🗳️ The waiting game begins. We've got ideas for how to pass the time.

📺 What's on the tube: If you need a break from the Magic Wall, there's hockey.

• 🏒 Capitals vs. Dallas Stars, 7pm, Monumental

Today’s newsletter is 596 words — a 2-minute read.

D.C.-area bars and restaurants are hosting midterms watch parties, pouring politically inspired cocktails and dishing out Election Day deals tonight.

Where to watch:

• Barrel (Capitol Hill): Red vs. blue, but drink it. Watch C-SPAN returns while voting with your $14 red or blue drink order. Happy hour runs 4–7pm with $9.50 Old Fashioneds and discount bites.
• Scarlet Oak (Navy Yard): Sip $12 espresso martinis and Old Fashioneds and $8 mules while watching election returns with the sound on starting at 8pm.
• Union Pub (Capitol Hill): The "Midterm Massacre Menu" features $9 cocktails inspired by Senate races, like Ohio's "Buckeye Bloodbath." Feeling bipartisan? Try Texas' dueling red-and-blue tequila shots.
• Shaw's Tavern (Shaw): Taco Tuesday meets Election Day, with margarita and taco specials while the returns roll in. Watch party starts at 7pm.
• Madhatter (Dupont Circle): Election night on a budget! Score $5 margaritas, $4 drafts, $6 wines and $10 smash burgers with fries. Or split a $24 margarita pitcher. Party runs 5pm–2am.
• Immigrant Food (Ballston): Half-off bottles of wine all evening — good for celebration or drowning sorrows. Reservations start at 6pm, with election coverage on TVs at 7pm.

🦆The intrigue: Pro Animal DC, the group behind the proposed foie gras ban, is hosting a watch party at Solly's on U Street — expect speeches, local eats and Olivia the duck (free, 7–11:30pm).

Election Day specials

• Catahoula (Navy Yard): Election Day is also National Sandwich Day, so the first 50 guests score free cheeseburger po'boys at this New Orleans-style spot (limit one per person).
• ARTECHOUSE (Southwest Waterfront): Cast your ballot, then escape into another reality. Flash your "I Voted" sticker for buy-one-get-one-free admission to the immersive "SUBMERGE Project" exhibition. Open 10am–9pm; regular tickets $24+.

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🔵 At-large Council member Christina Henderson, an independent, says she filed to rejoin the Democratic Party, following her at-large colleague Robert White's resignation yesterday.

• White stepped down over a law that would've made him ineligible to serve as D.C.'s congressional delegate unless he resigned his Council seat before Election Day.
• Henderson's move could complicate who gets to appoint White's temporary replacement — the D.C. Democratic Party or the Council itself.

🪦 A teenage Civil War soldier is finally being laid to rest, 164 years later. Discovered in 2024 at Manassas National Battlefield Park, the unidentified Union soldier will be buried tomorrow at Arlington National Cemetery, just 30 miles from where he died during the Second Battle of Bull Run.

• He'll receive full military honors, including a horse-drawn procession and rifle salute. (Washington Post⁠)

Before you settle in for election night, a reminder: Don't read too much into early returns.

Why it matters: Early national vote totals are likely to look redder than the final result, and control of the House and Senate could take days to settle.

The red head start: In every national election since 2018, the House and Senate votes counted by 9pm ET were 4 to 9 percentage points more Republican than the final result, an Axios analysis of AP and Edison Research vote counts found.

• It's mostly geography. Fast-counting Florida and other right-leaning states report results quickly, while Democratic strongholds like California can take days to finish counting.

The bottom line: Election night is really election week.

Dive into the data

😋 Anna is eating chocolate babka.

This newsletter was edited by Alexa Mencia Orozco.