Hundreds of millions of U.S. citizens will head to the polls on 3 November to elect the House of Representatives and Senate. How they vote could influence the direction of Donald Trump’s remaining 26 months in office and the outcomes of the Ukraine and Iran conflicts.
All 435 seats in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of Congress, are up for election, alongside 35 seats in the Senate, the upper chamber.
The House of Representatives and the Senate work together to pass laws that apply across the U.S.
Members of the chamber introduce bills, debate them and vote on legislation. The House of Representatives also plays a central role in approving the federal budget.
It has the power to impeach the president and other federal officials, including judges.
Each member of the House represents a specific congressional district, with an average population of around 761,000 people.
U.S. President Donald Trump's Republican Party currently has a narrow majority in the House of Representatives.
The Democratic Party is seeking to win control of the chamber, which would give it greater power to scrutinise the administration and challenge its policies.
Senators share responsibility for passing legislation with the House of Representatives. Each U.S. state has two senators.
The Senate can also approve or reject presidential nominations for senior officials, federal judges and ambassadors.
It holds trials to determine whether to convict and remove officials after the House votes to impeach them.
Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate and 35 seats are being contested in November.
The Democratic Party needs a net gain of four seats to reach 51 and take control of the chamber.
The elections are a major test for the Republican Party ahead of the 2028 presidential election and will influence how Trump spends the remainder of his term in office. The U.S. Constitution prevents him from serving a third term.
If the Democratic Party wins control of the House, it could block legislation, investigate decisions made by the Trump administration and use negotiations over government spending to challenge its priorities.
Taking the Senate would give the Democratic Party greater influence over presidential appointments, including senior officials and ambassadors.
Control of Congress, however, would not automatically allow the Democratic Party to block Trump's agenda.
The U.S. President can veto legislation and use executive orders to direct the government without seeking congressional approval, although these actions cannot override existing laws.
In his 2024 victory speech, Trump said he was “not going to start wars”, having repeatedly criticised conflicts launched by previous presidents.
The U.S. war against Iran, which began in February, has become a major foreign policy challenge for his administration.
Around two-thirds of Americans (65 per cent) disapproved of Trump's handling of the conflict, according to a Pew Research Center survey published in October.
The elections could therefore serve as a test of public support for the administration's handling of the war, although the results will not necessarily lead to an immediate change of approach.
A Democratic majority in either chamber would give the party greater scope to scrutinise Trump's military decisions, investigate the conduct of the war and challenge requests for additional funding.
The Senate narrowly rejected a Democratic-led resolution in September that would have required Trump to end military operations against Iran or seek congressional authorisation to continue them.
A different balance of power in the Senate could make it harder for the administration to defeat similar proposals. However, Trump could still veto legislation seeking to restrict his actions, requiring Congress to secure a two-thirds majority in both chambers to override him.
Democratic Party members could also use congressional hearings to challenge Trump's approach to Russia, including his decisions on sanctions and relations with Moscow, and to examine the administration's handling of Russia's war against Ukraine.
Several closely contested Senate races could determine which party controls the chamber, while the battle for the House will depend on results across dozens of competitive districts.
In Michigan, left-wing Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed is defending a seat against Republican Mike Rogers. El-Sayed narrowly defeated a more centrist candidate to win the Democratic primary in August. His candidacy will be a test of whether a left-wing politician can win an election in a swing state.
In Maine, Republican Senator Susan Collins is seeking re-election against the Democratic Party’s Troy Jackson, a former state Senate president. Collins has sometimes broken with Trump, including backing a September resolution seeking to limit his military action against Iran. Polls have shown a close contest, with a Washington Post survey in October putting Jackson four percentage points ahead.
Texas is another closely watched contest. Republican Ken Paxton, the state's Attorney General, is facing the Democratic Party’s James Talarico. Texas has traditionally been a Republican stronghold in federal elections, but recent polls have shown a competitive race. A University of Houston poll published in October put Talarico on 48 per cent, against 46 per cent for Paxton. A Democratic victory would represent a significant gain for the party and could change the balance of power in the Senate.
Surveys suggest the Democratic Party is in a strong position to win control of the House of Representatives, while the battle for the Senate is expected to be more difficult.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll published on 26 October put the Democratic Party nine percentage points ahead of the Republican Party among likely voters asked which party they would support in their congressional district, at 53 per cent to 44 per cent.
Trump's approval rating stood at 32 per cent in the same poll, while 73 per cent of respondents said the cost of living was moving in the wrong direction.
On the domestic front, rising prices, some which are linked to the Iran war, pose a big problem for Trump.
Speaking at a discussion on 20 October, Ben Harris, Director of Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank, said voters had been promised lower prices but hadn’t seen this.
“They haven’t received that in the form of retail gas. That’s up quite a bit since the war in Iran. They were promised cheaper prices in food. They didn’t get that. They were promised cheaper prices on housing. They didn’t get that,” he said.
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Evacuations and the provision of humanitarian aid in the Russian-occupied southern Ukrainian town of Oleshky have begun, a senior Ukrainian official said on Friday. In a statement on Telegram, David Arakhamia said a six-day ceasefire was holding, and that more details would follow.
The U.S. has approved the sale of 500 Patriot PAC-3 missiles to Ukraine in a deal worth an estimated $2.1 billion, but Kyiv could face years of delays before receiving the weapons it urgently needs to defend against intensifying Russian attacks.
Qatari mediators returned to Tehran on Friday as part of efforts to reach a deal between the U.S. and Iran, according to an official briefed on the talks.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has ordered Iran's armed forces to respond to any threat immediately and without geographical limits in statements posted to social media platforms on Saturday (31 October).
Hackers have pulled off a staggering $6.3 billion cryptocurrency heist targeting Binance, shaking confidence in one of the world's biggest digital asset exchanges and sending crypto prices tumbling. U.S. analysts suspect North Korea was behind the attack.
Polish President Karol Nawrocki on Saturday (31 October) accused Prime Minister Donald Tusk of staging a forced takeover of the country’s Constitutional Tribunal, following the suspension of the court’s president.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said he is open to calls for a formal apology for Britain’s historical role in slavery, ahead of next week’s Commonwealth summit, where he is expected to face demands for financial reparations.
Ukrainians evacuated from the Russian-controlled city of Oleshky have arrived in Chernihiv, northern Ukraine, the country’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.
Police moved into Lisbon's Rossio Square on Sunday to clear a tent camp erected after thousands marched demanding Portugal's minority centre-right government withdraw a rental bill they say would worsen the country's housing crisis.
North Korea's state media KCNA reported on Sunday that the country's defence science research institutes tested a major weapon system.
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