On election day, two wars are on the ballot without their names

What is on the ballot

Today Americans choose all 435 members of the House and a third of the Senate, and control of both chambers is in play. Neither the Iran war nor the war in Ukraine is printed on any ballot. But the Congress elected tonight will hold the purse strings for both, and that makes this one of the most consequential foreign policy elections in years.

The Iran war's running bill

The war that the United States and Israel launched at the end of February is now more than eight months old. According to a Pentagon estimate given to Congress and reported by the Associated Press, it had cost American taxpayers about $47.1 billion as of October 16. The largest share, roughly $29 billion, goes to replacing munitions, above all the Patriot and THAAD interceptors that defend troops and allies from Iranian missiles. The Pentagon's own tally counts 21 service members killed and 865 wounded.

The administration wants more: a proposed $1.5 trillion military budget and a separate $95 billion package that would help pay for the war. Congress has not passed a declaration of war or a specific authorization for this one, and Democrats have tried repeatedly to end it.

The fighting has not stopped while the country votes. Overnight, US forces struck Iran's Qeshm Island near the Strait of Hormuz in what officials called a defensive action, even as Qatari mediators carried a draft deal between Washington and Tehran. President Trump told Axios he was "in no rush" about restarting the full air campaign, and observers quoted by Al Jazeera see the midterms as the moment that choice gets made.

Ukraine's lifeline runs through Washington

Ukraine's air defense depends on American weapons, now largely bought by European allies through a NATO-coordinated program. That arrangement still needs Washington to release the equipment, and Breaking Defense reports the administration has threatened to choke it off to pressure Kyiv over its strikes on Russian energy sites.

At the Warsaw Security Conference in October, Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said a change in control would mean aid moving in "nine days or nine weeks on the outside," not months. Meanwhile, President Zelenskyy has warned that Russia could use election day to launch a massive strike on Ukraine's energy and transport, and US envoy Steve Witkoff says American, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators will meet in Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11.

What voters are telling pollsters

A Reuters/Ipsos poll in mid-October, cited by the Council on Foreign Relations, found only 34 percent approve of the strikes on Iran, while 54 percent say the war has not been worth fighting. The pocketbook is part of that judgment. September's consumer prices rose 0.6 percent, pushing annual inflation to 3.7 percent, and gasoline made up more than half of the increase. AAA puts the national average for regular gas at $4.16 today, $1.13 more than a year ago.

Afterlight opinion: Congress has to take its seat at the table

The Constitution gives Congress two powers over war: the power to declare it and the power to pay for it. For eight months, a major war has been fought, funded and escalated with almost no real vote on whether it should continue. That is not a partisan complaint. It is a warning about how quietly a country can slide into a long war.

We do not endorse parties or candidates. We do take a side on this: whoever controls Congress in January should hold a clear, recorded vote on the Iran war, demand an honest public accounting of its cost, and keep Ukraine's air defenses supplied while Abu Dhabi talks play out. Pressure for peace has to run both ways, and it cannot run through a Congress that has stepped aside.

If you have not voted yet, ask anyone who wants your vote three plain questions. Will you vote on whether this war continues? Will you keep the weapons that protect civilians flowing to Ukraine? And will you tell us what all of this costs, in dollars and in lives?

What to watch after tonight

Which party controls the House and the Senate, and by how much. Whether the White House resumes large-scale strikes on Iran once the votes are counted, or accepts a Qatari-brokered deal. The fight over the $95 billion war package and next year's defense budget. The Abu Dhabi talks on November 10 and 11. And the price at your local pump, which will tell you faster than any pundit which way the Gulf is heading.