different about him,” recalls Davis, a former Democratic state senator. “He was as articulate and unique then as he is now. From that day, I started calling him ‘Baby Obama’.” Continue reading… More

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    Trump promised a steel mill in this rural Iowa region. But is it all a midterm election ploy?

    Residents would welcome the development, but the president’s past false promises cast doubt on the proposalOn a Monday afternoon in late September, Donald Trump gathered Iowa Republicans in the Oval Office to make a big announcement: the firm Mesabi Metallics would invest $15bn to make the midwestern state the site of the largest steel mill in the country.One month later, and just days before the midterm election, word has spread in the small town of Wever, population 142, that the mill will be built somewhere nearby. And that’s been about it – no shovels in the dirt, workers on a job site or machinery on the dirt roads leading down towards the Mississippi River. Continue reading… More

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    John Oliver on Maga’s James Talarico smears: ‘middle school level homophobia’

    The HBO host called out Trump’s ‘ridiculous’ stunts and Republican Islamophobia in the lead up to the US midtermsOn his HBO show on Sunday night, John Oliver focused on the last-minute rallies being held across the US leading up to the midterms.In Texas, Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton implored the few supporters assembled at a rally to not leave. Continue reading… More