One election, very different fears
Updated November 2, 2026, 2:40 p.m. Central
At 65, Shane Dunn cast his first vote. A retired cook in the Philadelphia suburbs, he told The Associated Press that paying closer attention to what was happening in the country had brought him to the polls. He voted for Democrats.
Across the country, other early voters described their own worries before Tuesday’s midterms. Some were alarmed by President Donald Trump and the direction of his administration. Others saw a country in trouble and wanted Republicans to keep pushing their agenda.
AP’s interviews offer a window into the concerns of particular people, not a representative poll or a prediction of the outcome. The voters agreed on little about who could fix the country.
From Pennsylvania to Iowa
In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, food importer Arthur Horner told AP that tariffs had hurt his business. He voted for Democrats, saying he wanted to put a brake on what he saw as political chaos.
In Sioux City, Iowa, cattle rancher Elizabeth Marlett voted Republican. She told AP she worried about issues ranging from processed food and her son’s difficulty obtaining veterans’ benefits to what she viewed as the erosion of family values and religious liberty.
Another Pennsylvania voter, software engineer Chris Smith, said he could understand why people disliked Trump and questioned some of his actions. But he supported the president’s manufacturing and tariff goals and voted Republican, AP reported.
The different choices show the limits of treating anxiety as a single political position: a shared sense that something is wrong does not mean agreement about what went wrong, or whom to trust.
Trump is a factor, even off the ballot
Trump is not a candidate in Tuesday’s congressional elections, but he has urged supporters to act as if he were. That framing can motivate opponents as well as allies.
AP spoke with brothers Samontae and Gathenya Mwangi, who cast their first ballots in Topeka, Kansas, alongside their grandfather, Lynn Henderson. All three hoped for Democratic victories, the news agency reported. Henderson said he wanted to share an event his grandsons could remember him by.
In Virginia, Frank and Joan Bark voted Republican despite Frank’s concern that Trump’s ego was affecting his decisions. Both were also wary of Democrats, AP reported. Their account is one example of a voter distinguishing a president from the candidates actually on the ballot.
