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Key matches to watch
Seven races are likely to determine control of the US Senate. Currently, each party holds 50 seats. with Vice President Kamala Harris voting to break ties, it gives Democrats the narrowest majority. The Republicans’ best chance of picking up Democratic seats are in Georgia, Nevada, Arizona and New Hampshire. Democrats’ best shots at winning seats currently held by Republicans are in Pennsylvania, Ohio and North Carolina. Some of the candidates in these contests are interesting in their own right. In Georgia, former professional football player Herschel Walker is trying to unseat Raphael Warnock, the pastor at Martin Luther King Jr.’s former church. In Arizona, Republican Blake Masters supports denial of the election and opposes aid to Ukraine. he is up against Mark Kelly, a former astronaut. Pennsylvania is a battle between John Fetterman, the state’s tattooed, hooded lieutenant governor, and Republican Mehmet Oz, the TV doctor. In Ohio, Hillbilly Elegy author JD Vance is selling himself as a Donald Trump superfan after repeatedly bashing him a few years ago. He faces Tim Ryan, a congressman trying to prove that Democrats can still win by appealing to workers who have seen factory jobs disappear. Governors are up for grabs in all five states that gave Joe Biden the 2020 primary: Michigan, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Wisconsin. In all but Georgia, Republican gubernatorial candidates are declining elections. In the US, election rules are set by state, so state government control may be critical in future elections. In 2020, Mr. Trump (unsuccessfully) lobbied state officials to overturn Mr. Biden’s victory. Election deniers being responsible after today could open the door to efforts to throw out future election results. – Adrian Morrow The nuns of Carmel of St. Joseph leave their polling place after voting in the midterm elections in Ladue, Mo. on November 8, 2022. (Whitney Curtis/The New York Times)Whitney Curtis/The New York Times News Service Noon
US Midterm Elections: What’s at Stake Today
US voters will decide today who will control Congress for the next two years, with the 435 House of Representatives and 34 of the 100 Senate seats up for grabs in the midterm elections. In 36 states, voters will also elect governors and other state officials. There are an almost insanely large number of important issues shaping the election. Inflation is at a 40-year high, crime rates have not yet fallen to pre-pandemic levels in some places, and Republicans are hammering Democrats on the US-Mexico border and undocumented immigrants. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade’s abortion rights protections this summer has galvanized some voters in hopes that lawmakers can restore the right to the procedure. The future of US democracy itself is at stake. More than 300 election deniers — people who support Donald Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen — are running for office, raising serious concerns that they will try to overturn the results of future elections. In recent days, the momentum (at least in the polls) has appeared to favor Republicans taking control of the House. The Senate remains a toss-up. We should start seeing results around 7pm. ET, when the first polls close on the East Coast, but full results may not be clear for days in some tighter races. – Adrian Morrow
