Election Day coverage of the 2022 midterms | #republicans | #Alabama | #GOP

Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin said he interfered in past U.S. elections and would continue doing so in the future, the first such admission from a figure who has been formally implicated by Washington in efforts to influence American politics.

In comments posted by the press service of his Concord catering firm on Russia’s Facebook equivalent VKontakte, Prigozhin said: “We have interfered (in U.S. elections), we are interfering and we will continue to interfere. Carefully, accurately, surgically and in our own way, as we know how to do.”

The remark was posted on the eve of the U.S. midterm elections in response to a request for comment from a Russian news site.

“During our pinpoint operations, we will remove both kidneys and the liver at once,” Prigozhin said. He did not elaborate on the cryptic comment.

Prigozhin, who is often referred to as “Putin’s chef” because his catering company operates Kremlin contracts, has been formally accused of sponsoring Russia-based “troll farms” that seek to influence U.S. politics.

— Reuters

One of the first states to close its polls Tuesday night will be Virginia, where voting ends at 7 p.m. ET. For those watching election results at home, there are three House races in the commonwealth whose outcomes could offer clues as to how Republicans will fare nationwide in their quest to win a big majority in the House.

All three races feature female Democratic incumbents locked in tight contests against relatively moderate Republican challengers, two of them women.

In Virginia’s 2nd District, which includes Virginia Beach, Democratic Rep. Elaine Luria is seen as particularly vulnerable in her race against state Sen. Jen Kiggans.

In the 7th District, which includes Washington D.C.’s most outer suburbs and two rural counties, former CIA agent turned Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger is facing Prince William County Supervisor Yesli Vega, a former police officer. Crime and abortion have dominated the airwaves in the campaign.

Further north, in the most affluent and well educated part of the state just outside D.C., Democratic Rep. Jennifer Wexton is defending her seat against Hung Cao, a Navy veteran, in the 10th District. President Joe Biden won Wexton’s district by double digits in 2020.

— Christina Wilkie

Every state runs its own elections, which means poll closing times vary significantly on Election Day. Below is a list of when polling places close in each state.

Schedules are organized by state, not by time zone. So for example, while half of Kentucky is the Eastern time zone and the other half of it is Central time, polls will close at 6 p.m. ET across the state, so it’s listed under 6 p.m.

This is not an official list and some counties keep polls open longer to accommodate heavy turnout, so please check with your local election board to determine when your own polls close.

6 p.m.

Kentucky and Indiana

7 p.m.

Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Wyoming

7:30 p.m.

Arkansas, North Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia.

8 p.m.

Alaska, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Washington, D.C., Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin.

9 p.m.

New York

NOTE: New Hampshire closing times vary county by county, but none is earlier than 7 p.m. Tennessee also varies, as does North Dakota, where polls close between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.

— Christina Wilkie

Voters in California, Kentucky, Michigan and Vermont will decide during the midterm elections whether abortion is protected under their state constitutions.

But Michigan and Kentucky are shaping up as the two biggest battlegrounds on abortion in the midterms. Michigan is poised to become a safe haven of constitutionally protected abortion rights in the Midwest, where access is shrinking.

Kentucky, on the other hand, is set to entrench its abortion ban unless reproductive rights activists pull off an upset victory in the conservative Southern state.

— Spencer Kimball

Voters in a handful of states – including four that traditionally favor Republicans – are set to decide Tuesday whether to legalize recreational marijuana, paving the way for its sale and cultivation in newly regulated markets across the country.

Arkansas, Maryland, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota could join 19 other states and the District of Columbia, which have already legalized recreational marijuana. The votes come about a month after President Joe Biden urged state and local officials to follow his lead in pardoning those convicted on prior federal charges of simple marijuana possession.

— Stefan Sykes

Twitter’s new CEO Elon Musk threw his support behind Republicans in their bid to take congressional majorities in the midterm elections, saying that “shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties.”

“Therefore I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the Presidency is Democratic,” Musk wrote in a tweet addressed “to independent-minded voters.”

In a follow-up tweet, Musk added, “Hardcore Democrats or Republicans never vote for the other side, so independent voters are the ones who actually decide who’s in charge!”

Musk’s tweets, and other aspects of his leadership, have come under intense scrutiny since the billionaire boss of Tesla and SpaceX acquired Twitter last month for $44 billion.

The succession was marked by massive layoffs, a bristling reception from some advertising groups and confusion about the platform’s policy changes. A regular flow of eyebrow-raising commentary from Musk, most of it from his own Twitter account, added more chaos into the mix.

He blamed “activist groups” for Twitter suffering a “massive drop in revenue … even though nothing has changed with content moderation.” Days later, Musk announced that any Twitter handles impersonating people without clearly labeling themselves parody accounts “will be permanently suspended.”

He has also hit back at many of his critics, including progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and has replied favorably to numerous prominent conservative media figures.

— Kevin Breuninger

The fight for the midterms may still be in full swing, but it’s clear that some key figures are already laying the groundwork for 2024 and beyond.

Former President Donald Trump, who has regularly hinted he may seek the White House again, this weekend dropped some of his strongest suggestions yet.

“I promise you in the very next very, very, very short period of time, you’re going to be so happy, okay,” Trump said Saturday at a rally in Pennsylvania for GOP Senate nominee Dr. Mehmet Oz and gubernatorial hopeful Doug Mastriano. “We’re going to take it back and you’re going to be hearing about it very soon. Very, very, very soon.”

Trump, who never conceded his loss to President Joe Biden in 2020, considered announcing his next presidential bid at that rally, but opted not to distract from the Oz and Mastriano campaigns, a source told NBC News on Sunday.

Trump at that rally also took a shot at Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, widely seen as having presidential ambitions, calling him “Ron DeSanctimonious.”

Meanwhile, GOP Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas has reportedly decided against a run for president in the next cycle. And Biden has privately told allies he is planning to run again, news outlets have reported.

— Kevin Breuninger

Tuesday’s midterm elections will determine which party takes control of the Senate, seizing the power to steer investigative committees, advance major legislation and potentially approve — or block — President Joe Biden’s judicial nominees.

Candidates in a handful of must-win Senate races appear to be in a dead heat in the polls, and Republicans need to pick up just one seat to gain a majority.

Use CNBC’s guide to the top Senate races to keep track, and learn important facts about each candidate.

— Kevin Breuninger

The 2022 elections are expected to cost over $16.7 billion, making them the most expensive midterms ever, according to a study by the nonpartisan OpenSecrets.

“No other midterm election has seen as much money at the state and federal levels as the 2022 elections,” said Sheila Krumholz, OpenSecrets’ executive director. “We’re seeing record-breaking totals spent on elections up and down the ballot.” Election Day is Tuesday.

The fight for control of the House and Senate in particular saw massive spending, according to the OpenSecrets data. Republicans hope to win back control of both chambers for the final two years of President Joe Biden’s first term.

Outside groups spent about $1.9 billion to influence federal elections through Oct. 31, blowing past the 2018 midterm outside spending record of $1.6 billion, adjusted for inflation.

Two Republican political action committees have led the way in outside spending for federal races.

The Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has poured over $205 million into the midterms while backing Republicans running for Senate. The Congressional Leadership Fund, a hybrid PAC supported by House GOP leaders, has spent more than $188 million.

Megadonors from both sides of aisle have poured millions of dollars into the 2022 midterms. The top donors this cycle going into Election Day include billionaires George Soros, Richard Uihlein, Ken Griffin and Sam Bankman-Fried.

— Brian Schwartz

It was a busy weekend on the campaign trail as both parties sent out their all-star surrogates in the final days leading up to the Nov. 8 midterm elections.

— Getty Images | Reuters