Americans to vote in midterms Tuesday with fate of Congress in balance

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - Millions of Americans across the country are preparing to head to their local polling centers for midterm elections on Tuesday in which the fate of both chambers of Congress hang in the balance.

This year, all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, as well as 35 seats in the Senate are being contested. Most analysts are predicting Republicans will gain control of the House, but the fate of the Senate remains a topic of intense speculation.

Several key races remain neck-and-neck in successive opinion polls with just one day to go before Election Day.

In Pennsylvania, celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz and state Lt. Gov. John Fetterman are locked in a tooth-and-nail fight for an open Senate seat with an average of polling compiled by the RealClearPolitics website finding Oz ahead by just 0.1%.

With such a narrow margin, it is anyone's guess as to which candidate will emerge victorious.

In a sign of the importance of the race for the Senate's future, three current and former presidents came to the Keystone State over the weekend, including President Joe Biden and former Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, in bids to bolster the candidates in the final days of the campaign.

There are about 10 Senate races across the country that could prove pivotal in determining whether Republicans or Democrats lay claim to the chamber, including in Georgia where incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock is trailing Republican former American football star Herschel Walker by 0.6%, according to RealClearPolitics.

With both chambers of Congress currently under their control, as well as the White House, Democrats are having to contend with historically high prices that have pinched American wallets at the checkout register and the gas pump, putting strain on families contending with over 8.2% inflation.

Meanwhile, Republicans have faced vocal criticism for their efforts to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case that had enshrined abortion rights across the nation for five decades until it was overturned this summer. Over 60% of Americans think abortion should be legal as Republicans now push for a national ban on the procedure.

Further down the ballot voters will weigh in on a series of state and local campaigns, from governor's races to marijuana legalization, and more mundane but nonetheless important races for local offices.