By Julia Schilz

The much-anticipated midterm elections are a week away! They are set to be the most expensive election in American history, with a total of $4.7 billion being spent to reach voters. Due to a multitude of factors (the 2016 Presidential Election, the #MeToo movement, etc.), a historic number of female candidates are running for office, which is very exciting. Most recently, the Kavanaugh confirmation created a stir of strong reactions across the board; this big event is expected to drive more voters to the polls from both parties.

Here are a few noteworthy midterm races to keep your eye on:

Indiana Senate: incumbent Joe Donnelly (D) vs. Mike Braun (R)

  • This race is much-anticipated because Trump won Indiana in 2016 by a significant margin. Politically, Donnelly has been moving increasingly toward the center ahead of this election (for example, he broke with his party to vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court). Come November 6, we will see if this strategy worked!

Arizona Senate: Rep. Martha McSally (R) vs. Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D)

  • Arizona Senator Jeff Flake is retiring this year, and his seat will be filled by either Rep. McSally or Rep. Sinema. This race is a toss-up, especially since Trump only narrowly won Arizona in 2016.

Texas Senate: incumbent Ted Cruz (R) vs. Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D)

  • Though Texas is a pretty reliably red state, (relatively) younger candidate Beto O’Rourke has received a large amount of funding and unprecedented popularity.

Georgia Governor: Stacey Abrams (D) vs. Brian Kemp (R)

  • This one has been watched for a while because if Stacey Abrams wins, she will become the nation’s first African-American female governor. Also, lately there has been some drama surrounding Brian Kemp’s current role as Georgia’s secretary of state. This position means that he will oversee the state’s election, despite the fact that he is a candidate. Jimmy Carter, a former Georgia governor, as well as civil rights groups, has petitioned Kemp to step down from this position to ensure public trust in the election process. As of now, he has not. We’ll see how this all plays out in the coming weeks…