WASHINGTON— Republicans notched a crucial win in the Senate majority race on Tuesday; Jim Justice easily settled into the seat in West Virginia following the retirement of Sen. Joe Manchin III, leaving the chamber deadlocked with a 50-50 split for now.

Justice, the state governor who often appears with his English bulldog Babydog, was expected to serve Republicans trying to wrest control from Democrats. Republican Donald Trump is popular in the state, and Manchin, who left the Democratic Party to become an independent, has refused to run for another term.

West Virginia is the first of many states where Democrats see their tenuous hold in the legislature at serious risk. In a 50-50 split, the majority goes to the party in the White House because the vice president can cast tie-breaking votes. We have more races ahead of us.

With control of Congress at stake, the always bitter contests for the House and Senate will determine which party has the majority and the authority to support or block a president’s agenda, or whether the White House faces a divided Capitol Hill.

After all, just a handful of seats, or even just one seat, could upset the balance in both compartments.

In addition to the first competition, important competitions are also played presidential election Since the Capitol attack on January 6, 2021, but also in unexpected corners of the country in the wake of one of the most chaotic congressional hearings of modern times.

Voters said the economy and immigration were the most important issues facing the country, but the future of democracy was also a primary motivation for many Americans to vote in the presidential election.

AP VoteCast, a comprehensive survey of more than 110,000 voters nationwide, found a country mired in negativity, with Americans facing a stark choice between former President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Congress plays a role in continuing America’s tradition of peaceful transfers of presidential power. Four years ago, Trump sent his mob of supporters to “fight like hell” at the Capitol, and many Republicans in Congress voted to block the election of President Biden. Congress will be asked to certify the results of the 2025 presidential election.

The top House races focus on New York and California, where Democrats are trying to retake some of the roughly 10 seats where Republicans have made surprising gains in recent years with star lawmakers who helped bring the party to power.

Other House races are scattered throughout the country, a sign of how narrow the field has become. Only a few dozen seats are seriously challenged; Some of the most contested seats are in Maine; the “blue dot” around Omaha, Neb.; and in Alaska.

Vote counting could extend into Tuesday in some races.

“We’re within striking distance of taking back the House,” New York House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, who would make history as the first black speaker if his party wins control, recently told The Associated Press. The campaign is moving quickly in Southern California.

However, House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has approached Trump, predicts that he will “increase” the Republican majority. He took over after Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield was fired from the speaker’s office.

Billions of dollars have been spent by parties and outside groups in the narrow battleground for both the 435-member House and the 100-member Senate.

Republicans have put Senate Democrats on the defensive in a wide map of many states favoring the GOP, with little control over the House.

In Ohio, Trump-backed Republican Bernie Moreno, a Cleveland businessman, is seeking to unseat three-term Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown. Approximately $400 million was spent on the race.

One of the most watched Senate races in Montana may be among the last to be decided. Democrat Jon Tester, a popular three-term senator and “dirt farmer,” is fighting for his political career against Trump-backed Tim Sheehy, a former NAVY Seal who has made derogatory comments about Native Americans, a key Western constituency. situation.

Beyond the “blue wall” battlegrounds of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, Republicans are banking on Trump as they try to unseat three incumbent Democratic senators.

Outgoing Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has spent his career focused on gaining and maintaining majority power, but other opportunities for Republicans are shifting toward long shots.

In the southwestern states, Arizona’s firebrand Republican Kari Lake is running against Democrat Ruben Gallego in the seat opened by the retirement of independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. In Nevada, Democratic Senator Jacky Rosen is holding out against new Republican Sam Brown.

Democrats have stepped up their challenges to a pair of Republican senators — Ted Cruz of Texas and Rick Scott of Florida — in states where reproductive rights are a focus in the wake of the attack. Supreme Court decision to roll back access to abortion. Cruz is facing Democrat Colin Allred, a Dallas-area congressman, while Scott poured $10 million of his own fortune into the race against former House lawmaker Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.

What started as a lackluster race for control of Congress instantly transformed as Harris replaced Biden in the top spot, energizing Democrats with massive fundraising and volunteers; lawmakers said 2008 reminded them of the Obama-era euphoria.

Congress has the opportunity to achieve many history-making milestones as it is reshaped by American voters and more representative of a diverse nation.

Not one, but possibly two Black women may be heading to the Senate, which would be something never seen before in the United States.

Delaware Democrat Lisa Blunt Rochester is favored in the Senate race against Republican Eric Hansen.

And in Maryland, Harris ally Angela Alsobrooks is in a highly competitive race against Republican Larry Hogan, the state’s popular former governor.

Americans have elected two Black women, including Harris, as senators since the nation’s founding, but never at the same time.

House candidate Sarah McBride, a Delaware state lawmaker who is close to the Biden family, is preparing to become the first transgender person to appear in Congress.

The consequences of redistricting also change the balance of power within the House of Representatives, as states redraw their maps for congressional districts; Republicans are poised to take several seats from Democrats in North Carolina, with Democrats picking up a second black-majority Republican-dominated seat. Alabama

While lawmakers in the House of Representatives appear before voters every two years, senators serve longer terms of six years.

If the two chambers do indeed engage in reverse party control, which is possible, it would be rare.

Records show that if Democrats take the House of Representatives and Republicans take the Senate, the halls of Congress will turn to opposing political parties for the first time.

Mascaro and Jalonick write for the Associated Press. AP writers Stephen Groves, Kevin Freking and Farnush Amiri contributed to this report.