Implications of the U.S. midterm elections

美중간선거 투표시작… '트럼프 정부 2년 평가'

Only one place to start today.
The 2018 midterm elections in the U.S.
Normally these midterms, which come halfway through a president's four-year term, are not considered as big as the presidential election, but some pundits say this election so intriguing as it's considered a referendum on President Trump, a love him or hate him leader.
Our Cha Sang-mi joins me in the studio to tell us what we know so far.
We must stress that Americans are still casting ballots in most states so no results are out yet.
That said there's still plenty of talk about so Sangmi, welcome to our studio.

Hi Mark.

So, the polls haven't closed yet... tell us about the seats up for grabs in the House.

That's right Mark, the polls opened at 5 a.m. local time in Vermont and other states on the East Coast have followed.. millions of voters are still casting their ballots.
The polls will close at around 6 to 9 p.m., according to each states and we will start getting the results in the next few hours.
As for the seats for grabs, there are two chambers in Congress.
In the lower chamber,.. the House of Representatives, all 435 seats are on the line.
Then, in the upper chamber,.. the Senate, there are 100 seats... but this time around, only about a third of them... 35 seats are being contended.
At the moment, Republicans control both chambers.
In the House, they hold a 235-to-193 majority.
So, for Democrats to take control of the House, they will need to flip 23 seats.
Those seats are apportioned based on the relative population of each state, so California, for instance, gets the most with 53 seats -- Alaska... gets one.
The members serve two-year terms.
It's much tighter in the Senate, where the Republicans have only two more.
Senators serve for six years and each state gets two, regardless of population.
The current Congress runs until January 3rd.

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