The United States will be holding mid-term elections on Tuesday, 2 November. UNIvers sat down with Dr. Derek Beach, an associate professor from the U.S. who has taught in the Aarhus University Political Science Department since 2003.

In this podcast, Beach breaks down the Tea Party movement, looks at some of the major issues that will dictate the outcome on Tuesday and discusses whether or not the this the outcomes of this election will affect U.S.-European relations.

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• Duration: 25.25 min.
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Quick facts  - US politics:

• There are two chambers of the U.S. federal government – the House of Representative and the Senate. Members of the House of Representatives are up for reelection every two years, so all 435 seats are being contested on Tuesday. In the Senate, members are elected to six-year terms; this year, 37 of the 100 Senate seats are up for grabs.
• Currently, the Senate has 59 Democrats and 41 Republicans, and the House has 255 Democrats and 178 Republicans. Republicans, however, are currently polling better than Democrats, and many people expect that the current Democratic majority in the House and Senate will challenged.