On Tuesday night, newsrooms in the US will start announcing winners in a highly competitive midterm election, even before all votes are counted. Most networks use the Associated Press (AP) or Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ) for vote counts. Some outlets, like the Wall Street Journal and MS NOW, will depend only on AP, while others, such as Fox News and CBS News, will project outcomes using a combination of AP data and their own analysis.
Calls for election results will begin shortly after polls close, starting with Indiana and Kentucky at 6 p.m. ET, followed by other states like Georgia and South Carolina at 7 p.m. Public trust in news organizations affects how these races are called. While over 60% of Americans trust the news to report accurate results, only 32% have high confidence. Democrats generally show more trust than Republicans, according to a recent poll.
The AP has been counting votes since 1848, collaborating with reporters and election officials to verify results. For the 2026 midterms, AP plans to use over 4,000 reporters to gather data at polling places and election offices. The AP calls races based on vote totals and estimates of remaining uncounted votes, declaring a winner only when it is statistically certain that one candidate cannot catch up.
DDHQ gathers official vote counts from state sources, using statistical analysis and expert reviews to project winners. Their clients include multiple media outlets, and they’ve recently partnered with the social platform X. DDHQ’s process involves automated software and on-the-ground reporters to collect live vote totals. They calculate ballot counts based on reported votes and projected turnout, aiming to get unanimous team agreement before making final projections.
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Errors can occur, leading to retractions of race calls. For example, DDHQ retracted a call in the Seattle mayoral race and another in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District when post-Election Day counts changed the race outcome. Similarly, in California’s 21st Congressional District in 2018, AP retracted its call when the lead changed.
Regarding specific news outlets, Fox will make its own calls for statewide races and control of the House and Senate. MS NOW will rely on AP calls while the New York Times generally relies on AP but may independently review competitive races. Bloomberg does not make its own calls but uses third-party sources, while Reuters will cite other organizations’ calls. The Washington Post has not commented on its approach to make race calls.
With information from Reuters
