OB Rag Live Blog for Election Day — Mid-Terms 2026

Nov. 3rd:– the Day Americans Take Back Our Country

9:10 pm Very close race for mayor of Los Angeles

8:48 Both Props 39 and 40 going down in defeat

Other results: Marni von Wilpert has 59.4%, 84,030 to Jim Desmond with 40.6% in CA – House 48.

In State Sen. 40th District, Mara Elliott has 52.37%, 113,327, to Kristie Bruce-Lane with 47.63%

40 pm Democrats take the Senate

Democrats Clinch Senate as Voters Deliver Blistering Rebuke to Trump; Democratic candidates won races in Republican strongholds, flipping Senate seats in

• Kansas,
• Ohio,
• North Carolina,
• South Carolina and even
• Texas.

On a night shaping up as a Democratic rout, President Trump told The New York Times that he would accept the election results. (We’ll see….)

8:14 pm Crosby and Abraham take early leads in San Diego City Council races 2 and 4 with 689,666 ballots counted overall county-wide

Nicole Crosby at this stage has a 9 point lead over Richard Bailey in District 2, 54.5% to 45.5%.

Martha Abraham is in a much tighter race with incumbent Henry Foster III with a 3.3 point lead, 51.7% to 48.3%.

8:05 pm Xavier Becerra is first Mexican-American elected as governor of California

Xavier Becerra, a Democrat and former Biden administration official, began the race for California governor with poll numbers so low that his own party chairman urged him to drop out. Now, Mr. Becerra will become the next governor of the nation’s most populous state, The Associated Press said on Tuesday, a rise that was considered improbable a year ago. Mr. Becerra, 68, is the first Latino elected as governor of California, a milestone that punctuates a decades-long demographic shift in the state.

Mr. Becerra will succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom, a fellow Democrat who could not run again because of term limits. Mr. Becerra is likely to continue Mr. Newsom’s battles with President Trump, and he often referred during the campaign to the 122 lawsuits he filed against the first Trump administration when he was California’s attorney general. But with his mild-mannered demeanor, Mr. Becerra is expected to be less fiery than Mr. Newsom.

Mr. Becerra is likely to govern as an establishment Democrat, having won the backing of major labor unions, industry groups and the California Chamber of Commerce. He refrained from making many detailed promises during the campaign and instead sold voters on his long résumé of government experience, including his four-year tenure as state attorney general and more than two decades as a congressman.

Mr. Becerra also benefited from voters’ overwhelming disapproval of Mr. Trump in a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by a roughly two-to-one margin. Mr. Becerra defeated Steve Hilton, a Republican and former Fox News host, who had what Mr. Trump called his “COMPLETE & TOTAL ENDORSEMENT.” The president’s support helped Mr. Hilton in the primary but doomed him in the general election. California voters have not elected a Republican to statewide office in 20 years, and Mr. Trump’s relentless attacks on the state, which included deploying Marines to the streets of Los Angeles last year in response to immigration crackdown protests, have made him particularly unpopular. Mr. Hilton tried to appeal to anti-Trump voters by focusing on California’s high cost of living in his general election campaign, arguing that conditions would only improve with a partisan change in the state’s political leadership.

Mr. Hilton’s closing argument to voters wary of the G.O.P. was to “just try it.” He spread that message with ads that played on sexual innuendo and spoofed Californians as sage-burning hippies and Hollywood hangers-on who would like Republican policies if only they’d give Mr. Hilton a try. Mr. Hilton, 57, grew up in England and moved to California in 2012 for his wife’s career in Silicon Valley. He ran an energetic campaign and proposed lowering gas prices, building more houses and creating an Office of Fun and Freedom “to cut the killjoy rules crushing nightlife.”

Mr. Becerra will become California’s first Latino governor elected by voters but not the state’s first Latino governor. Romualdo Pacheco had that honor when he rose to the role by succession in 1875. Mr. Becerra routinely talked about his family’s Mexican roots as he campaigned in both English and Spanish this year.

7:46 pm Bob Brooks wins — who?

Bob Brooks, a Democratic retired firefighter and union leader who spoke candidly during his campaign of relying on public housing and food stamps after his family’s home burned down, flipped a House seat in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley, according to The Associated Press, handing Democrats a crucial victory in a competitive district.

He unseated Representative Ryan Mackenzie, a Republican who flipped the Seventh Congressional District two years ago. Brooks focused his campaign on Mackenzie’s support of President Trump’s agenda, which Brooks argued had driven up costs. His victory appeared to vindicate Democrats’ efforts to appeal to working-class voters; Brooks will be among the few House Democrats who did not graduate from college.

7:43pm The Latest from the New York Times

Democrats are poised to take control of Congress through a series of sweeping victories across the country, delivering a thorough rebuke to President Trump by ousting his Republican allies in contests up and down the ballot.

Democrats won races in places long considered Republican strongholds, flipping Senate seats in North Carolina and even South Carolina, and captured other offices, like Georgia governor, that Republicans had held for decades. The results came in a midterm election that is the first national mandate on Mr. Trump’s second term. They showed what polls have indicated for months — that voters are supremely dissatisfied with Mr. Trump and Republicans who have backed his agenda.

As if there haven’t been enough surprising races to watch tonight, it’s time to put Louisiana’s Senate race on the radar. Julia Letlow, a Republican, leads by 13 percentage points over Jamie Davis, a Democrat, in the tabulated vote, but no vote has been counted yet in New Orleans, where Davis could approach 90 percent of the vote. The race could narrow to within just a couple of points once New Orleans counts its vote.

Bob Brooks was a rare progressive candidate who attracted early support in the primary from Democrats across the political spectrum, from Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont to Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania. The left is likely to point to his victory as another sign that populist policies can appeal in swing districts.
7:36 pm Steve Kornacki says he has a good feeling about Democrat Adam Hamilton’s compelling lead in critical Kansas county

Kornacki: I’m looking at Sedgewick County, a middle-class, blue collar county that has been a bellwether for Democrats winning in past governor’s races in Kansas. The county has usually not been a swing county when it comes to Senate races. Tonight, Hamilton is holding a 12 point lead in Sedgewick with 70% of the vote in. It is a total reversal at this moment from the 2024 election in Sedgwick County, where Trump won by 13 points

7:23 pm Progressives — including democratic socialists — will be in the new House of Representatives

A number of progressives, including at least five members of the Democratic Socialists of America, will join the ranks of House Democrats in January after winning their elections tonight. Three of those progressives won in New York, where democratic socialists Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez, as well as former New York City comptroller Brad Lander, cruised to victory in deep-blue districts.

DSA members also won in Colorado with Melat Kiros, Michigan with Donavan McKinney and Pennsylvania with Chris Rabb. Adam Hamawy, a progressive and sharp critic of Israel, won in New Jersey.

While those candidates were all expected to win their general elections, the flurry of progressives who won their primaries and are now heading to the House this election cycle reflects the rising influence of the left wing of the Democratic Party as it takes control of the House majority.

7:17pm Even if Dems win, Trump says he still has the power

“I have the ultimate power — it’s called ‘veto,'” President Trump told CBS News in an exclusive phone interview before polls closed across the country in this year’s midterm elections, when asked about the prospect of a Democratic-controlled Congress next year.  Mr. Trump says he is prepared to veto Democratic legislation if necessary, and he welcomes the moniker “Mr. Veto,” in terms of describing his approach to Democrats, should they win a majority in the House or Senate.

Still, Mr. Trump remained optimistic on Tuesday when asked about the Republican Party’s chances during the phone interview. And he said that regardless of the results and the makeup of Congress next year, he feels confident about his ability to pursue his agenda in the coming two years. He remarked that recent Supreme Court decisions have empowered him and his administration to wield expansive executive powers inside the federal government even if Congress tries to block him.

In the interview, Mr. Trump cited Trump v. Slaughter, a Supreme Court decision from earlier this year that allowed him to fire Rebecca Slaughter, a member of the Federal Trade Commission, and said that 6-to-3 decision enables him to exert sweeping control over many federal agencies, boards and commissions, regardless of who holds majorities in the House and Senate. “We won the Slaughter case and the Slaughter case gives the president tremendous powers that it never had before,” Mr. Trump said.

The president said that he plans to move forward his agenda next year in numerous federal areas with this ruling as part of the foundation for his coming executive actions. CBS News

7:09 pm CNN projects that the Democrats will take the House.

Dems seize the House: Democrats will capture the House of Representatives, CNN’s Decision Desk projects, breaking the Republican stranglehold on Washington and setting up two years of confrontation with President Donald Trump.

7:03 pm Democrat Andrews leads in South Carolina senate race, with an estimated 86% of ballots counted.

7:00 pm San Diego polls close in one hour.

6:50pm Texas Senate

6:46pm POLLS CLOSE: Polls have closed in more than half the country and results are rolling in. Recent polling suggests Democrats are in a strong position to retake the House, while the Senate majority could come down to competitive races in traditionally red states.
NBC NEWS EXIT POLLS: Early results from the NBC News Exit Polls show a dissatisfied electorate, with President Donald Trump’s disapproval rating at a dismal 62% and more than three-quarters of voters saying they disapprove of the job Congress is doing, as well. Nearly half of voters say they view the election as an opportunity to rebuke Trump.

6:40 pm San Diego County officials Pushback on Anti-Vaxxer Reichert’s Claims that Ballots handled inappropriately after Her Video surfaces

San Diego County officials and a Republican watchdog group say voting has proceeded smoothly there, after a video shared on social media spurred rumors that some ballots had been handled inappropriately.

The video, posted by an account belonging to extremist and anti-vaxer Amy Reichert, a former county board of supervisor candidate, appeared to show poll workers wearing county Registrar of Voters vests collecting ballots from an overflowing dropoff location outside a library. One of the poll workers can be seen saying that he and his colleagues were preparing to take the ballots to the Registrar of Voters to be tallied.

In the video, a poll worker tells a handful of voters gathered around that the ballot box got so full that it jammed. The location had to stop accepting ballots temporarily, the worker says, suggesting that voters bring their ballots to alternative locations.

The person who filmed the video said they stuck around until the ballot box started accepting ballots again. The voter requested that their name not be published for fear of political blowback.

The video gained traction after Reichert crossposted it on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, with some users suggesting that election workers might have been stealing or discarding the ballots.In a separate social media post, Reichert shared a photo of a grey truck with out-of-state plates and said that a “witness” had seen the ballots being loaded onto the truck.

The X account @RNCVoteProtect, an electoral watchdog wing of the GOP, said the group had looked into the issue and did not find any irregularities.

A spokesperson for San Diego County said the video showed election workers doing what they were hired to do: collect ballots. “The video in question shows ballot collection in action. Voted ballots are being collected and returned securely to the Registrar of Voters office in accordance with established chain-of-custody procedures,” Antonia Hutzell, with the County of San Diego Registrar of Voters, said in a statement to NBC News. “We can confirm that there are no issues with ballot collection or election operations.”

Hutzell added that ballot boxes at some dropoff locations filled up more quickly than others, which is why the workers were seen picking up ballots in the morning. The Registrar regularly uses rental vehicles as part of its fleet, she said.

“Election officials maintain established chain-of-custody, ballot security and collection procedures for all ballots returned by voters,” Hutzell said. “Voting and ballot processing operations continue as normal.”

In response to the explanation from the Registrar of Voters, Reichart said: “People take the time to carefully fill out their ballots, trusting that when they place them in an official ballot drop box, they’ll be handled securely.” NBC News

6:31 pm Keisha Lance Bottoms is projected to become the first Black governor of Georgia, the first female governor of Georgia and the first female Black governor in US history. Bottoms, who also served in the Biden administration, beat out Trump-endorsed Rick Jackson.

6:04pm Battle ground states from NBC News

5:50 pm House Speaker Mike Johnson: “The barbarians are inside the gates.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) –who is about to lose his job– went heavy on fear in his closing argument for Republican Rep. Rob Wittman in Virginia’s closely contested 1st District, which Johnson said is crucial for maintaining GOP control of the House. “Common sense versus crazy is what’s going on,” Johnson said Monday afternoon to about 100 Wittman supporters gathered in a suburban Richmond diner. “The barbarians are inside the gates.”

5:43pm One-third of voters  — and nearly 8 in 10 Democrats — say democracy is top issue. 

Nearly a third of voters and an overwhelming majority of Democrats say the state of democracy is the most important issue facing the country, according to new NBC News exit polling. According to the poll released Tuesday night, 32% of voters said democracy was the top issue, just seven percentage points below the economy. And democracy ranked higher than any other issue among Democrats: 77% of them said it was the country’s most important issue. Democracy Docket

The state of democracy ranked higher than crime, foreign policy, health care and immigration as voters’ top issues. That result is remarkable because economic grievances have been a central theme of the 2026 midterms. According to the poll, 44% of voters said their finances are worse today than they were two years ago, when President Donald Trump returned to office.

5:38pm Democrat Chris Pappas, currently a member of the House, will represent New Hampshire in the Senate and make history in the process: He will be the first openly gay member of the chamber. His husband is Vann Bentley, a lawyer.

Former North Carolina governor Roy Cooper has defeated Republican Michael Whatley, according to the Associated Press, to become the state’s first Democratic senator elected in nearly two decades. Cooper will fill the seat left open by Sen. Thom Tillis (R), who did not seek reelection.

New CNN projection: The GOP saves Florida’s Senate seat. Ashley Moody will beat DSA Democrat Angie Nixon. But it was a lot closer than the GOP wanted.

5:35pm

5:25 pm In a bellweather county in Texas, James Talarico ahead of Paxton by 9 points. Latino voters are coming out heavily for the Democrats, in places like Texas – 60% and Florida 56%.

Florida gain for Dems: At least three House seats in Florida targeted by GOP redistricting will be won by Democrats, CNN projects. Overall, several GOP sources involved in House races are growing worried about the results so far, suggesting Democrats could be in for a good night. .

5:20 pm Jon Ossoff, the incumbent, projected to win in Georgia, 66.4% vs 33.6% for Mike Collins.[ These are projections by NBC News , MS Now]

Several senate races are too close to call, like Florida, Maine, Mississippi. Very close in Florida.

Sherrod Brown projected to win the senate seat from Ohio.

4:24 pm 62% vs 38% Trump approval ratings in exit polls. Worst rating of a president during an election. 

4:23 pm Watching some of the very first returns and exit polling.

2:45 pm First polls close in 15 minutes, 3pm our time on the west coast. 

2:20 pm Democratic ministers, pastors on the ballot as Trump and GOP embrace Christian nationalism

President Donald Trump and Republicans have tried to retain the evangelical Christian vote in the midterms, but several pastors and ministers have countered the GOP’s narrative on faith and morality by running as Democrats.

The Republican Party has enjoyed strong evangelical support since Ronald Reagan made the demographic a key part of his winning coalition in 1980. Some 80 percent of evangelicals voted for Trump in 2024. Washington Post

2:10 pm Local elections officials prepared for any and all scenarios for today

For the first time he can remember, San Diego County Registrar Shawn Brom has instituted training for thousands of volunteer poll workers on how to respond in the event U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents appear near voting booths. He also has been working closely with officials from the San Diego Sheriff’s Office and San Diego Police Department to protect the vote from potential disruptions caused by what may be an outsized number of poll watchers from the political left and right. “We are aware of the intimidation that could occur at voter sites,” Brom said. “We are making sure that our top priority is that our election is safe, secure and accessible for all voters in San Diego County.” …

To manage the San Diego County election, Brom hired 600 to 800 temporary employees and trained another 2,500 volunteer poll workers. All of them received election training ahead of their assignments. But this cycle, he said, the two-day workshops included specific tools to de-escalate volatile situations. They also learned how to enforce rules prohibiting electioneering within 100 feet of polling sites.

Retired attorney Nate Northup has been serving as a poll worker since 1988. He said the distrust bred by repeated claims of voter fraud and rigged elections has provided him the opportunity to teach voters about the process and even recruit them as volunteers. “I’m happy to sit down with them or walk outside and answer any questions they have,” Northup said. “And it’s almost always followed by my invitation to come and work at the polls.” The longtime elections volunteer from Poway said neither he nor fellow poll workers are overly concerned about ICE agents or National Guard troops appearing at voting sites. “It’s illegal,” he said. “If it does happen we call 911 and we keep dealing with the voters who are coming in to vote.”

Local law enforcement officers, meanwhile, are prohibited under state law from arresting people within 200 feet of an open polling place, except when elections are being disrupted or there are reports of crimes against people or property. “We want everybody to have a consistently positive voting experience and part of that comes through consistent training with poll workers,” Brom said.

Both the Sheriff’s Office and San Diego police said they have been in close communication with county elections officials for weeks, although they each declined to provide details about how they might respond to a clash with federal agents. “We do not engage in immigration enforcement,” a sheriff’s spokesperson said by email. “The Sheriff’s Office remains dedicated to transparency, community trust and safeguarding the rights and well-being of all residents.”

San Diego police issued a similar statement. “If we receive a call for service, we will respond, address the concern and then leave the area as soon as possible,” the department said. “SDPD does not participate in federal immigration enforcement.” Edited from SDU-T

2:00 pm Trump Privately Concedes GOP May Suffer Worst Case Scenario

Tonight, Trump will once again gather with top aides and advisers to watch the midterm results, this time as president of the United States, having completed the political comeback he sought. Yet, the White House is bracing for similar, potentially disappointing results.

Sources close to Trump said he has, at times, seemed hopeful that the polling was wrong, and that his party will be more successful than they suggest. Trump has told aides that he thinks his involvement — including campaign spending, telerallies, and trips to fundraise and promote Republican candidates — gave Republicans a fighting chance.

However, he has also privately conceded that his party may be facing the worst case scenario, the sources said. Two White House officials said that they would be ready for any scenario, including Trump choosing to speak to reporters as the results were coming in. CNN

1:56 pm How are things going with those DOJ monitors?

There are scattered reports of minor issues with some of the 1,000 election observers from the Justice Department who were sent to all 50 states. But overall, election officials said the monitors haven’t been disruptive to voting.

In Michigan, the secretary of state said DOJ monitors in Dearborn and Flint were asking poll workers about their training. Barb Byrum, the clerk in Ingham County, told CNN that monitors asked some voters for their phone numbers. “It’s not acceptable,” said Byrum, a Democrat. A DOJ spokesperson told CNN that these were “standard questions” and “the same questions asked by monitors in the past, including during the previous administration.”

Isaac Cramer, the top election official in Charleston, South Carolina, said he heard from local clerks that some of the DOJ monitors in his county were collecting poll workers’ names and asking whether there were any Spanish-language ballots. “It’s different than it was in August, when they were just sitting with a clipboard and observing,” Cramer said. “They are still following the proper procedures. But it seems a bit different.” A Justice Department spokesperson told CNN that the agency is “looking into it and will work with local election officials to address issues,” she said.

The New Mexico secretary of state’s office said in a statement that DOJ observers were asking “unusual questions and questioning voters.” A DOJ spokesperson told CNN “we believe the issue is resolved” after a call with New Mexico officials.

Officials in Los Angeles told CNN that things have been progressing normally. So did officials from Maricopa County, Arizona, which has seen its fair share of election chaos over the years. “Smooth sailing so far in Maricopa County,” county official Taylor Kinnerup said. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said there have been “no issues whatsoever” with election monitors. “Every cycle, they come. And they are just observers.” CNN

1:47 pm Disturbing development: Federal California Appeals Court Allows DOJ to Continue to Pressure state election workers.

For the second time in less than 24 hours, a federal appeals court in California has allowed the Justice Department to continue its pressure campaign against California election workers, amid which the department has requested the state to set aside ballots from voters President Donald Trump’s administration says are not citizens.

Overnight, a three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit stayed an order a lower court issued Friday barring department officials from making further demands to state election administrators about suspected noncitizen voters on state rolls.

Three hours later, the Ninth Circuit’s full bench said it would take up the case and reinstated the ban.

But in a ruling Tuesday afternoon, a majority of the court’s judges voted 6-5 to again to stay the initial order while the appeal plays out, meaning the Justice Department’s efforts can continue for now. Washington Post 

1:42 pm

For more on Alaska situation go here

1:39 pm California’s Most Hotly Contested Races: Central Valley, San Diego area seats pivotal

California’s most hotly contested race features 12-year Republican incumbent Rep. David Valadao of Hanford, a dairy farmer and perpetual target for national Democrats, and political newcomer Randy Villegas, a political science professor. Democrats hope Villegas, who is endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, can defy conventional political wisdom and win in the historically conservative, agriculture-heavy Central Valley. Villegas supports Medicare for All and universal child care, although he has also called to suspend federal taxes on gas and diesel.

Valadao, the lone remaining Republican who voted to impeach President Donald Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021 riots, is seeking his seventh term. He touts the importance of bipartisanship and independent thinking, but has faced tough questioning over his decision to support Trump’s megabill that will ultimately strip health care coverage from more than 2 million Californians in the next four years.

Further south in San Diego and Riverside counties, two local elected officials — Marni von Wilpert, a Democratic San Diego City Council, and Republican San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond — are competing to fill the seat of Republican Rep. Darrell Issa, who chose to retire rather than seek reelection in a redrawn district.

Von Wilpert and Desmond are running traditionally centrist campaigns that harken to pre-Trump politics. Von Wilpert has eschewed the insurgent progressive left and instead campaigned with former Vice President Kamala Harris. Desmond has worked overtime to distance himself from Trump and the president’s MAGA rhetoric, despite receiving Trump’s endorsement. Public polls have consistently shown von Wilpert with a slight lead over Desmond, and the nonpartisan Cook Political Report switched the race from “tossup” to “lean Democrat” back in March. Internal campaign polling suggests the race is close. inewsource Cal-Matters

1:37 pm Back from lunch and some chores

12:50 pm Voting in OB – photos sent in by Charles Landon

12:40 pm Trump’s voter suppression crusade has failed. But his bid to subvert the midterms may just be getting started

As voters head to the polls Tuesday, one thing has become clear: President Donald Trump’s dangerous effort to use the power of the federal government to subvert the midterms has failed — for now. At almost every turn, the schemes of the administration and its allies to thwart a fair election have been stymied in the courts.

The nationwide campaign to gather sensitive voter data and use it to help states purge their rolls; the plot to use the U.S. Postal Service to upend mail voting; the longshot legal gambit to block certification of Alaska’s Senate race if the GOP candidate loses; the bid to force California to stop 20,000 people from voting; the threats to prosecute election officials if they don’t comply with the administration’s anti-voting demands; the creation of lists of alleged noncitizens; even Missouri Republicans’ Trump-backed plan to steal a congressional seat for their party by ripping up a majority Black district — all of these assaults have been struck down or blocked by federal judges.

Meanwhile, most indicators suggest we’re headed for a massive midterm turnout. Trump’s voter suppression strategy has been an unqualified flop.

But the fight is far from over. Election Day itself offers another chance for the administration to assert control — perhaps by sending law enforcement agents to the polls to intimidate voters. The days and weeks after Tuesday will be fraught with even more danger. That’s when we can expect Trump and the GOP — having failed to stop voters from casting ballots — to unveil a fresh round of tactics designed to block those ballots from being counted or to prevent the results of key elections from taking effect.

Pro-democracy advocates are bracing for everything from lawsuits aiming to stop the counting of large batches of votes, to efforts to delay or challenge certification, to attempts to physically seize ballots or voting machines. Many of those tactics will likely draw on the same legal claims that failed in court, aiming to use them nonetheless to provide ammunition for post-election subversion. Democracy Docket

12:24 pm Justice Department issues target letters in Alaska Senate probe

The Justice Department has issued more than 20 target letters to people being investigated in connection with the fast-moving probe into how independent Senate candidate Dan J. Sullivan Jr. came to run against the similarly named Republican incumbent in Alaska, according to a person familiar with the probe who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. More. WP 

12:17 pm Federal Election Monitors Deployed in San Diego, Los Angeles, Sacramento and Alameda Counties

Federal election monitors will be deployed across California in what the Department of Justice called the “largest monitoring effort in history.” The DOJ said it will deploy about 1,000 election monitors and observers across all 50 states. In California, monitors will be present in the counties of Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego and Alameda.

“I am very proud we are deploying the largest monitoring effort in DOJ history, and pursuing transparency for elections in an assertive and nondiscriminatory manner,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon in a statement. The DOJ said the monitors will check whether local election officials comply with federal voting rights statutes within the department’s civil rights division. As a countermeasure, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a coalition of 1,000 volunteers that will monitor the federal election monitors. Speaking on Jimmy Kimmel Tonight, he also said the state will deploy 134 election law attorneys and that a hotline is available for people to call to report issues. ABC10News

12:05 pm PT When will the election results from San Diego County be made public?

From County Communications, County of San Diego Communications Office Nov. 3, 2026 | 9:12 AM

On election night, campaigns, candidates and voters want to see results as soon as possible. Counting ballots takes time to ensure every ballot is valid and accurately processed. Several factors contribute to the ballot-counting process:

• • The Registrar of Voters sent ballots to more than 2 million voters.
  • Voters may return ballots by mail on Election Day, Nov. 3.
  • The Registrar counts all mail ballots postmarked by Election Day and received within seven days.
  • Residents who missed the registration deadline may cast a provisional ballot through 8 p.m. on Election Day. The Registrar must verify their registration before counting their ballot.

Election Night Results  

The Registrar will post the election night results on sdvote.com and the Registrar of Voters X account. The Registrar will post the first set of unofficial election night results shortly after 8 p.m. This update includes mail ballots received before Election Day and ballots cast at vote centers through Nov. 2.

After vote centers close at 8 p.m., reporting will pause briefly as poll workers secure and transport ballots from over 200 vote centers across the county to the Registrar’s office.

The next round of results will only include ballots cast at vote centers on Election Day. No additional mail ballots will be included on election night. Staff will scan the ballots and post periodic updates until all vote center ballots are counted. Final unofficial election night results may be posted around 1 a.m. or later. These results will include only Election Day ballots that can be processed immediately.

Post-Election Night Ballot Processing 

Ballot counting continues after election night.

Mail Ballots 

• • Ballots dropped off at vote centers, official ballot drop boxes or mailed on Election Day.
  • Mail ballots postmarked by Election Day, Nov. 3, and received within seven days.
  • All mail ballots must pass signature verification before they can be counted.

Provisional Ballots 

• • Ballots cast by eligible voters who missed the registration deadline.
  • Staff must confirm each voter’s eligibility before counting the ballot.
  • The Registrar’s office cannot predict how many eligible unregistered residents will choose this option.

Post-Election Day Results Schedule  After election night, the Registrar will post additional unofficial election results on: 

• • Thursday, Nov. 5, by 6 p.m.
  • Friday, Nov. 6, by 6 p.m.
  • Monday, Nov. 9, by 6 p.m.
  • Additional updates are at the Registrar’s discretion.

The Registrar’s office will be closed on Nov. 11, 26, and 27 in observance of County holidays.

Certification of Election Results 

By law, election results must be certified by Dec. 3. All results remain unofficial until certification is complete. The Registrar expects to utilize the full certification period to ensure every legally cast ballot is counted efficiently and accurately. Updates will be posted on sdvote.com and the final certified results will be available by Dec. 3.

Learn more at sdvote.com, or call (858) 565-5800 or toll free at (800) 696-0136.

11:57 a.m. Why San Diego County refused to give private voter information to the DOJ, and what’s next

San Diego County voters have until 8 p.m. to cast the final ballots of the 2026 election Tuesday, and then voting officials who have had a highly unusual last few weeks will do the routine work of counting them all. It was only one week ago that the county refused a Trump administration demand to turn over private information on 1,709 local voters and to set their ballots aside.

The U.S. Department of Justice has said repeatedly that those voters are among 20,000 likely noncitizens in the state of California. The county has countered that the federal government’s list is unreliable and that following its demand would break the law. Facing a demand and a lawsuit, California responded the same way. San Diego County is not part of that lawsuit, but the 1,709 names came from the same statewide list at issue in the suit.

The Justice Department took its case to the U.S. Supreme Court Monday following a series of federal court rulings in California’s favor. The court rejected that appeal within hours.

What did the Justice Department want?

On Oct. 23, the DOJ hand-delivered a letter to San Diego County Registrar of Voters Shawn Brom from Adam Gordon, the U.S. attorney in San Diego. It gave the county 48 hours to agree to cooperate and warned against actions that “risk significant federal scrutiny and legal exposure.”

The letter asked for each voter’s Social Security number, state ID or driver’s license information and voter registration documents. It also said ballots from anyone whose citizenship could not be confirmed should be set aside and not counted until citizenship could be confirmed, but not canceled permanently.

Every other California county received a similar letter. There are 58 counties in the state.

Why did San Diego County refuse?

County Counsel Damon Brown wrote in an Oct. 27 response that the county is “legally prohibited” from complying. California law prevents the release of confidential voter information without a court order or a confidentiality agreement, he wrote. State law requires the registrar to process ballots when they arrive, and federal law restricts systematically removing voters in the 90 days before a federal election.

The registrar also has no authority to investigate anyone’s citizenship on its own, Brown wrote. He called the demand “a thinly veiled voter purge” and said threats of criminal charges against election officials were “an effort to unlawfully intimidate” officials and voters. The county said it may take legal action of its own.

Imperial County also refused a similar request covering 161 voters. For more, go here to inewsource

11:45 a.m. Westchester County in New York unable to scan as many as 250,000 ballots

Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins said in a news conference this afternoon that voting machines have been unable to scan as many as 250,000 ballots in 332 polling locations across more than 40 of the county’s municipalities. A county Board of Elections spokesperson did not immediately confirm the ballot number.

With ballots unable to be scanned due to what a New York state election officials said was a programming error, voters have been directed to cast their vote on emergency ballots. Those ballots will not be counted until polls close at 9 p.m., Jenkins said. The ballots will not be counted by hand and instead will be scanned through the machine, Jenkins added. CNN

Ballots to be escorted by police to counting location

Emergency ballots cast in Westchester County, New York, will be picked up by bipartisan election officials and escorted by police to a counting location tonight, Republican Rep. Mike Lawler told reporters Tuesday.

11:32 am – Earthquake?? at 10:27 a.m.

A magnitude 4.7 earthquake struck Baja California, Mexico, Tuesday morning, with shaking reported in parts of San Diego County. The quake struck at 10:27 a.m. roughly 6.2 miles north of Delta, Baja California, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake had a depth of 9.8 miles. Residents in Chula Vista, San Diego and San Ysidro reported feeling the shaking through the USGS “Did You Feel It?” citizen-science platform.

The earthquake followed a series of smaller quakes in the area. The Southern California Seismic Network recorded 17 earthquakes within about 6.2 miles of Tuesday’s epicenter over the preceding three days, including a magnitude 3.6 quake earlier Tuesday.

11:28 am  DOJ election monitors target Democratic strongholds, Black voters

The Department of Justice’s plan to send 1,000 election monitors to observe voting in all 50 states shows the observers will be concentrated in Democratic strongholds and minority communities. President Donald Trump and other administration officials have repeatedly cast doubt on the integrity and security of U.S. elections leading up to this year’s midterms, including making unfounded claims of widespread voting by noncitizens.

On Tuesday, the DOJ for the first time detailed where it will send its election monitors. The DOJ has sent election monitors to polling places with a pattern of voter suppression since the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, but this is the first time the department has deployed monitors in all 50 states.

Despite the nationwide presence, the DOJ does not have the resources to send monitors to observe voting at the more than 95,000 polling places nationwide.

Notably, monitors have been sent to more Democratic counties in historically red states like Broward County in Florida, Wake County in North Carolina, Dallas and Harris Counties in Texas and Fulton County in Georgia. Monitors have also been sent to many majority-minority counties such as Montgomery County in Alabama, Cook County in Illinois and Mecklenburg County in North Carolina.

Monitors have been deployed to 126 counties across the country. It is unclear how many monitors will be present at polling locations in the identified counties or if monitors will be present at every polling site in the listed counties. In North Carolina, state officials confirmed that federal election monitors are present in three counties – Alamance, Wake and Mecklenburg – with two federal monitors per county, according to Sam Hayes, executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections. Democracy Docket

11:25 am –– First polls close in about 4 and half hours.

11:22 am Rag reader Wesley Morgan sent this comment to us:

Reading today’s Election Day live blog prompted me to send you a simple thank you, something that too often gets lost in the rhetoric and disagreements of local politics. Between your national coverage, the No Kings rallies, and local moments when people need to come together, I really appreciate the Rag’s willingness to stand up for people.This Trump term has been exhausting and unsettling. We don’t have to agree on everything for me to recognize how much common ground we and many others share around democracy, inclusion, and looking out for one another.

That common ground also leaves me wishing we could find more alignment locally. I sometimes have a hard time reconciling our shared commitment to equity with conversations where making room for new neighbors becomes secondary to personal preferences. I don’t question people’s sincerity or love for their communities. I just wish we could more often approach our communities through that same question of inclusion: can people of different incomes, backgrounds, and generations actually live in our (local) neighborhoods whose opportunities we value? Welcoming people in principle and making room for them in practice should reinforce each other.

I hope there’s room for more open conversation about that. But mostly, on days like today, I wanted to say that I see and appreciate what the Rag contributes. Our disagreements don’t erase that gratitude, and I’m glad you’re here.

Thank you,  Wesley Morgan

11:17am 7 Senate Races that will decide control of the Senate

11:10 am Recall Petition against Mayor Todd Gloria filed. see here

10:30–11:00 (Oatmeal break)

10:12 am Judge won’t bar DOJ from deploying law enforcement to voting sites

A federal judge rejected an emergency request from the NAACP to prohibit the Department of Justice (DOJ) from deploying federal law enforcement to serve as poll monitors on Election Day. But U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton, an appointee of President George W. Bush, ordered the Trump administration to provide more information on the monitoring program, including how it confirmed that none of the monitors will be sworn officers with arrest powers.

10:08 am San Diego one of cities DOJ is sending monitors to.

The Trump administration will send a record-breaking 1,000 election monitors to observe voting across the country Tuesday. The DOJ released a list of locations where monitors will be deployed in all 50 states. Many areas are major cities that lean Democratic. And San Diego is one of the 4 cities in California.

9:53 am Voters in several US states are casting their ballots, with the first polls due to close at 6 p.m. ET, 3pm PT. Some voting machines in the key swing district that includes Westchester County, New York, have been unable to scan ballots, and flooding in Florida has forced 23 polling locations to move. CNN

9:50 am Bruce Springsteen, who has made his anti-Trump views well known this election season, posted a video message Tuesday reminding election officials of their “solemn duty” to ensure that all votes are counted and warning them to resist any pressure to the contrary. “You who represent us must never consent to any directives that undermine our constitutional right to a free and fair election,” he said. “Our vote is our voice, and it’s up to you to ensure that our voice is heard.” Washington Post

9:48 am RYDAL, Pennsylvania — Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) said Tuesday that election monitors sent by the U.S. Justice Department to Philadelphia and several other Pennsylvania counties “will be stopped” if they try to prevent anyone from voting. “We’ve made it very clear that should those election monitors or anyone else try to interfere with any Pennsylvanian’s access to the ballot box … they will be stopped immediately,” Shapiro said after he cast his ballot in suburban Philadelphia. “These monitors will not interfere with our process today.”

9:41 am Long wait times to vote in Tarrant County, Texas, home to Fort Worth

About a dozen polling places in Tarrant County, Texas, home to Fort Worth, are reporting wait times an hour or longer, with two polling places reporting a two-hour wait as of 11 a.m. local time.

As CNN previously reported, Republican Tarrant County commissioners cut Election Day voting locations to 224 from the 316 the county had in 2022. They also denied requested polling locations on five university campuses and had no polling places within the 76103 and 76104 ZIP codes, both of which have a majority Black or Hispanic population, according to census data. CNN

9:38 am The United States has conducted defensive strikes on some Iranian targets in the Strait of Hormuz, a U.S. official said Monday, on the eve of crucial midterm elections.

Iranian state television reported that explosions were heard on Qeshm Island. The official, who wasn’t authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said “Iranians using surface to air missiles against U.S. assets” had been targeted.

The strikes appeared to be limited as opposed to a return to full hostilities but followed President Donald Trump previously saying the U.S. wouldn’t launch strikes on Iran before Tuesday’s midterms. The strikes were reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal.

The unpopular Iran war and the resulting impact on U.S. gasoline prices and other parts of the economy have been a vulnerability for Republicans as they try to keep control of Congress.

9:31 am Trump makes closing remarks in front of the Reflecting Pool. What was he thinking?

Trump’s closing message hits a topic close to his heart — but not voters’ minds. The president spent more than 20 minutes of his final midterm elections speech detailing his renovation projects in Washington

9:23 am If things go south for Donald Trump today, here’s a few of the reasons:

• affordability – from gas to food
• war in Iran
• tariffs
• ICE
• Epstein files
• Most corrupt White House in history
• all the lies and broken promises
• health care costs

9:10 am —- 6 Lies You’ll Hear Before the End of the Day

It isn’t hard to predict: By the time polls close Tuesday, President Donald Trump and his allies will have spread a slew of false and dangerous election conspiracy theories online.

They’ll be shrieking about late-arriving mail ballots. They’ll be falsely claiming votes from noncitizens have corrupted the midterms. They’ll be attacking election workers, as they count votes, for somehow rigging the result. And much more.

So keep in mind: Some races may take days or longer to be counted. A candidate’s lead may shrink or disappear as different batches of ballots are counted. Mail ballots cast on time may arrive after Election Day. None of those things are evidence of fraud.

But ordinary election procedures can look suspicious when stripped of context. And Trump and MAGA — with polls showing the GOP headed for a major defeat — will aim to exploit that confusion to portray routine events as evidence of a coordinated effort to rig or steal an election.

So before the first viral images or claims of a “stolen” race begin ricocheting across social media, here are some of the most predictable myths Americans are likely to hear on Election Day and in the days that follow — what those claims leave out and what’s actually happening.

‘If we don’t know the winner on election night, something is wrong’

 One of the most predictable claims this week will be that an election is suspicious simply because the winner is not known Tuesday night.

Expect variations of the same rhetoric Tuesday night: “Why are they still counting?” “They found another batch of ballots.” “The lead changed overnight.”

Election Night results are preliminary by definition. Election officials may still be counting mail ballots, provisional ballots and votes from military and overseas voters for days afterward, depending on state law.

Some states also require additional time to verify ballots, cure defects, conduct canvasses and audit results before they become final. The U.S. Election Assistance Commission says plainly that election-night results are “unofficial and never final.”

That has not stopped the claim from spreading before voting is even finished.

On Saturday, PBS NewsHour shared a PolitiFact explainer noting that it is normal to go to bed without knowing the winner of a congressional race — and normal for a candidate who was trailing to later pull ahead as more ballots are counted.

The White House’s Rapid Response account replied: “No, it isn’t.” [For more, go here.]

9:00 am  Inside the plan to send 1,000 DOJ monitors to the polls

The Justice Department has assured local officials that monitoring will follow past norms, but election clerks say they have reason to worry.

For more than 60 years, the Department of Justice has sent its attorneys and staff to polling places across the country to ensure that Americans can vote free of discrimination or intimidation. They’ve watched to see if Black voters were illegally hindered in any way, if those who use a wheelchair or walker could get into facilities, and if those who couldn’t read the ballot for any reason—blindness, lack of English proficiency, or simply not having the skill—had help. Officials selected locations that had had problems in the past or where people had reported concerns.

When the feds would show up in the Tucson area of Arizona, where Spanish speakers and retirees are as numerous as the cacti dotting the Sonoran Desert, local officials considered the monitors partners in protecting the right to vote. But ahead of the primary election this past July, when Pima County Elections Director Constance Hargrove learned that DOJ was sending six representatives—most of whom were criminal prosecutors—she became worried. Would they just witness the vote, as in years past, or were they planning to gather evidence to later try to undermine the results? Would they know the basic rules? She told DOJ’s coordinator during a phone call: “Remind them that they cannot take a gun or weapon into the vote centers.” [For more, go here.]

8:51 am More take-aways from the election:

• Trend lines: Democrats to take the House, and possibly the Senate;
• Record amount of money spent (thank you billionaires!): $12 Billion
• Surge in Latino voters — especially in Texas; Trump has lost his Mexican-American supporters, surprise, surprise (hey ICE, good job!)
• Surge in African-American voters, especially in the South.
• Record numbers of voters already have voted.

8:49 am — Paul Krugman: “Oligarchy Is On the Ballot”

Donald Trump has urged voters to pretend that he’s on the ballot in the midterm elections. Given his historic unpopularity, his opponents can only hope that people take his advice. And the polls, which show Republicans almost certain to lose the House and likely to lose the Senate, suggest that Democrats are getting their wish.

Voters should also know, however, that Trump isn’t alone in de facto being on the ballot. America’s oligarchs — a tiny group of almost inconceivably wealthy people — also have a huge stake in this election. The Democratic Party isn’t ideologically monolithic, but it’s basically a center-left party that will be much less favorable to plutocrats than the G.O.P. And because they rushed to prostrate themselves at Trump’s feet after the 2024 election, many of the oligarchs may find themselves personally in the crosshairs if a Democratic Congress begins serious hearings on Trumpian corruption. (For more, go here.)

8:45 am – What’s at stake:

• 435 House seats; currently Republicans hold 218 and Democrats 214 (with 2 vacancies)
• 35 Senate seats; the GOP has 53 and the Dems 45.
• Future of Country

8:40 am – Already nearly 58 million of our fellow Americans have voted.

8:38 a.m. The Rag is running a live blog today, election day, which means we’ll be posting a continuous log of election news, observations and photos all day (or as long as we can physically and mentally).

So send us your thoughts, what you observe and any photos about election day. Send to obragblog@gmail.com