Voting in U.S. mid-term elections underway

Nov. 3 (UPI) — Polling stations in the United States began opening their doors early Tuesday as Americans vote in mid-term elections that will determine whether President Donald Trump’s Republican Party retains or loses control of one or both houses of Congress.

Voting on the East Coast kicked off in Vermont, where some polling stations opened at 5 a.m. EST, followed by New Jersey, Virginia, Connecticut and Kentucky where the polls open at 6 a.m. Polls in most of the rest of the states open at 6 or 7 a.m. and close at between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. Polls in Alaska will be the last to open at 11 a.m. EST and will stay open into Wednesday, closing at 1 a.m. EST.

All 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are up for re-election and a third (35) of those in the U.S. Senate, with the cost of living, including high food and fuel prices, topping the list of issues uppermost on voters’ minds — in what is effectively a referendum on the first two years of the Trump administration.

The Democratic Party needs a +4-seat swing to take the U.S. Senate and a +4-seat gain to take control of the U.S. House, with a series of main battleground states and congressional districts up for grabs from Maine, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan to the previously safe Republican states of Kansas, Iowa, Texas and Alaska.

The outcome will decide whether Trump will be able to continue to advance his vision for the country or will face a hostile Democratic Party-controlled legislature in one or both chambers. He issued a warning Monday that key elements of his policy agenda such as exempting tips, overtime and seniors’ Social Security from tax, were at stake.

Republicans currently hold narrow 218-214 and 45-53 (plus two independents) majorities in the House and Senate, respectively. Vice President JD Vance’s casting vote in the Senate means Republicans could lose three seats and still hang onto to the upper house.

Forty-three states are also holding contests for more than 6,100 seats in their legislatures and 36 states for governorships, along with special propositions from trans rights issues and abortion to a wealth tax targeting billionaires on the ballot in California.

Heading up the list of states where gubernatorial races are likely to be among the tightest are California, Florida, Georgia and Michigan.

Trump, who has been crisscrossing the country stumping for Republican candidates, in a final pitch for Republicans to come out to vote on Fox News’ Hannity reiterated his wish for them to consider him as being on the ballot, even though he isn’t.

“I’m just asking everybody to pretend that I’m on the ballot. If our people vote, we win in a landslide.”