As the presidential race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris enters its final stretch, candidates in competitive congressional contests are making their final pitches to secure votes.
The races could determine which party wins a majority in the House of Representatives and Senate, which impacts the next president’s ability to carry out their agenda.
Republicans currently hold a small majority in the House but crucial races could see control flip to the Democrats.
Democrats currently have a 51-49 majority in the Senate.
All 435 seats in the House of Representatives will be on the ballot this election cycle, while 34 seats in the Senate are up for grabs.
Here are three competitive congressional races to watch with less than a week until Election Day:
Michigan Senate
The Great Lakes state is a highly-contested presidential battleground in the 2024 presidential race but a very competitive Senate battle has also emerged in the state.
Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D) and former Rep. Mike Rogers (R) are competing to fill the seat of outgoing Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D) in a contest that is polling tighter over time.
Slotkin was considered the favorite to replace Stabenow’s seat but a poll conducted over the weekend by InsiderAdvantage shows the candidates are now tied within the poll’s margin of error of 3.7 percentage points.
Slotkin currently represents Michigan’s 7th congressional district since 2019. She previously worked for the Central Intelligence Agency and the Department of Defense.
Rogers represented Michigan’s 8th Congressional District from 2001 to 2015. He previously worked as an FBI special agent and served in the Michigan State Senate.
New York’s 4th Congressional District
Long Island is home to some of New York’s most competitive House contests, including the race for the 4th congressional district, which is a Democratic-leaning district currently represented by a Republican.
Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R) is seeking to retain his seat against Democratic challenger Laura Gillen in the district with a majority of registered Democrats.
The race is a rematch after D’Esposito beat Democrat Laura Gillen for the district’s open House seat by 3.6 points in 2022.
The nonpartisan Cook Political Report places their 2024 rematch as a “toss-up.” The race could be the key to the Democratic majority in the House.
D’Esposito is a former New York Police Department detective and has often accused his opponent of having a soft-on–crime approach. However, Gillen, a former town supervisor, has pledged to increase law enforcement if elected to office.
Texas Senate
One of the most expensive and closely-watched Senate races is happening in deep red Texas, where incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz is locked in a tight race against Democratic challenger Rep. Colin Allred.
A poll, released Tuesday by The University of Texas at Tyler, found Cruz leading at 47 percent among likely voters compared to Allred’s 45 percent.
Cruz is leading Allred 48.9 percent to 45.5 percent, according to the latest data from polling tracker FiveThirtyEight.
Cruz, a well-known GOP senator and outspoken supporter of Trump, has a tough stance on border policies.
Allred, a former NFL linebacker and three-term congressman from Dallas, entered the race largely unknown among voters compared to the incumbent Cruz. But his name recognition has improved during the election cycle. The congressman is leaning on the crucial Democratic stronghold of Houston to win the election. Allred would become the state’s first Black senator if elected.
When elected in 2012, Cruz became Texas’s first Hispanic-American to serve in the U.S. Senate.