[00:00.00]On Tuesday, November 6, Americans will choose
[00:06.11]hundreds of federal lawmakers and state officials.
[00:11.18]The election is called the midterm because it comes
[00:16.92]in the middle of the president's four-year term.
[00:21.21]But even though the president
[00:23.61]is not competing for re-election this year,
[00:27.11]the results of the midterm will be important to him.
[00:33.20]They will decide whether his political party, the Republicans,
[00:38.40]continues to control both parts of Congress.
[00:43.88]If the Republicans do,
[00:46.62]Congress will likely help him reach his policy goals.
[00:52.34]If the opposition Democratic Party wins a majority in Congress,
[00:58.46]those lawmakers will likely try to block the president's goals.
[01:05.67]It is also very possible that after November 6
[01:10.24]the Republicans will control one part of Congress,
[01:15.18]and the Democrats another.
[01:18.15]If that happens, the two groups of lawmakers
[01:22.72]will probably oppose each other and few changes will advance.
[01:29.93]Here are the numbers: Congress has seats for 535 voting members.
[01:38.58]One hundred are in the Senate.
[01:41.64]The rest are in the House of Representatives.
[01:45.16]This month, voters will choose 35 senators and all 435 House members.
[01:55.30]To win a majority in the House,
[01:58.20]Democrats would need to keep all their seats and gain 24 more.
[02:04.89]Such a gain would be large, but not impossible.
[02:10.37]Historically, the opposition party makes some gains in midterms.
[02:16.56]Eight years ago, Republicans gained more than 60 House seats
[02:23.75]in the midterm after then-President Barack Obama was elected.
[02:28.87]That election was seen as a check
[02:32.39]on Obama's efforts to reform health care in America.
[02:36.83]This year, a gain half as big by Democrats
[02:41.67]would give them control of those House.
[02:44.93]To win a majority in the Senate may be harder for Democrats,
[02:50.42]although Republicans have only a one-seat advantage now.
[02:55.17]The reason is because Democrats
[02:58.80]risk losing some Senate seats they currently control.
[03:04.16]For example, ten Democratic senators
[03:08.05]are running in states that Trump won in 2016.
[03:13.35]In other words, voters there may now decide
[03:18.24]they want a lawmaker who is more like the president.
[03:23.15]I'm Kelly Jean Kelly.