US Midterm Election Preview, Part One

The 2026 US midterm elections, to be held on November 3, are among the most consequential in the nation’s history.  If the slide into autocracy for the US is to be averted, it’s essential that Democrats retake at least one chamber of Congress, since Republicans are apparently unwilling to curb even the worst impulses of the Mad King.

Fortunately, Donald Trump’s lifelong pattern of ruining everything he touches holds, and the declining economy he has evoked via the self-inflicted wounds of his insane tariff regime and the ill-conceived war with Iran have given the American electorate an extremely jaundiced view of his administration, and the GOP in general, granting Democrats a decided edge in this contest.

Unfortunately, structural changes implemented by Republican-run states in out-of-season redistricting have already likely robbed Democrats of multiple congressional seats they should have easily won.  So while leadership of the House of Representatives remains on a trajectory to change hands, the new Democratic majority will potentially be almost as narrow as the outgoing Republican one, making genuine change difficult, if not impossible, with a presidential veto looming for any legislation The Donald deems unpalatable.

So the main action turns to the Senate, control of which seemed safely maintained in Republican hands, until Trump’s war of choice on Iran disrupted energy supply chains and sent the cost of oil skyrocketing, with the concomitant increases in prices at the gas pump, anathema to Americans.  Suddenly, retention of a Senate majority for Republicans seems less certain, with states not normally at risk, now in play, such as deep red Texas, where a seriously flawed Trump-anointed candidate finds himself routinely behind his Democrat challenger in polling, perhaps granting Democrats their first Lone Star State Senate seat in three decades.

Generally speaking, the skies for 3 November 2026 are favorable for Democrats, but there are some important caveats.  The 11 Scorpio Sun conjoins Mercury at 13 Scorpio, sharply pulling the nation’s focus (Sun) to the vote (Mercury), although that process will have begun weeks to months earlier, with early and mail-in voting in many states starting as early as mid-September.

But Mercury is retrograde, affording all sorts of opportunities for electoral mischief, particularly in tabulation, but also evoking ballot issues, registration roadblocks, and significant difficulties with students and young people (Mercury-ruled) casting their votes.  Neptune at 2 Aries is sesquiquadrate Mercury, perhaps increasing confusion around such issues as polling locations, with redrawn districts, and hundreds of former voting hubs closed or moved.  Neptune active also raises the possibility (probability?) of electoral fraud or deception, something reiterated and reinforced by the stationary status of asteroid Buysballot 10961, which turns direct at 21 Pisces, trine Sun/Mercury, the day before the election, making it an embedded factor in the overall energy of the timeframe.

Buysballot is named for Dutch chemist and meteorologist C.H.D. Buys Ballot, and when his surname is properly separated into its component parts, we see a clear admonition of potential electoral fraud:  “buys ballot.”  While actual purchasing of votes isn’t likely, it’s not a far stretch to see this as emblematic of the hundreds of millions, possibly billions, of dollars to be invested in negative advertising against Democrats by the superrich, such as Elon Musk, who is expected to spend up to $200 million to ensure his interests are protected by Republicans.  Buysballot can also allude to electoral chicanery of any variety, from the pregame redistricting which is already known, to possible deployment of the National Guard or ICE agents at polling places on the day of.

The potential for a military or paramilitary presence at the polls is seen in Mars at 19 Leo, squared Sun/Mercury, and ruling armed force.  An involvement of the military with the electoral process once seemed unthinkable in the US, but under Trump, the unthinkable rapidly becomes the norm. 

But Mars also has a key role to play in a potential Democratic victory, accompanied by asteroid Victoria 12 at 20 Leo, named for the Roman goddess of victory, and opposed asteroid Demokritos 6129 at 13 Aquarius, representing Democrats, in a T-Square with Sun/Mercury.  This suggests winning (Victoria) campaigns (Mars) by Democrats (Demokritos) on Election (Mercury) Day (Sun).  With asteroid House 4950 at 7 Scorpio in the mix, a Democratic takeover of the US House of Representatives seems assured, but asteroid Senator is in a more parlous state.

At 20 Libra, asteroid Senator 8603 conjoins Venus at 25 Libra, a symbol of the bagsful of money (Venus) being poured into Senate races this year, as well as potentially setting up female candidates (Venus) for the win.  While this is good news for Alaska’s Mary Peltola, looking to unseat Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan, the aspect also favors Republicans like Iowa’s Ashley Hinson and Maine’s Susan Collins, who always seems to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, somehow.  Senator also conjoins asteroid America 916 at 19 Libra, presumably just to confirm that we’re not talking about some ancient Roman institution here.  Well, duh!

There are mixed messages in the contacts Senator makes to the rest of the day’s celestials.  An opposition to TNO Eris 139199 at 25 Aries images the discontent and contentiousness of the electorate, grumbling and spoiling for a fight with the powers that be, with the Senate a chief battleground.  A T-Square is formed with a combination of asteroids Nemesis 128 and Whitehouse 4036 at 21 and 26 Capricorn, indicating the source of the strife (Eris) is one Donald Trump, president of the United States (Whitehouse), who is tempting the ruin (Nemesis) of his party with his disastrous fiscal policies and foreign wars.  Indeed, call it albatross or millstone, Trump is certainly a negative hanging around the neck of every GOP candidate in the field, with approval ratings consistently in the low-mid 30 percentiles, in polling across the board.

Senator also feeds into an opposition from Uranus at 4 Gemini to asteroid Nike 307 at 9 Sagittarius, named for the Greek goddess of victory, which in itself anticipates some upset (Uranus) wins (Nike).  But remember – one man’s upset is another man’s miracle, and it’s never safe to bet which way the Uranian cat will jump when push comes to shove.  Senator feeds into this polarity by semisquare to Nike and sesquiquadrate to Uranus, so the Senate is likely to be the major scene of unexpected, perhaps even shocking (both Uranus), outcomes.

We haven’t yet talked about Trump, but he’s there, though somewhat out of the loop, as appropriate to a midterm election, where he’s not technically on the ballot, albeit he pervades the US political system regardless.  He’s present in the form of asteroid Troemper 28130, our celestial referent for The Donald.  At 6 Capricorn, Troemper forms a Grand Cross, opposed TNO Chaos 19521, with squares to Neptune at 2 Aries and asteroid Post 89903 at 11 Libra.  This reflects Trump’s obsession with mail-in voting (Post), which he has long tried to restrict or end, and his attempt to create confusion (Neptune) and chaos (Chaos) in the process.

The current gambit was to require states to submit voter rolls to the federal government, which has no role to play in elections, as per the Constitution.  Any states who refuse to comply will be denied federal funds for implementing elections, and Trump has instructed the US postal service not to deliver mail-in ballots to voters in those states.  Of course this outrageous power grab was met immediately with legal challenges, and lower courts have blocked the move, but the United States Supreme Court recently removed those blocks, on the dual grounds that the plaintiffs didn’t have standing to sue, and that no harm had yet been done, since the new regulations were not yet in force, without directly ruling on the merits of the cases.

But North Carolina began sending out mail-in ballots as of September 4, theoretically allowing these cases to be refiled, since the issue is now an active one.  Should the SCOTUS take up the matter again, one would assume, based on the plain text of the Constitution, which reserves the administering of elections to state and local governments, that his plan would be ruled unconstitutional.  But the SCOTUS has become increasingly complaint to Trump’s whims, and with asteroid Justitia 269, named for the Roman goddess of justice and representing the SCOTUS, conjoined Troemper from 3 Capricorn, the risk that the High Court will rule in Trump’s favor is very real indeed.

So that’s the general overview, as things now stand.  In Part Two, we’ll take a closer look at some key Senate races, in an attempt to pick winners and losers, from a cosmic perspective.

Title Image Credit:  drawn by ChatGPT.

Alex Miller

Alex Miller is a professional writer and astrologer, whose website AlexAsteroidAstrology.com offers a trove of info on the role of asteroids in personal and mundane astrology. He is the author of The Black Hole Book (available on Amazon.com) and The Urban Wicca, former editor of “The Galactic Calendar,” and past president of The Philadelphia Astrological Society. His pioneering work with Black Holes in astrological interpretation began in 1991, when his progressed Sun unwittingly fell into one. Alex’s books and writings are available on his website. Alex can also be reached for comment or services at .