What are the US midterm elections and why do they matter?

Voters nationwide go to the polls on 3 November in midterm contests that will show whether Republicans keep their hold on Congress for the last two years of Donald Trump's second term. Trump has urged supporters to treat the vote as if he were personally on the ballot. Democrats hope public frustration with him lets them take the House of Representatives and perhaps the Senate, while Republicans want to avoid gridlock and investigations of the White House, according to The Guardian.

All 435 House seats are open, and Democrats need a net gain of four to take over. In the Senate, 35 seats are up, and Republicans hold 53 of 100, so Democrats also need four more. Thirty-nine governorships and thousands of state and local posts are on the ballot too. Since 1946, the president's party has lost House seats in 18 of 20 midterms. The RealClearPolitics polling average put Democrats ahead by 8.2 points in early October, though Reuters estimates only 40 to 50 House races are truly competitive.

Key Senate races include Michigan, Georgia, Maine, Ohio and Texas, where Democrat James Talarico faces Republican Ken Paxton. Democrats are stressing living costs, and the war in Iran complicates matters for Republicans.

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