Elections | featured news

Timothy M. Kaine enters the final days of Virginia’s U.S. Senate contest with a clear advantage over George Allen, a new Washington Post poll shows, keeping an edge despite a tightening presidential race and an avalanche of outside spending against the Democrat.

Republicans are in position to extend their recent gains among governors as they compete for seats they haven't won in a quarter-century. Of the 11 states with gubernatorial elections in November, eight are now led by Democrats, and each of the most competitive races is a GOP pickup opportunity. The numbers suggests that Republicans soon will claim 30 to 33 governorships after holding just 22 a few years ago - an advantage not reflected in the divided Congress or competitive presidential race.

Democrats are counting on their New England friends to help them pick up Republican-held Senate seats on Nov. 6 and construct a barrier against losses in Nebraska and elsewhere that could erase their majority.

Shintaro Ishihara, the firebrand governor of Tokyo whose obsession with a set of disputed islands prompted Japan’s latest spat with China, declared on Thursday that he was quitting local politics to start a national party, a move that could escalate the territorial dispute and shift allegiances in Japan’s soon-to-be-called elections.

A hearing officer Monday concluded that voter fraud occurred in Vernon's June City Council election, throwing out seven of the 64 ballots cast in the race and declaring a new winner.

Lithuanians have voted out their conservative government after one of the world's deepest recessions, early results suggest. Two leftist parties, Labour and the Social Democrats, are currently placed first and second.

The FiveThirtyEight forecast model now gives Republicans just about a 16 percent chance of winning control of the Senate. This is a precipitous drop from just two months ago.

Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill is taking aim at Republican challenger Todd Akin with a new series of TV ads featuring rape survivors upset about Akin's position on emergency contraception....

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was re-elected Sunday to a new six-year term, overcoming an energetic challenge by a candidate backed by an opposition coalition, according to results announced by election officials.

Democrat Elizabeth Warren holds a slight lead over Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.), with about four weeks left until Election Day in the cycle’s marquee Senate showdown, according to a new survey released Sunday.