Polls Close in Key States as Senate Tossups and 2027 Aid Shift Loom

WASHINGTON — Polls closed in most of Indiana and eastern Kentucky on Tuesday evening, November 3, launching the election night count that will determine whether Republicans maintain their 53 to 47 advantage in the U.S. Senate (which includes 2 independents who caucus with Democrats, leaving Democrats needing a net gain of 4 seats) even as President Donald Trump announced a major shift in U.S. military assistance to Israel beginning in 2027.

East Coast Poll Closings and the Seven Tossup U.S. Senate Battlegrounds

As reported by The Press (Brentwood) / The Center Square, polls close at 7 p.m. Eastern in New Hampshire, Vermont, Virginia, South Carolina, and most of Florida; at 7:30 p.m. Eastern in Ohio, North Carolina (where several precincts extended hours), and West Virginia; and at 8 p.m. Eastern in Maine, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Kansas, and Texas.

The Cook Political Report and election analysts identified 7 tossup U.S. Senate races expected to decide the chamber, with recent polling averages compiled by 270toWin showing tight margins across all 7 states:

1. Alaska: Democratic candidate Mary Peltola (who proposed abolishing income taxes on Alaskans earning under $92,000 per year) leads Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan 47.0% to 44.8% across 4 polls, with third-party candidate Daniel J. Sullivan polling at 3.5%.
2. Iowa: In the open seat of retiring Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson leads Democratic State Sen. Josh Turek 45.8% to 45.2% across 5 polls.
3. Kansas: Democratic challenger and pastor Adam Hamilton leads incumbent Republican Sen. Roger Marshall 49% to 45.2% across 5 polls in a contest centered on tariff policy.
4. Maine: Democrat Troy Jackson leads incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins 49% to 46.4% across 5 polls after the administration repealed 22 tariffs on Canadian goods central to Maine’s economy.
5. Michigan: In the open seat held by Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed leads Republican Mike Rogers 49.8% to 44% across 5 polls.
6. Ohio: Former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown (who lost reelection in 2024) leads Republican Sen. Jon Husted 48.3% to 44.8% across 6 polls.
7. Texas: After Attorney General Ken Paxton defeated incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the Republican primary, Democrat James Talarico leads Paxton 49.6% to 46.4% across 8 polls.

U.S. Will Halt $4 Billion in Annual Aid to Israel in 2027 as Ally Shifts to Arms Purchases

In an Election Day phone interview with Fox News Channel reported by ABC7 News / The Associated Press, President Donald Trump announced that the United States will stop providing $4 billion in annual aid to Israel in 2027, shifting instead to selling military hardware to the Middle East ally.

Trump said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had approached him about the transition and that the two leaders had discussed the idea for a couple of years. An academic study published last year on the 2nd anniversary of the October 7, 2023 attacks found that the U.S. under the Biden and Trump administrations provided at least $21.7 billion in military assistance to Israel following the start of the Gaza conflict in 2023, while a separate study by the Costs of War project at Brown University’s Watson School of International and Public Affairs estimated roughly $10 billion more in U.S. security aid and operations across the broader Middle East over the prior 2 years.

Multnomah County Monitors, Westchester Ballot Scanners, and New Mexico's Voter Guide Lawsuit

Across the country, state and county election administrators managed observer protocols, paper-ballot thickness issues, and electioneering litigation:

• Multnomah County Federal Monitors: According to Hoodline, Multnomah County is the only Oregon site among 124 jurisdictions across all 50 states (alongside King and Yakima counties in Washington) receiving roughly 1,000 DOJ Civil Rights Division monitors (6 to 8 observers per jurisdiction, about 3 times the 2022 midterm total, building on more than 60 years of DOJ polling-place observation). Notified on October 22, Multnomah County Elections Director Tim Scott and Oregon Secretary of State Tobias Read (who noted 2 DOJ monitors showed irregular behavior during Wyoming’s August 18 primary) emphasized that federal monitors must sign observer conduct agreements under ORS 254.482 and cannot touch ballots or speak with election workers across an Oregon electorate of roughly 3 million registered voters (where historical midterm turnout averages 69%).
• Westchester County Ballot Scanners: As reported by CyberScoop, the Westchester County Board of Elections in New York instructed poll workers to place paper ballots that were too thick for optical scanners into secured orange emergency ballot bags for official counting, while New York Attorney General Letitia James confirmed every ballot will count after University of Washington professor Kate Starbird tracked online posts about the scanners reaching 100 per minute on X (even as the DOJ announced charges against 63 individuals for allegedly voting as noncitizens in past elections).
• New Mexico Voter Guide Lawsuit: In New Mexico, Hoodline reported that the Republican National Committee, the Republican Party of New Mexico, and U.S. Senate candidate Larry Marker filed suit in the 5th Judicial District Court before Judge Jared Kallunki against Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver and the League of Women Voters of New Mexico, alleging that distributing printed 2026 voter guides within 100 feet of polling places violates state electioneering laws after the printed guide mistakenly placed the photo of independent Taos County Commission District 5 candidate Nehemiah J. Vasquez next to Marker’s name (an error the League corrected online on October 29).