Control of both houses of the US Congress and 36 state governorships are at stake in Tuesday's elections, which are widely viewed as a referendum on Republican President Donald Trump's first two years in the White House.
The following is a look at what will influence the outcome:
US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
One in 4 Americans lives in the 125 congressional districts where no party is widely seen having a lock on Tuesday's vote. But the share of the country that could decide control of the House of Representatives might be smaller. About one-seventh of the country lives in the 64 districts widely seen as competitive or leaning against the incumbent party.
Sixty of those vulnerable districts are currently under Republican control or were left vacant when a Republican lawmaker resigned.
Republicans are defending 41 open or vacant House seats on Tuesday, compared with 22 defended by Democrats. Thirty-three incumbent Republicans plan to retire from the House after their current term. That will be the most for the party since at least
1930, according to historical records compiled by the Brookings
Institution. Five House Republicans resigned their seats and
3 more sought re-election but lost nominating elections to
other Republicans.
Seventeen Republican incumbents are defending House seats in districts that Democrat Hillary Clinton won in the 2016 presidential election.
Some 182 Republican incumbents are defending House seats in districts Trump won in 2016.
Nine Republican incumbents are defending House seats in districts where Trump's margin of victory in 2016 was less than 5 percentage points.
A total of 155 Republican incumbents are defending House seats in districts Trump won by double digits in 2016.
US SENATE
Democrats are defending 10 Senate seats in states that Trump won in 2016. Five of those races are widely seen as competitive
or leaning Republican. They are the same 5 where Trump won by
double digits in 2016.
STATE-LEVEL RACES
Republicans now hold 33 governorships and 65 legislative chambers, with Democrats controlling 31 and 2 being tied, according to the nonpartisan National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), which does not include Nebraska’s nonpartisan, unicameral legislature in its count.
By the NCSL's record, Republican dominance of state legislatures is at a historic high. The party controls both chambers of the state legislature and the governor's office in 25 states, with Democrats holding that trifecta in 8 states, the group said.
Democrats lost 945 seats in state legislatures across the country during the 2009-2017 presidency of Democrat Barack Obama, the group said.
Democrats sustained a net loss of 13 governorships under Obama, according to the Republican Governors Association.
TURNOUT
The most recent record in voter turnout during congressional midterm elections, when the White House was not on the line, came in 1982, when 49 percent of the voting-age population showed up to vote, according to the US Census Bureau. That was during Republican President Ronald Reagan's first term, when turnout among Democrats rose at twice the rate of increase among Republicans, according to Pew Research Center, resulting in a net gain of 26 seats for Democrats in the House.
Just 42 percent of registered voters cast ballots in the 2014 congressional midterm elections, the lowest turnout since at least 1964, according to the US Census Bureau.
Over the past two decades, the highest turnout for women
during a midterm election occurred in 2006, when nearly 45
percent voted.
Midterm turnout by young adult voters, aged 18 to 29, most recently peaked in 1982, when 31.7 percent of that age group cast a ballot, according to Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
CHICAGO - Andrew Menck didn't bother to vote in the last seven congressional elections but, determined to deliver a rebuke to Donald Trump's presidency, he joined the lines outside his local polling station that built up before dawn.
"I disapprove of the president's actions," said the 34-year-old, a Chicago voter who sees his ballot as a chance for real scrutiny of a president who has enjoyed a largely free hand from the Republican-controlled US Congress.
Menck was among millions of Americans heading to the polls Tuesday in the first major voter test of Trump's chaotic, often controversial presidency.
Massive early numbers -- more than 38 million ballots have been cast ahead of polling day compared with fewer than 20 million in 2014 -- sparked optimism that heavy rain in the eastern United States would not depress turnout.
A suburban Chicago polling station reported twice the number of voters compared to 2016 -- a presidential election year -- while in downtown Chicago, people gathered before polls opened at 6:00 am (1100 GMT).
"The message that I'm going to send is: We're not okay with the direction that this president is leading our country," said Rory Mabin, a 34-year-old Chicago resident who votes in every midterm election.
But James Gerlock, a 27-year-old Republican, said he was happy with the economic growth the country has seen under Trump's presidency and "just (loves) the deregulation."
In the Chicago suburb of Downers Grove, at a church along a leafy street, 500 people had voted in the first two hours of the morning -- twice as many as two years ago, according to poll worker David Mendalski.
The story was the same in Maryland, where a Montgomery County election official reported that turnout has been "astounding" early on, speculating that it might also surpass participation in presidential elections.
I'M HOPEFUL
And in Irvine, California, where Democratic candidate Katie Porter is locked in a tight race with 2-term Republican incumbent Mimi Walters, a staunch Trump backer, people were out in droves.
"We have already seen huge turnout, people out and about knocking on doors, making sure everybody gets out there, Porter told AFP.
"We're seeing so much support including from those who may have voted Republican in the past or may be registered Republicans," she told AFP, saying she expects many of them will flip to the other side this go-around.
But in Orange County -- where 4 heated congressional races are underway -- voter Richard Leavitt was skeptical that big change was in store.
"Every side believes they are the best and the strongest," he said. "A lot of people are angry and want change but it doesn't mean they'll get it."
There was a sense of urgency among voters flocking to the Brooklyn Museum in New York City, where production artist Gilad Foss warned that democratic values were "kind of under attack."
Across the East River in Manhattan, high school senior Ayla Jeddy voted after turning 18 in September -- just in time to register.
"I looked up all the candidates last night, and I did vote for candidates who opposed the most egregious of (Trump's) policies: his immigration policies... and his attitude towards women in general," she said, proudly displaying an "I voted" sticker on her jacket.
Two-page ballots caused delays in New York, while voters in Georgia also faced long waits due to technical problems and high turnout, US media reported.
Stacey Abrams, 44, the former minority leader of the state House of Representatives, is running for governor of Georgia against Republican Brian Kemp, the 55-year-old Georgia secretary of state.
Abrams, who has received the support of Oprah Winfrey and other celebrities, would be the first black woman to become governor of a US state if she wins.
"I really wanted to vote for the first female African-American governor, so that was one of the major driving forces, to be honest," Lia Koski, casting her ballot in Atlanta, told AFP.
One of the most expensive and closely watched Senate races is in Texas, where incumbent Republican Senator Ted Cruz is facing pro-immigration Democratic Representative Beto O'Rourke.
At a polling station in his home town, the border city of El Paso, Carlos Gallinar enthused that O'Rourke was "just great for El Paso, great for Texas, great for United States."
"With all the issues that are happening across the country and the negative energy coming out of Washington and this president, it's great to see someone like Beto who has great energy, great enthusiasm, (a) positive great message."
source: news.abs-cbn.com
NEW YORK -- US shares rose on Tuesday while the dollar held steady as Americans went to the polls in elections that could shift the balance of power in Congress.
Treasury yields rose modestly as more supply came to market and spurred selling. Traders also awaited clues about the Federal Reserve's potential interest rate increases when policymakers meet on Wednesday and Thursday.
Treasury supply has been growing to fund a widening federal budget deficit, the result of the massive tax cut enacted in December and a spending agreement reached in February.
MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.12 percent.
The congressional elections mark the first major test of President Donald Trump's polarizing personality and hardline policies on taxes, trade and immigration. If his Republican party loses control of the House of Representatives or the Senate, Democrats would be able to put the brakes on his agenda.
Opinion polls show Democrats have a good chance of winning a majority in the House.
"Unlike the US presidential election or the UK's Brexit referendum, the upcoming US elections are not a binary event," said Yasuo Sakuma, chief investment officer at Libra Investments. "So it's unlikely to send stocks significantly in one direction, apart from initial quick reactions."
European shares slipped on disappointing corporate earnings and caution ahead of the US election results. Politics weighed on Italian stocks, and oil prices fell as investors digested exemptions to the newly restored US sanctions on Iranian oil.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index lost 0.26 percent.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 173.31 points, or 0.68 percent, to 25,635.01, the S&P 500 gained 17.14 points, or 0.63 percent, to 2,755.45 and the Nasdaq Composite added 47.11 points, or 0.64 percent, to 7,375.96.
"With the Democrats favorites to take control of the House and the Republicans the Senate, the next couple of years may be far more difficult for Trump," said Craig Erlam, a senior market analyst at Oanda in London. "When you consider how markets have done since his election victory – granted, primarily on the back of tax reforms – it's easy to see why this may not be the most investor-friendly result."
The benchmark S&P 500 index has climbed 28 percent since Trump's election in November 2016, more than under any other president in comparable periods in the past 64 years.
With so much at stake, currency market moves were tight. The dollar hardly moved against the euro and gained some ground against the Japanese yen.
Sterling reversed earlier losses in volatile trading on growing hopes of a Brexit deal breakthrough after a British Cabinet meeting.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of 6 major currencies, was flat, with the euro up 0.09 percent to $1.1416.
The yen weakened 0.23 percent versus the greenback at 113.47 per dollar.
Italian shares were essentially flat, despite frayed nerves in Italy after euro zone finance ministers called on Rome to change its budget to conform with European Union rules at a meeting late on Monday.
Oil prices sank, with US crude futures sliding to an 8-month low, as Iran said it had so far been able to sell as much oil as it needed to after Washington granted sanction waivers to top buyers of Iranian oil.
US crude fell 1.46 percent to $62.18 per barrel and Brent was last at $72.07, down 1.5 percent on the day.
"The details on the Iran sanctions waivers are trickling out, and it appears much more Iranian oil will remain on the market in the near-term than previously thought," said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital Management in New York.
Both oil benchmarks have slid more than 15 percent since hitting four-year highs in early October.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
