It's a fight to the finish in races that will determine control of Congress

WASHINGTON (AP) — The final doors are being knocked, ads are blaring and candidates are making a last pitch to voters. Even with the high-energy final push, the races for control of Congress are at a stalemate, essentially a toss-up for the House and fight to the finish for the Senate.

The outcome of Tuesday's election will shape the country’s future, determining whether the new White House has allies or skeptics on Capitol Hill — or faces a divided Congress like this past session, which has been among the most tumultuous and unproductive in modern times.

As voters assess their presidential options between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris, they also are sizing up who will represent them in Congress.

“This is why I’m an independent,” said voter Gary Motta of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, who isn't happy with either choice for president, as he showed up at an early Sunday morning event for Republican Kevin Coughlin, who is trying to unseat Democratic Rep. Emilia Sykes.

The struggle for control of Congress has gone on for months. Candidates have tussled over the big issues — the economy, the border, reproductive health care and the future of democracy — but also over Congress itself, which had a chaotic session as the GOP-led House ousted its speaker and barely fended off government shutdowns.

This is the first presidential election since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, and many Republican lawmakers who voted against certifying Democrat Joe Biden's White House win over Trump are up for reelection.

Republican candidates, many backed by the former president, are finding themselves having to answer for him on several fronts. Among them is the decision by the Supreme Court, with three justices who were nominated by Trump, that ended the right to abortion access

Democrats face tough questions over the Biden-Harris record on the U.S.-Mexico border and on inflation during their time at the White House.

Most of the closely contested House campaigns are being waged beyond the presidential swing states, including in New York and California, where Republican Kevin McCarthy, who was ousted as speaker and then left Congress, had made inroads in his home state. Democrats under New York’s Hakeem Jeffries, the party's House leader, are now trying to win them back.

Starting Saturday, California Rep. Pete Aguilar, the Democratic caucus chairman, is making a nine-stop swing through the Golden State to win back seats.

“There’s a lot of energy out there,” said Washington Rep. Suzan DelBene, who leads the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, in an interview from Omaha, Nebraska, a surprising battleground, after a swing through New York. “We’re just working hard to get out the vote.”

She said there are “tons of volunteers on the ground, lots of energy, people very, very focused. They understand there’s a lot at stake.”

With the ever-escalating world of campaign fundraising, this election year stands apart: A whopping $2.5 billion is being spent to win the Senate and almost $1 billion on the House.

The Senate is the Republicans' to lose, a coda to the long stewardship of their party leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. He recruited wealthy Republican candidates, many backed by Trump, to face off against a half-dozen incumbent Democrats facing tough reelections.

In Montana, Democratic Sen. Jon Tester is in one of the most competitive races in the country that could flip control to Republicans. But a half-dozen more Senate races including in the "blue wall" of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, are as tight as the presidential race in those states.

But late-breaking shifts are injecting new uncertainty in other Senate races, putting Sen. Ted Cruz on defense in Republican-heavy Texas where Democratic Rep. Colin Allred has seen a surge of energy, including from Harris' star-studded rally in Houston with hometown hero Beyoncé. Nebraska independent Dan Osborne has caught Republicans off guard in Nebraska as he tries to unseat GOP Sen. Deb Fischer.

Oher Republican Senate candidates have stumbled.

In Ohio, Republican Bernie Moreno, who is facing Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, made comments critical of suburban women making abortion access a priority issue. Republican Tim Sheehy made derogatory remarks about Native Americans, a key voting bloc in his race against Tester in Montana.

As Republicans have outsourced their get-out-the-vote efforts to new groups, including Elon Musk's America PAC, the campaign committees have had to stand up their own to ensure that people vote.

Davide Cuigini, part of the Young Republicans working to turn out the vote for Moreno last weekend in Ohio, said, “Republicans are finally early voting, so that's gong to make a difference.”

Yet the energy on the Democratic side grew quickly once Harris replaced Biden on the Democratic ticket over the summer..

Democrat Angela Alsobrooks in Maryland, who could make history alongside Delaware's Lisa Blunt Rochester as Black women in the Senate, hosted former President Barack Obama last week. Alsobrooks is running against Larry Hogan, a popular former governor.

In the House, Democrats have seen several races shift their way, according to nonpartisan analysts. But others, in Alaska and an open seat in Michigan, tilt toward Republicans. Two of the House’s longest serving lawmakers are in the fights of their political lives in Ohio and California.

Still, a internal DCCC memo showed 21 of 25 contested seats still close, one week from the election.

There are also unusual battlegrounds, including what Nebraskans call the “blue dot” around Omaha, where Republican Rep. Don Bacon faces a challenge from Democrat Tony Vargas.

The outcome of the races will be a test of House leadership under Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. He said at a recent stop near Akron, Ohio, that with the GOP's “winsome warriors” as candidates, he knows they will win.

Jeffries, in line to become House speaker if Democrats take control, said he has decided to " remain calm, " even if the possibility of unexpected events keeps him up at night.

If the two chambers do in fact flip party control, as is possible, it would be rare.

Records show that if Democrats take the House and Republicans take the Senate, it would be the first time that the chambers of Congress have both flipped to opposing political parties.

“This election is a very big deal," said Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, campaigning for a fellow Democrat in one of his state''s House races.

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Associated Press writers Lea Skene in Baltimore and Stephen Groves and Kevin Freking contributed to this report.

FILE - This combination of images shows from left, Democratic Maryland Senate candidate Angela Alsobrooks in Chicago, Aug. 20, 2024, and Republican opponent, former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan in Annapolis, on Aug. 27, 2024. (AP Photo Erin Hooley, left; and AP Photo Stephanie Scarbrough, File)

President Joe Biden, left, walks with Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del., after having breakfast at The Legend Restaurant & Bakery, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in New Castle, Del. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

FILE - This combination of images shows from left, Independent Nebraska Senate candidate Dan Osborn, left, in Omaha, Neb., on May 15, 2024, and opponent, Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., in Washington on March 14, 2023. (Nikos Frazier/Omaha World-Herald via AP, left; and AP Photo Alex Brandon, File)

FILE - This combination of images shows from left, Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, in Washington, on Dec. 7, 2022, and Republican opponent Bernie Moreno, in Vandalia, Ohio, on March 16, 2024. (AP Photo Mariam Zuhaib and AP Photo Jeff Dean, File)

FILE - This combination of images shows from left, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in Oklahoma City, on April 13, 2022, and Democratic opponent, Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, in Chicago, on Aug. 22, 2024. (AP Photo Sue Ogrocki, left; and Paul Sancya, File)

FILE - This combination of images shows from left, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, and opponent, Republican Montana Senate candidate Tim Sheehy, during a debate in Missoula, Mont., on Sept. 30, 2024. (Ben Allan Smith/The Missoulian via AP, File)

FILE - Nebraska state Sen. Tony Vargas of Omaha speaks at an Education Committee hearing in Lincoln, Neb., Jan 30, 2017. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik, File)

FILE - U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., speaks following a closed-door GOP meeting at the Capitol in Washington, Oct. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., during an interview with The Associated Press, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024, in Irvine, Calif. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks during an interview with The Associated Press at the Lucas County Republican Party headquarters in Holland, Ohio, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. An image of former President Ronald Reagan is seen behind. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A federal jury on Friday convicted a former Kentucky police detective of using excessive force on Breonna Taylor during a botched 2020 drug raid that left her dead.

The 12-member jury returned the late-night verdict after clearing Brett Hankison earlier in the evening on a charge that he used excessive force on Taylor's neighbors.

It was the first conviction of a Louisville police officer who was involved in the deadly raid.

“Breonna Taylor’s life mattered," said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “We hope the jury’s verdict recognizing this violation of Ms. Taylor’s civil and constitutional rights brings some small measure of comfort to her family and loved ones who have suffered so deeply from the tragic events of March 2020.”

Some members of the jury were in tears as the verdict was read around 9:30 p.m. They had earlier indicated to the judge in two separate messages that they were deadlocked on the charge of using excessive force on Taylor, but chose to continue deliberating. The six man, six woman jury deliberated for more than 20 hours over three days.

Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer, celebrated the verdict with friends outside the federal courthouse, saying: “It took a lot of time. It took a lot of patience. It was hard. The jurors took their time to really understand that Breonna deserved justice.”

Hankison fired 10 shots into Taylor's glass door and windows during the raid, but didn't hit anyone. Some shots flew into a next-door neighbor's adjoining apartment.

The death of the 26-year-old Black woman, along with the May 2020 police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis sparked racial injustice protests nationwide.

Bernice King, the daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., called the verdict "a long-awaited moment of accountability."

“While it cannot restore Breonna to her family, it represents a crucial step in the pursuit of justice and a reminder that no one should be above the law,” King said in a social media post Friday night.

A separate jury deadlocked on federal charges against Hankison last year, and he was acquitted on state charges of wanton endangerment in 2022.

The conviction against Hankison carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. He will be sentenced on March 12 by U.S. District Judge Rebecca Grady Jennings.

Hankison, 48, argued throughout the trial that he was acting to protect his fellow officers after Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, fired on them when they broke down Taylor’s door with a battering ram.

This jury sent a note on Thursday to the judge asking whether they needed to know if Taylor was alive as Hankison fired his shots.

That was a point of contention during closing arguments, when Hankison’s attorney Don Malarcik told the jury that prosecutors must “prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Ms. Taylor was alive” when Hankison fired.

After the jury sent the question, Jennings urged them to keep deliberating.

Walker shot and wounded one of the officers. Hankison testified that when Walker fired, he moved away, rounded the corner of the apartment unit and fired into Taylor’s glass door and a window.

Meanwhile, officers at the door returned Walker’s fire, hitting and killing Taylor, who was in a hallway.

Hankison’s lawyers argued during closing statements Wednesday that Hankison was acting properly “in a very tense, very chaotic environment” that lasted about 12 seconds. They emphasized that Hankison’s shots didn’t hit anyone.

Hankison was one of four officers charged by the U.S. Department of Justice in 2022 with violating Taylor’s civil rights. Hankison's verdict is the second conviction from those cases. The first was a plea deal from a former officer who was not at the raid and became a cooperating witness in another case.

Malarcik, Hankison’s attorney, spoke at length during closing arguments about the role of Taylor’s boyfriend, who fired the shot that hit former Sgt. John Mattingly at the door. He said Walker never tried to come to the door or turn the lights on as police were knocking and instead armed himself and hid in the dark.

“Brett Hankison was 12 inches away from being shot by Kenneth Walker,” Malarcik said.

Prosecutors said Hankison acted recklessly, firing 10 shots into doors and a window where he couldn’t see a target.

They said in closing arguments that Hankison “violated one of the most fundamental rules of deadly force: If they cannot see the person they’re shooting at, they cannot pull the trigger.”

Neither of the officers who shot Taylor — Mattingly and former Detective Myles Cosgrove — were charged in Taylor’s death. Federal and state prosecutors have said those officers were justified in returning fire, since Taylor’s boyfriend shot at them first.

Breonna Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer, center left, hugs a friend in Louisville, Ky., Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, after a former Kentucky police officer was convicted in federal court for using excessive force when he fired his gun during the deadly raid that left Taylor dead in 2020. (AP Photo/Dylan Lovan)

FILE - Former Louisville Police officer Brett Hankison describes what he saw in the apartment of Brionna Taylor during testimony Wednesday, March 2, 2022, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, Pool, File)

FILE - This photo provided by the Louisville Metro police department shows officer Brett Hankison. (Louisville Police Department via AP, File)