US Midterm Elections: Bitter Fight For Senate

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Video: US Midterms: It's Now Or Never

By Dominic Waghorn, US Correspondent

Americans are voting in midterm elections that could see Barack Obama's Democratic Party lose control of the Senate.

Unprecedented amounts of money have been thrown at campaigns fuelling a vitriolic hatefest of advertising.

In North Carolina alone, more than 10,000 ads have been produced, most of them negative and costing a record $100m. That is more than three times what was spent by all the parties in the UK's last General Election.

The entire US House of Representatives is up for re-election, and a third of the Senate as well as 36 governorships.

The Republican-controlled House is not expected to change hands, but Republicans need to pick up only six Senate seats to end up in control of both chambers of legislative government.

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Gallery: Midterms: Election Day In America

Polls are open in the US midterm elections

Some 90 million Americans are expected to cast ballots on Election Day

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Voters line up early in North Carolina

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The vote comes at the end of months of expensive, fierce campaigning

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Their hopes are buoyed by dissatisfaction with the Obama presidency, a barely recovering economy, general anxiety about the country's direction and more specific fears about Ebola and Islamic State.

Out of the 36 Senate races, only a handful are competitive but nearly all those "in play" races are in states that have been leaning Republican.

Despite all that, a Republican Senate takeover is still not a certainty.

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Voters fatigued with political gridlock and negative advertising appear to wish a plague on both parties, blaming the entire political class for the sense of drift and paralysis gripping America.

At a food truck rodeo in Durham, North Carolina, Americans were unsparing in their contempt for politicians and their campaigns.

"They're horrible, they're so negative," a teacher told Sky News. "They make me feel dirty when I watch them.

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"I'll be glad when it's Tuesday and all the signs have gone away."

An Elvis impersonator told us he had given up on the entire political elite.

"I think they're equally bad, there's not a lot of integrity on either side. You can't find a particular side that has any amount of integrity."

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Gallery: Midterm Elections By The Numbers

Some 90 million voters, or about 40% of the electorate, are expected to cast ballots.

The House is expected to remain in Republicans' hands

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The most likely winners are the Republicans who may just clinch control of the Senate but probably only by a narrow margin.

Many disgruntled voters want to send a message to the Democrats but they are in no mood to reward the other party either.

The losers could well be the voters, who are tired of negative campaigns, exhausted by political gridlock and almost certain to face more of the same for another two years.

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