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)

GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador (AP) — A probe into the military's role in the disappearance of four children in Ecuador this month was delayed for almost two weeks, even though police had access to surveillance videos showing soldiers taking two of the children, The Associated Press has learned.

The case of the children, aged 11 to 15, who went missing on Dec. 8 in the coastal city of Guayaquil after playing a soccer, has struck a nerve in Ecuador, with rights groups and the public demanding information about their whereabouts and asking that the case be investigated as a forced disappearance.

The surveillance video was handed in to authorities a day after the children went missing, two persons familiar with the investigation told the AP. But an investigation of the military’s role in the disappearance was not announced until 15 days later.

The two spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the case. The probe only started after the children's families went on local news channels and social media to demand more action from authorities.

The security footage, showing men in military uniform grabbing two boys and driving off with them in a pickup truck, became public earlier this week. The two children in the video are believed to be among the four who disappeared that night.

On Tuesday, four badly charred bodies were found near an air force base in the city of Taura, officials said, and they were looking into whether the bodies could be of the missing children.

Later that day, 16 soldiers from the base were arrested. Investigators said it could take up to a month to confirm if the bodies are of the children because their fingerprints had been burnt off and forensic workers will have to extract DNA fragments from bones or teeth for identification purposes.

The soldiers are due to appear at a hearing next Tuesday, where they are expected to be charged with the forced disappearance of the children, according to the Attorney General’s Office.

Ecuador’s Defense Minister, Gian Carlo Lofffredo said Thursday that the 16 soldiers will also be questioned by a military tribunal and that the patrol linked to the disappeared children had not been authorized by officers at the Taura base.

Ecuador’s police deferred questions from the AP about the videos to the national prosecutor’s office, which declined to respond. The Ministry of Defense and the Ecuadorean army also did not respond to questions about the footage.

Violence in Ecuador intensified in January after a gang leader escaped from prison amid deadly riots. Two days later, members of another drug gang attacked a television channel and interrupted a live broadcast to make demands to the government.

President Daniel Noboa's government has leaned on the military to curb gang violence . However, the military has now been implicated in several abuses, including the disappearance of two children in August in the central province of Los Rios, and the case of a 19-year-old who was fatally shot by the military at a checkpoint on a road in Guayaquil.

Noboa has promised to reduce violence as he prepares to run for reelection in February.

But many Ecuadorians have expressed their discontent as the homicide rate has tripled in the South American country since 2021, and extortion by drug gangs has forced thousands of people to migrate to the United States.

People protest outside the prosecutor's office against the disappearance of four children who were last seen on Dec. 8 running away from a military convoy in Guayaquil, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. The sign reads in Spanish "Where are our children? The four from Guayaquil, Ecuador." (AP Photo/Cesar Munoz)

People protest outside the prosecutor's office against the disappearance of four children who were last seen on Dec. 8 running away from a military convoy in Guayaquil, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Cesar Munoz)

A mural of a child and the Spanish message "Where are they?" cover a wall in protest of the disappearance of four children who were last seen on Dec. 8 running away from a military convoy in Guayaquil, Monday, Dec. 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Cesar Munoz)