Right now, Americans are voting in pivotal midterm elections.
President Donald Trump isn't on the ballot, but he has campaigned heavily in the lead-up to the election.
There's a good reason Mr Trump wants his most loyal supporters heading out to vote.
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| President Donald Trump would call the midterms a major victory if Republicans maintain control of the House and the Senate |
Everything from a massive personal victory to impeachment proceedings is on the table for the US President.
To help break down three possible outcomes, we've brought in some experts — Real Clear Politics White House correspondent Sally Persons and Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato's Crystal Ball at University of Virginia Center for Politics.
In case you're not aware, Republicans held a majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate before the midterms (if you want to know more about the basics of the election, you can head here).
1. Republicans keep control of the House and the Senate
This outcome would be a massive victory for Donald Trump and the Republican party.Sally Persons says the President would consider this a validation of his victory in 2016 as well as his agenda for the past two years.
"I think the President would personally attribute a lot of the Republican success to a validation of him," Ms Persons said.
As much as the President will be celebrating, Kyle Kondik says he will also be relieved.
"It'll be a relief to the President because the Republicans in the House would continue to treat him and his administration with kid gloves, in terms of using the investigatory powers of the House."
They won't want to make a sitting President look bad in the run up to 2020 after all.
In terms of the legislative agenda, Mr Kondik said we could expect Republicans to have "another shot" repealing or seriously changing the Affordable Care Act.
Republicans could also use the power of the Senate to keep shaping the judiciary, according to Mr Kondik.
"You might see one of the older conservative justices on the Supreme Court, maybe Clarence Thomas, would retire and give the Republicans a chance to confirm a new replacement," he said.
This outcome might not be all roses for the President though.
"If Republicans continue to hold everything, they would continue to be 100 per cent responsible for Washington. Which might actually not be where you'd want to be going into 2020," Mr Kondik said.
2. Democrats take the House, Republicans keep the Senate
This is the outcome that most experts, and polls, are predicting once the midterms are said and done.And Mr Kondik said it would mean immediate headaches for the President.
"The investigatory powers of the House will be unleashed on the President and the Executive Branch," he said.
"My guess is they would find things that would paint the President in a negative light. And that could be an important thing in the 2020 campaign."
Congress could also grind to a halt, with the only things like legislation to deal with the debt ceiling or preventing a government shutdown finding bipartisan consensus.
"For Democrats, winning the House is not necessarily about advancing a major agenda of their own; it's about preventing the Republicans from advancing their agenda," Mr Kondik said.
Mr Trump will also need to start worrying about impeachment.
A pre-midterms Ipsos poll for the Daily Beast found that "investigating and potentially impeaching" Mr Trump was the number one priority for self-identified Democratic voters.
Ms Persons said it's a question that the Democratic party will need to come to a position on.
"If they take the House, that [impeachment] will probably be one of the very first conversations that they have. It's something that the American public will probably expect to come up, based on what they've been hearing in the lead-up to these elections," she said.
3. Democrats take the House and the Senate
We're in "blue wave" territory here. |
| Losing Republican control of the House and the Senate would spell disaster for President Donald Trump's agenda -- and possibly his presidency. |
And uncharted waters for the Trump White House.
"What the President might say, or tweet, or attribute this blue wave to … I hesitate to make a prediction of what that might look like," Ms Persons said.
Problem number one, Mr Trump's agenda will likely be stalled until 2020.
"Congressional gridlock would happen. There could be the threat of a government shutdown," Mr Kondik said.
"The key thing is the Democrats could actually shut down the confirmation process for judicial nominees, which is pretty significant. The Republicans have really prioritised filling not just the Supreme Court but also other important lifetime federal judicial appointments."
Problem two, those House investigations into the President and the White House would have some extra teeth with a Democratic Senate backing them up.
And problem three, Democrats wouldn't be the only ones giving Mr Trump a hard time. A serious Republican challenger could try and win the nomination of the party for 2020.
"A challenger would have a more valid case to make to the party if there was a blue wave," Ms Persons said.
"To say 'look we tried this … we can safely say it failed and now I'm a better choice'".
Whether that would fly with Republican voters, and Mr Trump's most loyal supporters, is another argument entirely.
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