After two years of campaigning, the 2026 midterm election is now in the hands of the American voters. As the ballot counting begins, Nate Cohn, the chief political analyst for The New York Times, offers a guide for how to understand the results. Guest: Nate Cohn (https://www.nytimes.com/by/nate-cohn) , the chief political analyst for The New York Times. Background reading:  • Here are four scenarios (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/29/upshot/midterm-elections-senate-house-scenarios.html) for how the midterms could go. • The final polls show a blue surge (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/11/01/upshot/poll-times-siena-senate-midterms.html) . Can we trust them? • Here’s what to know (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/11/02/us/politics/midterms-election-2026-senate-house-congress.html) about the fight for Congress. Photo: Erin Schaff/The New York Times For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily (http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily) . Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts (http://nytimes.com/podcasts) or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.