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The 2026 midterm elections are coming up quickly — primaries start in March.
We’re expecting a busy year of election news, and it could be shaped by the major legal fights still working their way through the court system. Those include lawsuits over President Donald Trump’s executive order on elections. Judges have so far blocked major provisions of it from taking effect, but the litigation continues, and the results could shape the administration of the midterm elections in important ways.
The U.S. Department of Justice is also in court, fighting for unprecedented access to state voter rolls and suing Fulton County, Georgia, in connection with the seemingly endless 2020 election. And the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide several election law questions, including whether states can count mail ballots received after Election Day and whether candidates have the legal right to sue over state election laws. Perhaps the biggest decision the high court will make, though, is in a case over redistricting in Louisiana that could dramatically reinterpret, or even strike down, what remains of the Voting Rights Act, the landmark 1965 law to prohibit racial discrimination in voting.
Election administrators must plan around those decisions while also following the legal and policy battles in their states. Here are some ongoing issues our reporters are watching in the states that they cover.
From Hayley Harding, Michigan reporter:
In Michigan, we’re gearing up for the granddaddy of all elections, with a host of major statewide races on the ballot. It’s nearly impossible to say this far out what the balance of power might look like when we swear in our next leaders a year from now, but the fight to be in charge is going to be an intense one. (Hope you missed election ads — you’ll be seeing quite a few this year.)
By far the biggest elections battle, though, will be to see who becomes the next secretary of state. That person is going to shape (at least) four years of policy on everything from how we consider absentee ballots to how poll workers get trained. We’ll know who the major players are after the party conventions in the late spring. After that, it’s a long, long march to the general election in November.
I’ll be watching closely to see how those candidates feel about election security, documentary proof of citizenship, and much, much more.
From Carter Walker, Pennsylvania reporter:
The federal government is keeping a very close eye on elections in Pennsylvania, and I expect that to continue in 2026. The Trump administration is suing Pennsylvania (and many other states) for access to its voter rolls. That lawsuit could resolve in 2026, but with Trump’s view that the state was stolen from him in the 2020 election, I expect even if it does that more conflicts will come.
And with Gov. Josh Shapiro rumored to be eyeing a presidential run, perhaps this will be the year we see some movement on election legislation in the state legislature. Shapiro has his own election legislation priorities, but the Republican state Senate has refused to take those up if they aren’t attached to voter identification. Voter ID itself is popular with voters in the state and nationally, so might he look to make a deal to boost his standing with moderate voters?
From Natalia Contreras, Texas reporter:
Even after one of the state’s largest jurisdictions abandoned plans this week to hand-count ballots in the March primary election, hand-counting is still a live issue in Texas.
Dallas County Republicans cited logistics and insufficient personnel as their reasons for not hand-counting, but Gillespie County Republicans are still planning to hand-count just as they did in 2024. The move could impact whether election results are reported on time. One of the races on the ballot includes a hotly contested and closely watched U.S. Senate primary for the seat currently held by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, and the hand count could inject an element of chaos.
The primary will also be an important test of TEAM, the state’s troubled voter registration system. Counties have reported numerous problems working with the system since it underwent a major update last summer. We’ll be watching all this closely in 2026.
From Alexander Shur, Wisconsin reporter:
2026 could be a transformative year for the balance of power in Wisconsin. That has major implications for election policy.
For over a decade, election officials and groups lobbying on their behalf have gotten used to Republican majorities in the Legislature, and the policies that majority passed into law: strict voter ID laws, banning private money in elections, and the inability to process ballots before Election Day.
Since 2019, they have also gotten used to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers being the reason a host of other GOP policies didn’t become law, from requiring noncitizens to disclose their inability to vote on their IDs to deactivating the voter registration of people with discrepancies between their Department of Transportation and voter data.
In 2026, this balance of power can change, but we don’t know in what direction. Democrats think they’re highly likely to put the Senate under their control for the first time since 2010. They hope that a big wave year could put the Assembly in contention, too. And the governor’s office is up for grabs.
While Democrats dream of a trifecta, Republicans hope to keep both chambers in their hands while flipping the governor’s office for the first time since 2018. I’m not in the forecasting business, so I can’t tell you what’s likeliest. But if the dynamic changes in any way, it’ll have big implications for election policy from 2027 onward.
Carrie Levine is Votebeat’s editor-in-chief and is based in Washington, D.C. Contact Carrie at clevine@votebeat.org.
