The US mid-term elections promise to be more than a battle for control of Congress and the Senate - it offers a way of understanding the nature of America two years in to the Trump presidency. The USA is portrayed as a political society fractured and divided - but it’s also a nation enjoying economic recovery and the polls and the pundits have been mistaken in the past.

The Democratic Party believes they can take control of Congress. The Senate will be much harder for them. There are hundreds of congressional, state and local primaries taking place which will decide whether the Democratic Party can gain control of Congress. Dozens of these races are seen as in the balance. In the Senate Democrats also hope to win at least two new seats to regain control of the chamber, but it will be difficult as a majority of the seats up for election this year are already held by Democrats.

There are record numbers of women candidates.

It is an opportunity for the world to see how Trump’s America is being reshaped in different ways in different places across the whole of the United States.

Democrats need 24 extra seats to capture the 218 necessary for control of the chamber. There are also 36 governor’s races.

Our coverage this year will reflect the complicated mixture of local, state and national politics at play. Show less