In interviews, US midterm voters cite costs, the war in Iran and immigration enforcement

Democrats: four Republican-held Senate flips, every seat held, three net House gains

On 3 November 2026, millions lined up nationwide for US midterm elections. The Guardian interviewed voters in Maine, Georgia, Michigan and Alaska about why they cast ballots, reporting that affordability, the war against Iran and the administration’s immigration-enforcement operations were among the key issues that drove some voters. Control of Congress and key checks and balances on President Donald Trump were at stake.

The ballot included all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, 35 of 100 seats in the Senate, 39 governorships, thousands of state legislative seats and many local contests and ballot measures on taxes, abortion rights and voting rules. The Guardian reported signs of high turnout. Democrats needed to flip four Republican-held Senate seats and retain every seat they held to take control of the Senate; a net gain of three seats would give them a House majority. Lines formed outside polling stations in key states including Texas and Maine. In Maine, a steady stream of voters entered the Merrill auditorium polling station in Portland’s downtown district in mid-morning, leading to queues of up to half an hour to cast a ballot, according to organizers.

Affordability was one of the key issues the Guardian’s interviewees cited. In battleground Maine, technology professional Todd Cox, 63, had supported incumbent Republican senator Susan Collins twice in previous elections. On Tuesday, Cox voted for Collins’s Democratic challenger Troy Jackson, driven not by pressing local issues but by broader concern “for the direction the country is going in.” Cox said, “We definitely haven’t become kinder and gentler under this administration.” He continued, “There’s a lot of bullying that goes on. It goes back to affordability. It’s the war in Iran – that shouldn’t be happening. It’s the disregard for the rule of law. It just seems like they’re thumbing their nose at it.”

Other voters described economic pressure close to home. In Michigan, another key swing state that both parties had chased on the path to controlling the Senate, Sona, a Dearborn resident in her 60s who declined to give her last name, said, “Michigan is in a dumpster fire.” She voted Republican. Sona described herself as a lifelong conservative who opposed abortion and was concerned about “transgenderism,” specifically transgender athletes in women’s sports, an issue The Guardian said Republicans had emphasized in recent months. Sona said wages ran about $10,000 below those in neighboring states and pointed to high electric bills. In Alaska, Juanita Cupa, 30, who voted for Mary Peltola, said prices were up and life was tough. Cupa said she spent $120 every two weeks filling up her truck, which she could not do without in Alaska’s snowy wilderness. She said she had moved back in with her parents. “I’m living check to check,” she said.

Views of the war against Iran also appeared in voters’ reasons for their choices. The Guardian described support for Trump’s party as robust, including a 63-year-old man in Maine who declined to give his name. He said, “I voted straight Republican,” then added, “I don’t know much about the issues, but I’m not ready to throw away Israel yet. I don’t really see the war in Iran as a real war. What have we lost? Dozens. We lose hundreds and thousands in these wars and if they have a nuclear bomb, we’re going to have a nuclear war anyway.”

Immigration enforcement was another issue raised by interviewees. Maple Razsa, 55, a global studies professor at Colby College in Waterville, said, “I’m concerned about ICE raids that have been happening here in Portland.” Razsa also said, “The political system is just run amok at this point.” Another interviewee, Chaunice Carr, 27, cast her vote for Mary Peltola, the Democratic Senate candidate in battleground Alaska, and described the choice as “insanely important” to her. Carr said, “There are a lot of bad things happening in Alaska, in the world. A lot of violence. ICE raids, people being deported in horrid ways. I’m hoping that today we can start to get that violence out of our lives.”

Voters’ judgments about Trump did not map neatly onto their party choices. In Georgia, where Senate and governor races were playing out, Jason Griffin, an engineer from Johns Creek, said Trump specifically motivated him to vote for Democrats on Tuesday. Griffin said, “I used to like the policies of most of the Republicans.” Attorney David Boy from Johns Creek also voted for Republicans the previous day despite saying he had never voted for Trump and did not like him. Boy said, “I don’t like Trump. I’ve never voted for him,” and, “I want to go to my deathbed saying I never did.” The Guardian reported that Boy, because the election was for midterms rather than the presidency, looked beyond the current White House occupant to back candidates he believed would act on the issues he cared about. Those issues included schools for his school-age children, taxes during his prime earning years, faith, integrity, moral issues and efficient government. Boy said, “I’ve got school-age kids, so making sure the schools are good for them.” He continued: “Taxes. I’m in the prime earning years right now, so paying taxes … and then also for me, personally, my faith and integrity and moral issues. And then, I want things to be run well. Honestly, I want our government to be run efficiently and effectively.”

In Alaska, Republican voter John House, 62, a carpenter living and working in Anchorage, had a mixed assessment of Trump: “He talks too much, but he’s done so much for us.” House said, “You’d be a damn fool to vote Democrat,” and added, “We’ll go backwards.” Cupa, who voted for Peltola, was also critical of Trump, saying, “He is spreading hatred, racism.” She added, “His leadership is disgusting – the way he talks about women, and human life.”

In Alaska, a recent report said Peltola’s campaign was behind an effort to recruit another candidate on the ballot named Dan Sullivan, who shared the name of her Republican opponent. Peltola denied knowledge of any such scheme by her campaign. Cupa, with a weary shrug, said, “It’s just been a lot of foolishness around this, on both sides,” and, “We’re all ready for it to be over.”

Taken together, the interviews show that party choice did not track neatly with views of Trump. Voters invoked national questions, local economic pressure and judgments about candidates in the same races. Some Republican examples addressed affordability, Israel or the Iran conflict, while the immigration-enforcement examples came from other voters. The accounts document the reasons the people interviewed gave but do not measure how common those reasons were nationwide.