Polls open across the US for 2026 midterm elections | FOX 5 AT 6AM

Right now at 6, it's time for you to decide as the midterm elections get underway. We're bringing you live team coverage all morning long from D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. We've got you covered. Everything you need to know before you head out to the polls. Fox 5 Morning at 6 a.m. starts now. I'm starting to speak now. Great to be with you on this Tuesday morning. So it is election day. Thanks for being here on Fox 5 and streaming on Fox Local. But it's also going to be a beautiful day today. Off to a good start. You need both as you head out to the polls. Good morning, Tucker and Annie May. Good morning. A little cool at this moment, but we will be in the low to mid 70s by late afternoon and a lot of sunshine. So no excuse to not get out there and vote. That's right. It's not like old times where everybody waited in line for an hour. I feel like everybody's already voted or, you know. A lot of early voting. Right, exactly. Okay, guess what? The sun gets up early this morning, just a little after 630. So you can already see we're getting some light on the horizon. We've got temperatures at 6 a.m. in the 40s to about 50 there. 41 out of B.W. Marshall, 50 DCA. So cool morning. Again, low to mid-70s this afternoon. Plenty of sunshine. I'll have more on the forecast in just a minute. Anna Mae? Thanks, Huck. 6 o'clock. Take a look here at your Tuesday morning commute. Overview-wise, that's what it looks like. You'll see a couple of slow spots. We'll focus in on a crash before Maryland 450. That's Annapolis Road on BW Parkway traveling south. This is the left lane and shoulder block. In about 17 minutes, some delays you'll see from Greenbelt Road. Steve? Well, it's time for you to decide as the voting for the midterm elections gets underway today here in the DMV and, of course, all across the country. And Democrats are hoping for a predicted blue wave, but Republicans hope to salvage control of Congress. I'm going to bring you live team coverage all morning long. Melanie Ollick is live in Maryland. Maureen Umeh is standing by in the district. We're going to start things off this hour with Stephanie Ramirez in Fairfax County, though, in Virginia, as polling locations there are opening. Steph? Yeah, just open, guys, at 6 o'clock this morning. And you can see behind me a little bit of a line that just went through the doors here. 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. are the polling times today. And as long as you're in line at 7 o'clock. You can cast your ballot in person. Well, the line already went through the doors there. In Virginia, though, some of those competitive races that could help determine control of Congress are happening closer to Virginia Beach and near Richmond suburbs, closer to our area. Eleventh District Democrat James Walkenshaw is vying for a full first term in Congress. He won a special election replacing longtime Congressman Jerry Connolly, who died last year. We also have We have 10th District Democrats. Hey, guys. We are here in Frederick County following Maryland elections. Listen, the balance of power in Congress, not really an issue here, but there's a lot of other issues at play We know that in early voting already, 993,000 voters have cast their ballots either in person or online. So you can see how energized the electorate is here. All eight Maryland representatives in Congress are up for election. Voters will also be casting ballots for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, comptroller, and their state legislators. Many of the local races focus on the future of data centers, housing policy, affordability, taxes, school funding, and immigration enforcement. Here in Frederick County, in the race for county executive incumbent Jessica Fitzwater, she's defending her earlier support of a data center expansion near Adamstown. She later voted with council to pause new data center applications. Her Republican challenger, Jeff Holsinger, claims she flip-flopped on the issue and says Frederick County doesn't have the water and infrastructure resources to support that kind of growth. Immigration enforcement is the hot issue in the contest for sheriff. Republican Chuck Jenkins, who. who many people know is seeking a sixth term. He's a Trump ally and a strong proponent of local police cooperation with ICE. His opponent, Democrat Carl Bickel, calls Jenkins an extremist and wants more documentation of ICE encounters in the county to help identify potential civil rights violations. Statewide, voters are also weighing in on questions three. That is a referendum that we've seen picking up speed. Across the country when it comes to partisan redistricting for congressional elections. So that is something that will be watched nationwide. It would not have an effect, obviously, on this midterm that's happening right now, but it would go into effect for the 2028 elections if approved by voters. Polls here open at 7 a.m. and they close at 8 p.m. Send it back to you. All right, Mel, thank you so much. We now want to send it out to Maureen Umeh this morning. She's live in northwest D.C. Good morning. Good morning. So yeah, busy day expected at polling places like the one behind me here in D.C. It opens at 7. It'll stay open to 8 o'clock. And the news here in D.C. is that you can vote at any polling place. You don't have to vote in your neighborhood one. So that is something that will be very advantageous for people heading to the polls today. A lot happening in D.C. politically. For the first time in many years, we're getting a potentially new mayor or new delegate. And so a lot at stake here as to the future of D.C., especially as D.C. continues to fight for statehood. One of the biggest reasons The stories we're watching this morning is, of course, the mayoral race. Janice Lewis-George, she is the one to watch for this one here. She's a heavy favorite after winning her party's primary with 54% of the vote. She is a Democrat. She faces statehood Green Party candidate Robert Gross, independent Rhonda Hamilton, and a slate of right-wing candidates. Lewis-George has made defending D.C.'s limited autonomy a central part of her campaign. She would succeed Mayor Muriel Bowser, who is completing her third term and did not run again. Now, voters will also choose the district's next delegate to Congress. Democratic candidate Robert White resigned from his at-large D.C. council seat yesterday after questions about a law that bars a delegate from holding another paid public office on Election Day. White served on the council for 10 years. He says he disagrees with the law that required him to resign and wants to change that law if he is elected. Now, again, on the ballot, more than the mayor, more than the D.C. delegate, there are other offices there. The attorney general office will be on the ballot as well, some councilmember seats, School board member seats. So just much more than the two that we've highlighted this morning. D.C. voters, again, expected to use that ranked choice voting system that they had in the primaries. That is being used again this time around. Polls, again, opening at 7 o'clock. So in about an hour here, we start to see people coming in. We've already seen poll workers heading inside, but we'll start to see people coming here to vote. That's from 7 o'clock until 8 o'clock tonight. And remember, you can vote at any of the polling places in D.C. if you're a resident there and registered to vote. So that is the one good news there. It could be a differentiator, really a make-or-break situation for voters here, and that they have anywhere that they could vote here in the district. That's the latest. We'll be following the candidates as well, bringing you what they have to say, and of course, as they vote this morning, we'll bring you that as it happens. Back to you in the meantime. As for the national races, we'll have a closer look at 6:30. We'll be live in New Hampshire with Election Day coverage for you all morning long here on Fox 5, on Fox 5 Plus, and on Fox Local. And be sure to tune in for our special election coverage. It starts at 7 p.m. and will go until 2 a.m. So we got you covered all day and all night. All right, like Tucker said, no excuse off the top to not get out there today because look at what we're dealing with. Gorgeous sunrise over the nation's capital. Sometimes in the first week of November, you know, it's like a cold rain. This is so true. It's 44, yeah. Not today. It's going to be a beautiful day. Already a gorgeous sunrise out there, and we'll be in the low to mid-70s later today, so a touch warmer than yesterday. It should be a brighter day than yesterday as well, as we were generally cloudy yesterday afternoon. Okay, sun, remember here, we're back in the sunrise up now, so a little after 6:30. I think it's 6:36 this morning, sun gets up. 50 in Washington to start your morning at Reagan National, 45, Dulles. Quick look at the satellite and the radar. Quiet as can be. Our little disturbance from yesterday is long gone, and we are featuring generally sunny skies today. High pressure will keep us nice and dry. We do have some rain in the forecast a few days down the road. It looks like by Thursday morning we'll have some rain showers. You can see a front out in central sections of the country. So a changing forecast. But the next couple days are going to be, for this time of year, warm. Our average high is 64. We will be in the low to mid 70s. Lots of sunshine this afternoon. All right, real quick, we're going to do some shout-outs. Let's do it. That's when the music starts and we go, da-da-da, there we go, fan club, activated, and we got Sean and Saudi, oh, we got Double Trouble here, big Commanders fans, Jesse and Bojock, I hope I got that right there, and Crofton, you two are both extremely handsome, the one on the left there looks very serious in the Commanders gear, the one on the right looks like, you know, cheering on the latest touchdown. You mean the opposite? You know you're left from your right? I don't know. I'm looking at it. I'm looking at it if you're like standing in their position. They're standing the same way you are. Okay, sure. Okay, stop. Vanessa in Rockville, happy 12th birthday, Jonathan. We love you. Colin family in Rockville, scanning that right-hand corner. Hey, happy birthday to you there, Jonathan. Hope it's a great birthday. So today, we're going to learn our left from our right. We almost made it. Like, you go like this, and that means L. I'm going to vote for the first time today. I vote to turn off Annie Mae's mic. Well, you don't get a vote. We'll take a look here at 609. This is through Bethesda. Outer loop of the Beltway crash after Old Georgetown Road that has a left lane blocked. About 24 minutes here. You're going to see in delays. Keep that in mind as you are headed out the door. Additional incidents here. Crash reported after New Hampshire Avenue, in Highland Dale on the outer loop of the Beltway. Use caution as you are passing that specific incident. We'll look at about 14 minutes from around that kind of area. But you're seeing your delays there. Riverdale, BW Parkway, southbound, a crash before Maryland 450, Annapolis Road, and moved over to the left shoulder and 10 minutes of delays. Steve.