Millions of Americans are about to decide the future of the Republican-controlled Congress in a midterm election that will have a significant impact on President Donald Trump's final two years in office. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing BBC News.
All eyes are on a handful of Senate races that will decide control of the prized upper chamber. A four-seat gain by Democrats would give them control — and with it the power to limit Trump's ambitions, reject his judicial nominations and investigate his administration. Billions of dollars are being poured into the 35 races across the country, but only a handful could go either way. There are seven Senate races deemed to be a toss-up by independent elections analyst Cook Political Report.
Alaska: Dan Sullivan vs Mary Peltola
This race has been marred by controversy over the appearance of a second candidate named Dan Sullivan on the ballot. The Republican senator of that name faces stiff competition from Mary Peltola and accuses her of introducing his namesake to confuse voters, which she denies. The race may ultimately be the tipping point state that decides which party controls the chamber if, as expected, Alaska is one of the slower states to reach an outcome.
Peltola, a former House member and the first Alaska Native to be elected to Congress, has run on a platform of "fish, family, freedom" and has attacked Sullivan's record as Alaska's natural resources commissioner. Two-term senator Sullivan, a long-time Marine Corps reservist who also served as Alaska's attorney general, has accused Peltola's campaign of links to an effort to confuse Republican voters which led to a second man named Dan Sullivan entering the race. The Peltola campaign denies any such link, though the issue is the subject of a state investigation and a justice department lawsuit, which on Sunday was rejected by a judge. Alaska's ranked-choice system also adds uncertainty to the mix, and the state has historically been difficult to poll, with surveys historically underestimating Republican voters.
Sullivan, 61, only retired from the US Marines as recently as 2024, after a 30-year career that included deployments in to Afghanistan and the Middle East. Peltola, 53, grew up fishing salmon with her father, later becoming the first person born in the state to actually represent it in Congress.
Maine: Susan Collins vs Troy Jackson
One of the few Republican senators who voted to convict Trump when he was impeached in 2021, Susan Collins has consistently outperformed her party in this Democratic-leaning state, partly by presenting herself as a rebel. Her opponent Troy Jackson, who draws on his background as a lumberjack to persuade blue-collar Mainers he can relate to them, hopes that time is finally running out for one of the survivors of US politics. Collins is hoping her reputation as a centrist will persuade independent-minded voters in a state that reliably votes Democratic in presidential elections. Now her campaign will test whether Republicans can win by distancing themselves from Trump. Collins, who is seeking her sixth term, entered the midterm cycle as one of the most vulnerable incumbent Republicans seeking re-election. But she has been helped by controversy on the other side of the aisle involving Graham Platner, who was ultimately replaced as the Democratic nominee by Jackson, a former president of the Maine state senate.
Both Jackson and Collins oppose Trump's tariffs on Canada, mindful of the impact they are having on this border state. Unlike Collins, though, he favours the abolition of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE). Collins, 73, began her political career fresh from college in the 1970s and she entered the US Senate in 1997. Jackson, 58, is a logger who became politically active when he helped to lead a protest to block lower-paid workers from Canada entering Maine.
Texas: James Talarico vs Ken Paxton
James Talarico aims to end a decades-long electoral drought for the Democrats in Texas — and show that one of the Republicans' main strongholds could be in play for the 2028 presidential election. His match-up with Ken Paxton has become the most expensive Senate race ever. Republican Paxton knows his party has been winning statewide races in Texas for more than 30 years. Texas State Representative James Talarico, a former schoolteacher and Presbyterian seminary student, is the latest Democrat hoping to break his party's long losing streak. Texas Republicans are facing a daunting combination of headwinds. It is a challenging national political environment for conservatives and there are several state issues like data centre construction and aggressive immigration enforcement that have cut against their party. Added to that is a controversial candidate, Paxton. The campaign has been acrimonious, with Talarico targeting Paxton's 2023 impeachment by the Republican-controlled state House of Representatives for alleged corruption, bribery and abuse of power. Paxton denied the charges and was later acquitted by the state Senate, calling the impeachment a "politically motivated sham from the beginning". Supported by more than $170m in funds from tech mogul Elon Musk, Paxton has attempted to paint Talarico as a liberal who is out of touch with Texans on issues like transgender rights, law enforcement, immigration and energy policy.