Some Key Races Appear Very Close With Election Day Hours Away

With Election Day hours away, NPR reported on November 2 that some key races appeared to be very close. The report, written by Tamara Keith and A Martínez, said competitive races kept shifting in the final days before the vote. It also said early voting data, polling and ad spending kept the House and Senate maps broader than expected.

Democrats appeared close to winning control of the Senate on the eve of the election, according to CNN. To take the majority from Republicans, Democrats needed a net gain of at least four seats, Reuters reported earlier in the month. The Cook Political Report rated 11 Senate races as competitive, and seven of those were toss-ups, a rating for races that could go either way. NPR reported that competitive Senate races also appeared in places where President Trump won by double digits in 2024, based on polling, ad money and candidate travel.

All 435 House seats were up for election, compared with about one-third of the Senate's 100 seats. NPR reported that the Cook Political Report's latest House ratings favored Democrats in 220 seats, and listed 17 seats as toss-ups. Both parties planned to spend at least $100,000 each on ads in 70 House races during the final week.

Voting had already begun in large numbers. CNN's David Chalian said more than 32 million people had already cast ballots. NPR's morning news brief also reported that Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens had endorsed a Republican candidate in a Michigan race.

The Associated Press said it would deploy more than 4,000 reporters to county election offices and local polling places to help make race calls, according to a Reuters report published November 1.