The 2026 Election Season Has Started — Here's What's Happening
Labor Day has passed, and the 2026 election season is now underway. On November 3, 2026, voters across the country will decide all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and a full group of Senate seats. Republicans currently hold the majority in both chambers and are trying to keep it that way. NPR marked the unofficial start of the campaign on September 7 in a Morning Edition segment by Stephen Fowler and Michel Martin. They framed the race around one question: Can Republicans hold onto their majorities when President Trump's second term is unpopular? (NPR, Sept. 7, 2026)
This election is called a "midterm" because it happens in the middle of a president's four-year term. Midterms often spell trouble for the party that controls the White House. Voters tend to use these elections to push back against the president's party, and that party often loses seats in Congress. NPR's September 7 analysis described Trump's second term as unpopular, which makes the political landscape harder for every Republican running for office this year. The question is how many seats Republicans might lose and whether individual candidates can overcome that pattern in their own states and districts.
The general election is set for Tuesday, November 3, 2026. (North Carolina State Board of Elections) State and local election offices from Maryland to California have already posted timelines and voter information online. (Maryland State Board of Elections; Sonoma County Registrar of Voters)
The election cycle has been building since early March. That is when NPR reported the 2026 midterms had officially begun, with Texas and North Carolina holding the first primary contests. A primary is an election where political parties choose their candidates for the general election. (NPR, March 3, 2026) By late July, with fewer than 100 days left before Election Day, NPR had started reporting on how the races were shaping up across the country. (NPR, July 27, 2026)
A recurring theme in NPR's coverage has been the question of whether the election results will be accepted. In November 2025, NPR reported on what it described as Trump's options to subvert the 2026 midterms, pointing to new voting restrictions and what the report called groundwork for post-election conflict. (NPR, Nov. 6, 2025) By August 28, 2026, NPR reported that Democrats were preparing for the risk that Trump would try to undermine November's elections. That concern has shaped how Democrats are messaging and organizing in the final weeks. (NPR, Aug. 28, 2026)
The broader context here is that the normal parts of a campaign — finding candidates, raising money, running ads and knocking on doors — are happening at the same time as a debate over whether the election process itself is fair. For people running campaigns on both sides, that means the message to voters is mixed up with the question of whether the results will be accepted. Republicans are defending their House and Senate majorities while the president they share a party with is unpopular. Democrats are building a campaign operation that prepares for both winning elections and fighting over the results afterward. For campaign professionals watching the final eight weeks, the variables go beyond poll numbers and fundraising totals. They extend into the legal and procedural rules that could decide how votes are cast, counted and certified.
