The race for control of Congress is as close as ever, with barely two dozen House seats and a handful in the Senate likely to determine the majority this November and whether a single party sweeps to power with the White House.
Lawmakers are returning to Washington for a three-week legislative sprint, away from the campaign trail where races have become "trench warfare" and a seat-by-seat slog. Many of highest-profile races are being waged in Montana, New York, California and beyond, far from the presidential battleground states contested by Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris .
Upended by the summer shake-up that replaced President Joe Biden with Harris atop the Democratic ticket, the down-ballot campaigns enter this fall stretch at a virtual toss-up, a high-wire uncertainty where every single seat won or lost could make the difference in party control.
What's changed is not so much the fundamentals of the individual races, but which side has the energy and enthusiasm to make sure their voters actually show up and cast their ballots, strategists said.
Money, volunteers and voter enthusiasm are flowing to the Democratic campaigns since Harris replaced Biden. That's challenging Republicans who entered the election cycle favored for gains and buoyed by Trump's comeback bid, despite the criminal charges hanging over his potential return to the White House.
