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Politics255 outlets ran this2 min read

US Midterm Elections: First Polls Close in Indiana, Kentucky

Control of Congress is at stake as voters cast ballots across the nation.

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published Updated
250 Millionen Wahlberechtigte sind in den USA zur Abgabe ihrer Stimme aufgerufen. Foto: Jacquelyn Martin/AP/dpa

What this story says

  • The first US polling stations closed in Indiana and Kentucky at 6 p.m. Eastern Time.
  • Control of Congress is being decided in the midterm elections.
  • Nearly 61 million Americans cast ballots before Election Day.
  • The president's party historically loses seats in Congress during midterms.

Who covered it

Left 26%(42)Centre 44%(72)Right 30%(49)

Percentages are shares of the 163 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 92 of the 255 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

42/100

Craft

57/100

Hype

41/100

255 sources · methodology

Thin on the left so far

Only 42 of the 163 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.

This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.

The first polling stations in the United States closed at 6 p.m. Eastern Time in parts of Indiana and Kentucky. Millions of US citizens voted in advance of the midterm elections, with nearly 61 million casting ballots before Election Day. These elections will determine control of Congress, where Republicans currently hold a narrow majority. Historically, the president's party tends to lose seats in Congress during midterm elections.

Disagreement on early voting numbers

Saarbruecker Zeitung reported that nearly 61 million voters cast ballots before Election Day, citing the Election Lab of the University of Florida. It also stated that 46 million had voted early in the 2022 midterms. None of the other reports mention specific figures for early voting or compare them to previous elections.

What the coverage left out

None of the centre-rated or right-rated reports mention the historical tendency for the president's party to lose seats in Congress during midterm elections, a fact reported by Saarbruecker Zeitung and Spectrum News.

Tags:#MidtermElections#USPolitics#Congress#ElectionDay

Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 3 times, most recently on 5 Nov 2026, 00:15, and will add the sides that appear.

How other outlets pictured it

Which photograph to run is each newsroom’s own choice. The leaning beside a name is that outlet’s published rating, not a claim that the pictures divide along it. Every picture is shown from the outlet’s own server and links to the article it ran in.

Voting center
Spectrum NewsCentre

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

42 rated outlets

  • Among the twelve left‑rated digests, only one mentioned the first polls closing in Indiana and Kentucky. That digest noted that voting had finished and counting had begun in those states, with Republicans reported to be ahead in Kentucky. No other left outlet referenced those states.
  • The Sözcü digest reported that vote counting was under way in Indiana and Kentucky and that Republicans were leading in Kentucky, while voting continued elsewhere. It did not provide numerical margins or candidate statements. No full article from Sözcü is included, so only the digest’s summary is available.
  • Other left‑rated digests focused on different races. The Washington Post digest noted incomplete initial returns in Alaska’s Senate race. The Indian Express digest highlighted Democratic gains in Republican strongholds from Texas to Ohio. Sueddeutsche described Jon Ossoff’s Senate defence and a Florida race lead for Angie Nixon. Several digests, such as Raw Story, cited two election analysts and referenced Cook Political Report writer Dave Wasserman on Florida turnout.
  • Across the left‑rated digests, none provided exact vote totals, percentage margins, or cost estimates for the Indiana and Kentucky contests. No candidate quotations or policy‑specific commentary appeared. The digests also omitted any discussion of ballot‑type breakdowns or legal challenges, leaving those details unreported by this side.

Centre

72 rated outlets

  • Centre-rated reports led with the closing of the first polling stations in Indiana and Kentucky. They noted that control of Congress was at stake in the midterm elections. Saarbruecker Zeitung stated that nearly 61 million voters cast ballots before Election Day, compared to 46 million in 2022. Spectrum News mentioned that Americans are concerned about high costs and checks and balances on the president, according to the AP Voter Poll. El Diario and Hola News also reported on the start of vote counting.

Right

49 rated outlets

  • Right-rated reports also focused on the closing of the first polling stations in Indiana and Kentucky. Several outlets, including The Center Square, Chronicle-Tribune, Vincennes Sun-Commercial, and Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer, reported that polls were closed in most of Indiana and the eastern half of Kentucky as vote counting began and control of Congress hung in the balance. BT and berlingske.dk noted that in Alaska, voting remained open for seven hours after the initial closures. Reforma stated that the elections define control of Congress.

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover US Midterm Elections: First Polls Close in Indiana, Kentucky?
Of the 163 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 26% are rated left, 44% are rated centre, 30% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 255. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is US Midterm Elections: First Polls Close in Indiana, Kentucky left or right?
Neither side dominates it. Of the 163 rated outlets on this story, 26% are rated left, 44% are rated centre, 30% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
Is the coverage of US Midterm Elections: First Polls Close in Indiana, Kentucky biased?
US Midterm Elections: First Polls Close in Indiana, Kentucky is one event reported by 255 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which side is not reporting US Midterm Elections: First Polls Close in Indiana, Kentucky?
When we first saw this story, outlets rated left had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
Which outlets covered US Midterm Elections: First Polls Close in Indiana, Kentucky?
255 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
When did the first US polling stations close?
The first polling stations in the US closed at 6 p.m. Eastern Time in parts of Indiana and Kentucky. This marked the beginning of vote counting for the midterm elections.
What is at stake in these midterm elections?
The midterm elections will determine control of the US Congress. Republicans currently hold a narrow majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
How many people voted before Election Day?
Nearly 61 million US citizens cast their ballots before Election Day. This figure is an increase from the approximately 46 million who voted early in the 2022 midterms.

Read it at the source

255 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

42
Show 34 more

Centre

72
Show 64 more

Right

49
Show 41 more

Not rated

92
Show 84 more

How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

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