It's a fight to the finish for control of Congress in the election

WASHINGTON (AP) — The final doors are being knocked, ads are blaring and candidates are making one final pitch to voters. The energetic final spurt continues Control of Congress are in a stalemate, essentially it's a fight for the House and a fight to the finish for the Senate.

The outcome of Tuesday's election will shape the future of the country and determine whether the new White House has allies or skeptics on Capitol Hill – or faces a divided Congress, as in this past session, which led to the extremely turbulent and unproductive in modern times.

As voters evaluate their Republican-versus-Republican presidential options Donald Trump and democrat Kamala HarrisThey are also considering who will represent them in Congress.

“That's why I'm an independent,” said voter Gary Motta of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, who is not happy with either of the presidential races, as he appeared early Sunday morning at an event for Republican Kevin Coughlin, who is trying to run for president to unseat Democratic MP Emilia Sykes.

The battle for control of Congress has been going on for months. The candidates have argued about the big issues — the economy, the border, reproductive health care and the future of democracy — but also about Congress itself, which is… chaotic meeting as the Republican-led House of Representatives ousted its speaker and narrowly staved off government shutdowns.

This is the first presidential election since January 6, 2021, Attack on the Capitol, and many Republican lawmakers who voted against certifying Democrat Joe Biden's White House victory over Trump are up for re-election.

Republican candidates, many of whom are supported by the former president, will have to answer for him on multiple fronts. Among them is the Supreme Court decision with three justices nominated by Trump that ended the right to do so Access to abortions

Democrats face tough questions about Biden and Harris' record on the U.S.-Mexico border and inflation during their time in the White House.

Most of the hotly contested House races are being fought outside of the presidential swing states, including in new York And California, where Republican Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted as speaker and then left Congress, had made inroads in his home state. Democrats under New York Hakeem Jeffries, the party's House of Representatives leader, now trying to win her back.

Starting Saturday, California Rep. Pete Aguilar, chairman of the Democratic caucus, is taking a nine-stage tour of the Golden State to win the back seats.

“There's a lot of energy out there,” Washington Rep. Suzan DelBene, who heads the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in an interview from Omaha, Nebraska, a surprising battleground, after a swing through New York. “We’re just working hard to get out the vote.”

She said there are “tons of volunteers on the ground, a lot of energy, people are very, very focused. “They understand there's a lot at stake.”

Given the ever-expanding world of campaign donations, this election year is unique: a whopping $2.5 billion will be spent on it win the Senate and nearly $1 billion for the House of Representatives.

Losing the Senate is a coda to the long-standing leadership of their party leader. Mitch McConnell from Kentucky. He recruited wealthy Republican candidates, many of whom were endorsed by Trump, to take on half a dozen incumbent Democrats who faced difficult re-elections.

In Montana, Democratic Sen. Jon Tester is in one of the country's toughest races that could hand control to Republicans. But a half-dozen other Senate races, including in the “blue wall” of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, are just as close as the presidential elections in those states.

But groundbreaking changes are creating new uncertainty in other Senate races, according to Sen. Ted Cruz for defense in Republican-leaning Texas where Democratic Rep. Colin Allred has seen a surge of energy, including from Harris' star-studded rally in Houston with hometown hero Beyoncé. Nebraska independent Dan Osborne has surprised Republicans in Nebraska as he tries to unseat Republican Sen. Deb Fischer.

Other Republican Senate candidates have stumbled.

In Ohio, Republican Bernie Moreno faces Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown. Comments made criticizes suburban women for making access to abortion a priority issue. Republican Tim Sheehy did derogatory comments about Native Americans, a key voting bloc in his race against Tester in Montana.

As Republicans have outsourced their election efforts to new groups, including Elon Musk's America PACCampaign committees had to push through to make sure people voted.

Davide Cuigini, part of the young Republicans campaigning in Ohio last weekend to get the vote for Moreno, said: “Republicans are finally voting early, so that will make a difference.”

But energy on the Democratic side quickly grew when Harris replaced Biden on the Democratic ticket over the summer.

Maryland Democrat Angela Alsobrooks, who could make history alongside Delaware's Lisa Blunt Rochester as black women in the Senate, hosted former President Barack Obama last week. Alsobrooks is running against Larry Hogan, a popular former governor.

House Democrats have experienced several racial shifts, according to nonpartisan analysts. But others, in Alaska and an open seat in Michigan, are leaning Republican. Two out of the house longest-serving legislators are in the battles of their political lives in Ohio and California.

Still, an internal DCCC memo showed that 21 of the 25 contested seats are still close a week before the election.

There are also unusual battlegrounds, including what Nebraskans call the “blue dot” around Omaha, where Republican Rep. Don Bacon faces a challenge from Democrat Tony Vargas.

The outcome of the races will be a test for House leadership under Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. At a recent stop near Akron, Ohio, he said that with the Republican Party's “winning warriors” as candidates, he knew they would win.

Jeffries, who is expected to become Speaker of the House if Democrats take control, said he has decided ” stay calm, “even if the possibility of unexpected events keeps him awake at night.

If the two chambers actually flipped party control, which is possible, it would be rare.

Records show it would be the first time that both chambers of Congress would be split between opposing political parties if Democrats took the House and Republicans took the Senate.

“This election is a very big deal,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, who was running for a fellow Democrat in one of his state’s House races.

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Associated Press writers Lea Skene in Baltimore and Stephen Groves and Kevin Freking contributed to this report.