Election day is still 6 weeks away, but the first midterm ballots have already been cast. Early, in-person voting is now officially underway in Virginia, while voters in South Dakota, Idaho and Minnesota can file absentee ballots.
“You never know what’s going to happen in the coming months,” a Virginia voter told Scripps News Group’s Richmond station WTVR . “Early voting is a great way to get out there make sure that that your vote is counted.”
More voting is coming soon. 47 states and D.C. have “no-excuse” early voting periods with varying start dates.
But as voters head to the polls, many could be confused about where they’re casting their ballots after an unprecedented wave of redistricting fights across the country.
A recent report from the nonpartisan group Protect Democracy shows nearly 35 million voters have been assigned to different districts than during the 2024 election. That’s about 1 in 10 Americans.
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“The kind of scorched earth warfare over congressional district lines that we're seeing now is on a different level from anything we’ve had in the recent past,” said Drew Penrose, a policy strategist at Protect Democracy and one of the authors of the report.
The new maps are driven by demands from President Trump to GOP state officials to ensure Republicans maintain control of Congress. This effort has been met by corresponding democratic moves.
Some of the issues driving voter turnout, like affordability and immigration, are causing concerns within the GOP. Republican Florida Representative Maria Salazar challenged the president in a new campaign ad released Thursday.
“Mr. President, some of your immigration enforcement efforts have gone too far,” Rep. Salazar stated in her ad. “The same Hispanics who helped you get to the White House in 2024 feel betrayed today.”
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Another major factor for candidates and their parties is funding. The projected advertising costs for the 2026 midterms is $11.6 billion, a total that would make it the most expensive election in U.S. history, surpassing even the 2024 presidential election, which amounted to a total of $11.2 billion spent on ads.
