Daniel Wainwright
Data journalist

Donald Trump’s approval ratings as president are on track to be his lowest recorded at an election, including in 2020, when he lost to Joe Biden.

A total of 38% of people surveyed by the Voter Poll said they approved of the way he was handling his job as president.

This is down from 44% in 2018 - his first midterm election as president - and 47% in 2020, according to data from the Associated Press.

This compares with 43% who approved of Biden overall at his midterms in 2022 and 42% in 2024, when Trump was re-elected for a non-consecutive second term.

The BBC’s broadcast partner in the US, CBS News, reported that Trump’s approval rating is lower than that for George W. Bush in 2006, external, when his party lost both houses of Congress.

More data is being added to the survey so the numbers may change as the night wears on.

Shaimaa Khalil
North America correspondent in Anchorage, Alaska

Alaska is still counting votes, and the Senate race remains close.

Before Dan Sullivan’s watch party ended in Anchorage, I spoke to two Republican state senators who had different takes on President Donald Trump.

I asked Rob Yundt whether Trump’s endorsement could hurt the incumbent after Republican losses elsewhere.

"It’s not helping anybody," he said. Was he concerned?

"Absolutely."

Bert Stedman says Trump has been "very positive for the state of Alaska. I think personally a lot of people take his showmanship too seriously and his comments too literal" he told me.

He also gave Democrat Mary Peltola credit for "bringing politics to the kitchen table", citing heating bills, groceries and healthcare.

Both senators insisted that a second Dan Sullivan on the ballot, a retired teacher some have dubbed "Decoy Dan", had confused some voters and could make a difference in a race this close.

Most voters we spoke to have said that they could tell the two apart on the ballot.

Rachel Flynn
Live reporter

Millions of Americans are waking up to a shifting political reality.

Before today, the Republican Party controlled Congress, which creates and passes laws that apply nationwide. But two years into Trump's second term as president, the Democrats have won big.

Democrats now control Congress' two chambers, the House and the Senate, and have flipped seats in Texas, Kansas, Maine, and South Carolina for the first time in decades.

The results came in thick and fast, and a few races are still outstanding. Alaska and Mississippi are still pending, with no projections yet on who will win Senate seats there. Take a look through the key moments in the Democrats' victorious night.

It's terrible news for Trump, who acknowledged the Iran war and higher fuel prices played a part in his party's defeat. The president spoke to Fox News after the result became clear - what else did he put it down to?

It has been a history-making night for both parties.

A historic defeat for the Republican Party, which lots its Senate seat in Kansas for the first time since 1932. And a historic win for the Democrats in Michigan, where Abdul El-Sayed became the first Muslim to be elected to the Senate.

We're continuing to digest the news, and we'll bring you the latest here through the day. Stick with us.

Adam Hamilton's win in Kansas marks the first time Democrats won a Senate seat there since 1932 - that's the year Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic.

James Talarico is the first Democrat to win the Texas Senate seat since 1988, when George Michael's album Faith topped the charts.

Annie Andrews's South Carolina win marks the first time Democrats won a Senate seat there since 1998, the same year Titanic won the best picture at the Oscars.

Maine's Senate seat has flipped to Democrat Troy Jackson, where Republican incumbent Susan Collins served for nearly 30 years.

This year's Texas Senate race is the most expensive non-presidential race on record, with more than half a billion spent on advertising. Elsewhere, Elon Musk spent more than $200m (£148m) to support Republican Ken Paxton, who lost - more on this here.

A huge poll of voters suggests women turned out in numbers and most voted Democrat. Men, on the other hand, were evenly split between the two main parties.

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

It's been a night of victories for the Democrats.

A win in both chambers, the House of Representatives and the Senate, means the Democrats will now hold control of Congress for the remaining two years of Trump's presidency.

Hakeem Jeffries, the minority leader of the House of Representatives, called the party's victory in the lower chamber a "red, white and blue moment, because America has won tonight".

Minority Senate leader Chuck Schumer said there has been a "generational remake of the Senate map".

In a post on X, the Senate Democrats say the party "focused on what Americans wanted" in these midterms and are prepared to deliver that pledge "with or without Trump".

"Relief is on the way," they added.

Meanwhile, the chair of the Democratic National Committee Ken Martin says it is clear American voters are "putting their trust in Democrats and a working-class agenda".

He adds: "Over the next two years, Democrats will show up where Republicans have failed and work every single day to bring down costs. Up next: the White House."

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Republicans admit their party faced a "difficult night" across the US as the Democrats took control of Congress.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson was "disappointed" by the result but will not be discouraged.

"We knew that to keep the House and sustain our majority, we would have to defy more than a century of midterm history," he adds.

Republican Senator Ron Johnson, who has represented Wisconsin since 2011 and was not up for re-election in the midterms, tells BBC's Radio 4 the war in Iran and the surge in fuel costs "weigh heavily on people's minds".

Ken Paxton, who lost the key Senate race in Texas, conceded the Republicans "had a difficult night tonight across the country" but insists "it's not over".

Earlier a surprisingly muted Donald Trump laid the blame squarely on the candidates themselves, writes our White House reporter. Some of the candidates were selected by the president himself.

"This was worse than I thought," one Republican staffer earlier told the BBC. "It's a disaster."

In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed became the first Muslim to be elected to the Senate.

Voters in the state have told the BBC how they are "hopeful for the future" and believe he is "going to really fight for us".

One voter says he is "changing the trajectory of what it means to represent in Washington".

Another calls El-Sayed's election a "milestone moment for America" while a third says it "makes us feel so proud... we can stand up a little taller, broaden our shoulders and know somebody is going to have our back".

Image source, Reuters

The results of a tight Senate race in the state of Alaska are still to come. There, Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan is hoping to win the seat against Democrat Mary Peltola.

The race has been seen as controversial. That's over confusion caused by two men named Dan Sullivan. One is the incumbent senator; the other a retired teacher running as an independent.

A judge dismissed a lawsuit by the Trump administration over the weekend that sought to delay the certification of results in the race if the Republican incumbent loses. The suit argues that having two candidates named Dan Sullivan on the ballot could cause "voter confusion".

The administration says it will appeal against the judge's decision. Separately, the FBI is investigating allegations that Democratic operatives recruited the teacher as a spoiler candidate. Peltola denies any involvement, following accusations by Donald Trump.

Polls closed in Alaska at 05:00 GMT (00:00 EST), with Republican Dan Sullivan currently leading with 48.5% of the vote to Peltola's 47.7%.

The independent Dan Sullivan candidate has so far received 1.7% of the vote, according to the BBC’s US partner CBS News.

Joe Coughlan
Live reporter

Image source, Getty Images

22:00 GMT (17:00 EST): Results from a major voter poll show the economy is a top concern for Americans, alongside unhappiness with the current state of the country, giving Democrats some comfort that they may be in for a good night - our North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher writes.

23:00: The first polls of the US midterms close in Kentucky and Indiana.

01:00: Polls close in 20 more states after early results project two Democratic wins in Georgia and Virginia, followed by the first Senate flip of the night when North Carolina is called for the Democrats. It's the first time the party has won a Senate race in the state since 2008.

03:00: Georgia flips Democrat in its gubernatorial election and South Carolina is projected to follow for its Senate seat, representing one of the biggest upsets of the night and pointing to a likely blue wave across the country.

Then, the Democrats were projected to win overall control in the House of Representatives, flipping it from a Republican majority.

03:37: Trump gives his first public comment of the night on Truth Social, saying "I wasn't on the ballot".

Then, at around 04:00: The Texas governor race is projected for the Democrats - a result blue voters in the state have been eyeing for decades.

04:30: Democrats are projected to win overall control in the US Senate, meaning they would control both chambers in Congress, allowing them to be able to pass laws more easily and challenge the president's agenda.

Trump later congratulated the Democrats on Fox News, saying they "did a good job" and that he is "a little bit surprised".

Our White House reporter has looked at whether Trump can work with the Democrats, or if he'll become "Mr Veto".

The president has given some mixed messages this morning.

In a live phone call with Politico, external, he said he would "work with the Democrats to make sure things go well for our country".

Democrat control of Congress will frustrate Trump's plans, but he has raised his presidential right to "veto everything".

Speaking to the news organisation this morning, he suggested that he "doesn't want to just be sitting there for two years vetoing everything, I want things to happen too".

He said he has already spoken to "certain leaders of the Democrat party", adding that he has "a lot of friends in the Democrats also" - but declined to say who.

Image source, Reuters

Stocks dropped but bounced back as traders weigh the effect the results of the midterm elections might have on the AI industry.

Technology-heavy indexes in Asia like Japan's Nikkei 225 and South Korea's Kospi fell by as much as 6% on early Wednesday afternoon, but later picked up.

US stock market futures have edged lower.

Markets are weighing a mix of political uncertainty, concerns over the outlook for tech firms and trading buying shares after the initial sell-off, Nandini Roy Choudhury of Future Market Insights says.

A Democratic win could raise the level of scrutiny on tech firms as well as the roll out of data centres that power AI development, she says.

Technology giants like Amazon, Alphabet and Meta have pledged to spend hundreds of billions dollars to build AI infrastructure.

"The AI build-out isn't going to stop overnight" but more oversight and hearings can "chip away at Big Tech", says Josh Gilbert from investment firm eToro.

Meanwhile, in Europe on Wednesday morning, the FTSE 100 index of the largest firms listed in London opened up 0.57%, while the French Cac 40 and the German Dax were 0.56% and 0.62% higher on opening.

Can Trump play nice with Democrats, or will he become 'Mr Veto'?published at 09:32 GMT

09:32 GMT

Bernd Debusmann Jr
White House reporter in Washington DC

US President Donald Trump was in a surprisingly conciliatory mood in the aftermath of his party's stunning defeat, saying that Democrats "did a good job" and that he was willing to work with them.

Whether he actually does that, however, is very much unclear.

Trump is unlikely to be willing to co-operate with any legislation being pushed by the Democrats, and has already signalled his intention to become "Mr Veto" and not sign anything that comes to his desk.

Additionally, he plans to use the "tremendous powers" of his office to sidestep Congress whenever possible, relying on executive orders and a Supreme Court decision earlier this year that enables him to exert sweeping powers over federal agencies, regardless of who controls Congress.

Ultimately, Trump says he may end up using his veto and executive powers in a bid to force Democrats into negotiating positions that he finds more acceptable.

While he retains enormous power in foreign policy and executive orders, he is constrained. He will no longer be able to pass new tax cuts or dismantle safety-net spending without Democratic approval.

Nor will he be able to evade executive oversight. Trump will not be able to stop the Democrats from launching a wave of new investigations into him and into senior figures within his administration - something the party has already suggested it will do.

Image source, Truth Social/@RealDonaldTrump

Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu
Live reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Votes are still being counted in several states, but it's already been a night for the history books.

In four states, we've seen a series of firsts:

Abdul El-Sayed will be the first Muslim senator, after being projected to have defeated Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan.

Kiesha Lance Bottoms will become the first black woman ever to be elected governor in the US after winning the race in Georgia against Republican Rick Jackson.

Chris Pappas of New Hampshire will become the first openly gay man to serve in the Senate.

Deb Haaland is the first Native American woman elected governor after winning New Mexico.

David Willis
Reporting from Los Angeles, California

Image source, Getty Images

Away from Congress, residents of Los Angeles are casting ballots for the mayor of the US' second-largest city.

With just over half the votes counted, the Los Angeles mayoral race is neck and neck, with less than a percentage point separating the incumbent Karen Bass from her challenger Nithya Raman.

Both candidates are Democrats, although city council member Nithya Raman identifies as a democratic socialist.

The outcome will determine whether America's second-largest city follows the lead of New York, where last year a democratic socialist - Zohran Mamdani - was elected mayor.

Karen Bass initially gained the endorsement of Nithya Raman before the latter chose to enter the contest herself.

Raman has since accused her opponent of mismanagement.

Karen Bass was overseas when huge wildfires broke out in Los Angeles in 2025, but has gained the support of members of the city council as well as California's governor Gavin Newsom.

Many voters cast their ballot by mail in California, and it can take several weeks before a final tally has been reached.

Image source, Getty Images

Iran's Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a key negotiator in US-Iran talks, has commented on the US midterm election results.

"Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message," he writes on X.

"If the US [government] betrays their public will to serve international paymasters and blackmailers, it will learn our NO comes with a nightmare."

Speaking to Fox News earlier, Trump said "we have to do something large" when asked about reports the US was planning further strikes on Iran - adding it could involve a "heavy hit".

Image source, EPA

The US Congress, which consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives, has what's called staggered elections.

Senators serve six-year terms, and about a third of the Senate are up for re-election every two years. This year 35 out of 100 Senators are contesting their seats.

All 435 members of the House of Representatives serve two-year terms and are up for election, at the same time, every two years.

When elections happen in the middle of the president's four-year term of office, they are called the midterms.

Image source, Reuters

Two tight senate races are still to be called in the midterm elections, including the knife-edge result in Mississippi.

As we reported earlier, Democrat Scott Colom was just 28 votes ahead of Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith in the Mississippi result.

Alaska Republican Dan Sullivan and Democrat Mary Peltola are also locked in a close contest, reports the BBC's US partner CBS News.

Sullivan has a lead of around 2,400 votes over Peltola as it stands, CBS reports.

These midterm elections did not go how Donald Trump had hoped.

As the Democrats win the Senate and the House, taking control of the upper and lower chambers of Congress for the rest of Trump's presidency, here's how he reacted:

The Iran war, and gas prices

• Trump acknowledged the Iran war, and higher fuel prices, played a part in the midterm elections defeat
• He told Fox News gas prices hurt the Republican Party and that people "didn't like it" when they had to pay more for fuel - a major voter poll suggested the economy was the top issue for voters
• Speaking to New York Times, Trump said he was willing to accept results of the elections but called US involvement in the Iran war a "very wise decision"

'I wasn't on the ballot'

• Trump has repeatedly said on Truth Social and in media interviews that the Republicans would have won if his name was on the ballot
• "I wasn’t on the ticket, and because I wasn’t on the ticket, we couldn’t get enough people out to vote," he told the New York Times
• In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump acknowledged some Republican candidates "could have been better" - some who lost elections had been backed by the president himself

'Democrats did a good job'

• The US president conceded on Fox News that the Democrats "did a good job", adding that he was "a little bit surprised" by the results after the Republicans held "tremendous rallies"
• Trump has also indicated he is willing to work with the Democrats, whose control of Congress will frustrate Trump's plans
• He told Fox News there were "many, many things" to work on with Democrats but said to the Wall Street Journal that he would use his "veto power" if he needed to

Republican Pete Ricketts is projected to have held the Senate seat in Nebraska, ahead of the independent candidate Dan Osborn, according to the Associated Press.