Voting in the midterm elections began Tuesday morning in the United States. They will elect all members of the House of Representatives of Congress, as well as a third of its Senate, in most states there will be elections of governors. The first polling stations opened at 05:00 (13:00 Moscow time) in the state of Vermont in the northeast of the country.

According to the NBC television company, a significant part of American voters had already cast their votes early - by mail or at some polling stations, which provide such an opportunity. In all, over 42 million people have already voted in the mid-term elections, and the majority of them (45%) support the candidates of the Democratic Party. Incumbent U.S. President Joe Biden also voted early on October 29 in Wilmington, Delaware.

Americans will have to elect all 435 members of the House of Representatives (the lower house of Congress) and 35 of the 100 members of the Senate (the upper house). Elections will also take place for the governors of 36 of the 50 states. In addition, in most of them, elections will be held for key representatives of local administrations. According to the forecasts, the Republicans may increase their representation in both houses of Congress, which will give them the ability to block legislative initiatives of the Democratic president.

Democrats now hold 220 seats in the House of Representatives, Republicans hold 212 seats, and three seats remain vacant. In the Senate, the Democrats have 48 seats, but they always have 2 independent senators voting on their side, and the Republicans have 50 seats. According to the U.S. Constitution, in a tie vote in the Senate, the vote of the Vice President of the United States is decisive. This position is held by Democrat Kamala Harris.

According to FiveThirtyEight's mathematical predictions, the chances of Republicans gaining control of both houses of Congress are 53%, the chance of a similar outcome for Democrats is 16%, the chances of Democrats gaining control of the Senate if they lose control of the House of Representatives are 30%.