US midterm polls: Trump admits Republicans could lose the House as current predictions say Democrats will win

The election is just four days away

Trump releases one of most racist political adverts for decades on eve of election

Donald Trump has said Republicans could lose control of the US House as the 2018 midterm elections are just four days away.

At a "Make America Great Again" political rally in Iowa the president said: "It could happen. Could happen. And you know what you do? My whole life, you know what I say? 'Don't worry about it, I'll just figure it out.' Does that make sense? I'll figure it out."

It was an uncharacteristic lack of confidence from the usually bombastic leader but experts have predicted Democrats could win the 24 seats it needs to gain control of the lower house of Congress for the first time since 2010.

The polling data shows, however, the Senate will still likely be controlled by conservatives.

This year's election will break all manner of records in terms of spending as well. According to the Centre for Responsive Politics, approximately $5.2bn will be spent in this year's midterms.

In one race alone $93m has been spent to get the Senate seat from Texas. Democrat and current US House Democrat Beto O'Rourke and Republican incumbent Ted Cruz have been trading barbs as poll numbers show a tight race.

In Georgia, Democratic governor candidate Stacey Abrams looks to make history as the first female African-American governor in the country's history. Controversy abounds as opponent Republican Brian Kemp is also the Georgia secretary of state who would be in charge of a possible runoff election should neither candidate receives 50 per cent of the vote.

Barack Obama and Oprah have joined Ms Abrams on the campaign trail and former president Jimmy Carter has even asked Mr Kemp to resign from his current position in light of his candidacy.

In Florida, Andrew Gillum, the current Democratic Mayor of Tallahassee, squares off with Republican Ron DeSantis in an important race for the president as he begins campaigning for his 2020 re-election bid.

Amid the debates on healthcare policy and taxes, a migrant caravan of approximately 7,000 people still 1,000 miles away from the US-Mexico border has been in the headlines on the campaign trail.

Mr Trump a video he tweeted showing a Mexican migrant smiling and boasting about killing police officers is “tough but correct”.

The US president shared the video ahead of the midterm elections on 6 November.

Both Democrats and Republicans have denounced the video as a racist campaign tactic.

To see how the day unfolded follow our coverage below

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Key Points

• Here are 7 things to look out for in the 2018 midterms
• A migrant caravan has become a contentious point on the campaign trail 
• Democrats appear to be confident about regaining control of the US House

[2 November 2018 18:27 · Mythili Sampathkumar]

Voter suppression efforts have taken centre stage in the Georgia governor case between Republican and current secretary of State Brian Kemp and Stacey Abrams, the Democratic candidate looking to become the first female African-American governor in US history. 

A federal judge has just ruled against Mr Kemp, striking down his controversial "exact match" policy which put several people's voter registrations at risk. Mr Kemp maintained that the policy was just enforcing Georgia law and done to clamp down on voter fraud. 

Nearly 50,000 absentee ballots had been initially rejected in Gwinnett County alone before another judge intervened and ruled against that Board of Elections. 

The policy would have labelled all those ballots "pending" if the registration did not match the Department of Motor Vehicles and Social Security Administration's records. But, those records are often not updated in time for elections. 

The ruling now allows those voters to cast regular ballots if they provide proof of US citizenship to poll workers. 

[2 November 2018 18:59 · Mythili Sampathkumar]

If you're looking for a more visual explanation of the 2018 midterms, we have just the piece for you. 

Take a look at these five graphs to make sense of it all ahead of 6 November: 

[2 November 2018 19:30 · Mythili Sampathkumar]

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, a frequent target of Republican political advertisements this year, is confident her party will gain the 24 seats needed to gain control of the lower house of Congress for the first since 2010.

[2 November 2018 20:26 · Mythili Sampathkumar]

  ↵The migrant caravan - with thousands of women and children fleeing rampant gang violence and poverty - has been slowly making its way to the US-Mexico border. 

It is still more than 1,000 miles away but that has not stopped Mr Trump from running advertisements and impassioned giving speeches at his "Make America Great Again" rallies about how he opposes illegal immigration. 

You can follow our live updates here: 

[2 November 2018 20:41 · Chris Stevenson]

At a rally in West Virginia Donald Trump has admitted for the first time that his Republican Party could lose control of the House of Representatives. His solution? "I'll figure it out" if it happens.

 

[2 November 2018 20:55 · Mythili Sampathkumar]

Those are all the updates we have on the midterms for today, but check out all our coverage on the 2018 midterms - including field reporting from California, Florida, Texas, Georgia, and Tennessee ahead of 6 November. 

Read it all here!