A waitress, mechanic and Nascar driver is running for US Congress

In November, American voters will not only choose their 47th president, but will also decide on the future of the US Congress.

All 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and 33 seats in the Senate will be elected on November 5.

The two major parties currently share control of Congress, with Republicans leading the House of Representatives and Democrats holding the Senate, both by a narrow margin.

Regardless of whether voters send Donald Trump or Kamala Harris to the White House, the party that wins a majority on both sides of Capitol Hill will have a greater influence on implementing its own agenda.

So who are some of the most interesting congressional job seekers, and how could the outcome of their race affect the balance of power in American politics?

Polls suggest Republicans may regain control of the Senate after likely victories in Montana and West Virginia, but unrest may be growing in their traditional stronghold of Nebraska.

Independent candidate Dana Osborne is turning heads with his challenge to two-term Republican Sen. Deb Fischer. A recent internal poll shows him leading Fischer by two points.

Osborn, 49, served in the U.S. Navy and National Guard.

He worked as an industrial machinery mechanic at a Kellogg's cereal factory in Omaha, where, as head of the local union, he led a strike in 2021. The 77-day strike forced the company to withdraw a proposal to cut benefits and keep the plant open until 2026.

Currently working as a specialty pipefitter, Osborn offers Nebraskans a path outside the two-party system as an independent candidate. Democrats implicitly support his candidacy by not running their own candidate.

The tougher-than-expected challenge facing Fischer has also attracted the attention of national Republicans, who are now pouring money into the race.

Sen. Sherrod Brown is the last left-wing Democratic statewide elected official in Ohio, but the state's right-wing trend is threatening his re-election bid.

Republicans – who need only exchange two seats to regain the Senate – are confident in their candidate, Berniego Morenothis is the man who will finally dethrone Brown.

Born in Bogota, Colombia, Moreno came to the United States at the age of five. Over the course of nearly twenty years, he built one of the largest auto dealership groups in America, the award-winning Collection Auto Group. In recent years, Moreno has also invested in blockchain technology.

Moreno, currently running as an America First candidate endorsed by Donald Trump, says that if he wins, he will bring commonsense business principles to Congress – a motto that other GOP candidates have sought to replicate in the post-Trump era.

Moreno, 57, is also part of a growing wave of minority candidates running under the Republican Party banner and if elected, he will be Ohio's first Latino senator.

Removing an incumbent legislator in a highly partisan district is an increasingly difficult feat in the polarized United States. Democrat Janelle Stelson he seems ready to do just that.

Stelson has been appearing on local television in central Pennsylvania since 1986, making her a familiar and new face to voters.

Two other longtime news anchors – Kari Lake of Arizona and John Avlon of New York – are also running for Congress this year, but neither has as strong a polling figure as Stelson, who is trying to unseat six-term Republican Scott Perry on the right. tilted congressional district.

Perry is the former chairman of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus and a leading figure in Trump's campaign to overturn the 2020 election.

Stelson, who was a registered Republican until last year, called him an election denier, but that was not a central issue of her campaign.

Democrats' approach reflects a consensus that voter denial is no longer an issue among voters.

Instead, the 64-year-old is criticizing Perry for his voting record and obstructionist style, while sparking liberal outrage over efforts to restrict abortion.

Few candidates running this election cycle have such a fascinating life story Sam BrownRepublican Party candidate for Senate in Nevada.

By his own admission, the former US Army captain should not be alive today.

In 2008, after four months of deployment to Kandahar, Afghanistan, a roadside bomb exploded under his vehicle and set it on fire. When the fire was extinguished, almost a third of his body, including his face, was severely burned.

The graduate of the West Point military academy was forced to medically retire and spent the next three years in intensive physical rehabilitation.

He then married a burn unit dietitian with whom he now has three children, completed an MBA program, and started a small business that provided critical medical care to other veterans.

With that record, many expected Brown, 41, to pose a tough challenge to Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada in her re-election bid. Brown, however, remains far behind, and polls suggest Rosen may win.

Abortion access loomed large in the race, as Rosen and her allies took to the airwaves to warn that Brown would have one more vote for potential abortion restrictions.

More importantly, while Brown has the support of mainstream Republicans such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, his support from Trump's ever-growing wing is much softer. Trump himself was slow to endorse Brown, and many of his staunch supporters campaigned for other candidates in the Republican primaries.

Democrats have struggled to win in small town America as rural residents increasingly turn to the Republican Party, but liberal candidates across the country are still betting that they can prevail in a tight race against controversial figures.

w Wisconsin, Rebecca CookeThe 36-year-old wants to move the congressional seat held by Republican Derrick Van Orden back to her party's column.

Van Orden, a first-term lawmaker and former U.S. Navy serviceman, has often made headlines with his public outbursts, from dressing teenage Senate parties in the Capitol building to harassing President Joe Biden during this year's State of the Union address.

Cooke, who campaigns to lower costs, expand access to health care and pass commonsense gun laws, was born and raised on a dairy farm in the central part of a state known as “America's Dairyland.”

A former small business owner who runs a nonprofit and works as a waitress says Van Orden is more interested in “picking fights and climbing ladders” than fulfilling his legislative duties.

Cooke's profile matches that of Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a small business owner who won a narrow victory in rural Washington state over a far-right voter denier two years ago.

Perez's re-election and Cooke's victory in November could go a long way toward securing their party's House majority.

Representing a swing district in Maine, Democrat Jared Golden has made a career in Washington, often opposing his own party on issues like energy and the environment.

But as Golden seeks a fifth term, he faces a challenge from a state legislator and former stock car driver Austina from Theriau.

Theriault, 30, comes from a logging and farming family with deep roots in the northern tip of Maine, south of Canada.

Trained to race since the age of 13, the Republican broke records in 2017 and drove alongside Nascar legend Kenny Schrader on his way to being crowned Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) Racing Series national champion.

From driving the “Maine State Car” on America's most famous highways to mentoring, managing and training several younger drivers, Theriault translated his love for his home state into a term in the state House of Representatives. He now hopes to be a voice for Mainers in the nation's capital.

Another former professional athlete is running for office this year. Colin Allred, formerly a linebacker for the National Football League's Tennessee Titans, hopes he will be the one to finally break the statewide Democratic streak in Texas and end the political career of inflammatory Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.

The fight over abortion access has galvanized Democrats at the national, state and local levels since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade two years ago.

In the swing state of Arizona, Amis Shah tells voters that Republican-backed restrictions on abortion force doctors like him to “choose between fulfilling our oath to the patient” or “going to jail.”

The Indian-American served three terms in the state House of Representatives, boasting bipartisan achievements and a professed love of public service.

Now that he's running for U.S. Congress, his experience as an emergency room doctor is coming to the forefront in his bid to unseat seven-term Republican lawmaker David Schweikert.

Schweikert, who recently left a candidate forum scheduled for him and his competitor, says he is opposed to abortion and declined to say directly how he would vote on a federal abortion ban.

Concerns about abortion limits were especially pronounced in the Grand Canyon State. The repeal of Roe in 2022 implemented a long-dormant Civil War-era law that criminalized all abortions except when the woman's life was in danger. State lawmakers ultimately voted to repeal the law.

Arizona is also one of several states where voters will receive a ballot guaranteeing abortion rights.