[UPDATE] Ballots are in the mail in 20 states with 45 days to Election Day, including the Texas, Michigan and North Carolina Senate races

20 states are already mailing ballots — including Texas, Michigan and North Carolina, the three with the most contested Senate races — and in-person early voting opened Friday, Sept. 18. Election Day is 45 days out, on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026; the primaries are finished, so the matchups are set. The Republican worry. Advisers told the Washington Post that Trump has privately accepted blunt assessments of his party's poor odds — some of it his own making. The cost of living is the issue voters keep naming. Control of Congress for the rest of his term is the stake. (TS: Gallup: below-50% approval presidents lose 37 House seats on average, versus 14 above)