High-stakes midterms will decide control of Congress

Let's go out to Fox 5's Sydney Persing, live on the Hill as we speak. Sydney. This is exactly what you could really call go time now. Polls started to close across the country just over an hour ago. As you heard there, the AP has already started to call some races. We'll get into that in just a moment. But first, we know that all eyes across the country and really eyes across the world, they are all here on Capitol Hill tonight. We know what happens in these midterms with the balance of power doesn't just have national implications, but also real foreign policy implications. So there are a lot of people all across the world who are waiting and watching tonight as these results come in. Let's talk about the polls. As we've talked to you tonight, we obviously know that polling has widely favored Democrats to have a successful night. I can tell you that congressional Democrats are cautiously optimistic as they wait for these numbers to come in. They believe they'll have a good night. They're hoping to have a great or even historic night. Congressional Republicans, they've really pushed back over the last several days and weeks on those numbers, arguing polling is an imperfect science and that Republicans are very often underrepresented in polling. So as far as how accurate those numbers are, we're going to have to wait and see. And we're probably going to have a pretty good idea here soon. So let's pull up these graphics. Start with the House of Representatives, as you mentioned, 435 seats up for grabs tonight. As those races come in, as they're called by the AP, you're going to see them update here. So as you can see right now, the AP has called three races for Democrats, one for Republicans. The magic number tonight, that's 218 in the House. And polls, again, have widely favored Republicans, or excuse me, Democrats to succeed there. Now you're looking at that graphic for the Senate. Thirty-five called for Democrats, 31 for Republicans. We know Republicans came in with the night with 31 and 35 for Democrats. So tonight, so far, the AP has just called that one race in favor of Democrats, as you heard there, Senator Mark Warner. We're going to continue to watch those closely. Important to note, though, before we move on from the Senate, Democrats really need a 51-seat majority. If it's a 50-50 tie, we know Vice President J.D. Vance, he has that tie-breaking vote. I want to move on to the president now for a moment. He believes this is the most important midterm election of our lifetime, and he really almost preemptively tried to get ahead of a potential loss, pointing to the fact that historically the party in power in the White House loses the midterms and said Republicans, they tried their best. But we know certainly President Trump does not want Republicans to lose tonight. He's rallied all across the country over the last month, probably will remember that he even promised Americans $5,000 each if Republicans held on to control of Congress. He, by the way, made some big news today on Election Day, saying this morning he'd be cutting off billions of dollars in aid to Israel by the end of the year. President Trump said Israel just doesn't need it anymore, but he also said he wants to take that talking point away from Democrats, so that certainly is relevant. Again, watching very big races here tonight, Ohio. Michigan, Alaska, Texas, just to name a few. Again, Democrats don't just want a good night. They are hoping for a historic night. We know that if Adam Hamilton, for example, wins in Kansas, he'd be the first Democrat to be elected to a Senate seat there in 94 years. Hakeem Jeffries, if he is eventually elected Speaker of the House, he would be the first Black Speaker of the House in American history. So a lot of eyes on what happens here in the Capitol tonight. We're going to continue to monitor those races as they're called by the Associated Press. And as soon as we have updates for you, we're going to bring them to you live on. On air and online. Jim Marina. Sydney, thank you.