The candidates who will decide the US midterm elections

Control of Congress, and with it the fate of Donald Trump's agenda, hangs on the 2026 midterms, and The Guardian highlights a handful of Senate contenders whose races may reveal what wins votes in different parts of the country. Their results could also shape both parties' approach heading into 2028.

In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed, a public health official from the Democratic left, defeated a moderate congressman for the nomination and now faces the Republican Mike Rogers, a former congressman. Trump and other conservatives have attacked El-Sayed with Islamophobic rhetoric. In Maine, the moderate Republican Susan Collins, 73, is pursuing a sixth term. Graham Platner left the Democratic contest after rape allegations, so Troy Jackson, a former logger and state legislator, is now her challenger.

Kansas has not elected a Democratic senator since 1932, yet the megachurch pastor Adam Hamilton has made things interesting against Roger Marshall, who sued hundreds of former patients over unpaid bills. In Georgia, Jon Ossoff, 39, looks comfortably ahead of Mike Collins, and in Texas, James Talarico, 37, is challenging Ken Paxton, whom Trump helped to defeat John Cornyn.

Summarized by PolitiKool from The Guardian’s reporting. Read the full story at The Guardian →