Millions of Americans are about to decide the future of the Republican-controlled Congress in a midterm election that will have a significant impact on President Donald Trump's final two years in office. All eyes are on a handful of Senate races that will decide control of the prized upper chamber. A four-seat gain by Democrats would give them control - and with it the power to limit Trump's ambitions, reject his judicial nominations and investigate his administration.
Billions of dollars are being poured into the 35 races across the country, but only a handful could go either way. There are seven Senate races deemed to be a toss-up by independent elections analyst Cook Political Report, external. Here, we profile the personalities making waves in these much-watched contests.
This race has been marred by controversy over the appearance of a second candidate named Dan Sullivan on the ballot. The Republican senator of that name faces stiff competition from Mary Peltola and accuses her of introducing his namesake to confuse voters, which she denies. The race may ultimately be the tipping point state that decides which party controls the chamber if, as expected, Alaska is one of the slower states to reach an outcome.
Peltola, a former House member and the first Alaska Native to be elected to Congress, has run on a platform of "fish, family, freedom" and has attacked Sullivan's record as Alaska's natural resources commissioner. Two-term senator Sullivan, a long-time Marine Corps reservist who also served as Alaska's attorney general, has accused Peltola's campaign of links to an effort to confuse Republican voters which led to a second man named Dan Sullivan entering the race. The Peltola campaign denies any such link, though the issue is the subject of a state investigation and a justice department lawsuit, which on Sunday was rejected by a judge.
Alaska's ranked-choice system also adds uncertainty to the mix, and the state has historically been difficult to poll, with surveys historically underestimating Republican voters. Sullivan, 61, only retired from the US Marines as recently as 2024, after a 30-year career that included deployments in to Afghanistan and the Middle East. Peltola, 53, grew up fishing salmon with her father, later becoming the first person born in the state to actually represent it in Congress.
One of the few Republican senators who voted to convict Trump when he was impeached in 2021, Susan Collins has consistently outperformed her party in this Democratic-leaning state, partly by presenting herself as a rebel. Her opponent Troy Jackson, who draws on his background as a lumberjack to persuade blue-collar Mainers he can relate to them, hopes that time is finally running out for one of the survivors of US politics. Collins is hoping her reputation as a centrist will persuade independent-minded voters in a state that reliably votes Democratic in presidential elections.
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