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It was a long day and a long night of counting in the US. Here's a quick recap of where things stand.

• It is still unclear who will control either the Senate or the House of Representatives
• All eyes are on the undecided upper house Senate races in Arizona and Nevada
• It could very well all come down to Georgia's contest which will head to a run off on 6 December

• Republicans are still favoured to take the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, but face the growing prospect of an ultra-slim majority
• President Joe Biden celebrated Tuesday's results, saying Democrats defied history by resisting major losses

• Former President Donald Trump commented on the results via his social media platform, calling the elections both "somewhat disappointing" and also "a very big victory"

The midterms decide the make-up of Congress every two years and there's a lot to get your head around, especially if you're not particularly clued up on US politics.

To break it down, Congress is the legislative body that makes nationwide laws.

It’s made up of two separate chambers - the House of Representatives, which is most often known just as the House, and the Senate.

The House has 435 members, with each state given a number of seats based on population.

It also decides which laws are voted on.

Meanwhile, the Senate has 100 members - two per state - and can block or approve laws and confirm appointments made by the president.

Most people will know that President Biden is a Democrat, so if Republicans gain control of either the House or the Senate, it's going to make it difficult for him to get things done.

That's a very basic take - you can read more about how it all works, here.

Barbara Plett Usher
North America correspondent in Washington

In the past two years, President Biden has been on the offensive. He's had sweeping bills dealing with climate change, competition with China, the pandemic and infrastructure.

But if the Republicans win control of the House of Representatives or the Senate, he will go on the defence.

The strategy will be to protect what has already passed and to implement it, but that will be under intense Republican scrutiny. So he and his allies are gearing up for a fight on those counts.

There will also be fights to get government spending passed, as well as fights to get money to Ukraine.

He will also expect a surge of investigations by House committees into things like his withdrawal from Afghanistan and the business activities of his son, Hunter Biden.

Despite this, the Democrats have been buoyed by the fact that these election results haven't resulted in the mass wave of Republican wins that were suggested by polls.

Republicans have been edging closer to a narrow majority in the House of Representatives - but they are not there yet.

Of the 435 seats in the House race, so far Republicans are ahead with 210 seats while Democrats have 192 seats.

House Republicans seem to have an easier path to cross the magic number of 218 needed for a majority, but a much narrower one than expected. Democrats have already secured nearly a dozen seats previously thought endangered.

There are still quite a few seats left where the results are too close to call or where the counting may take a few more days.

Image source, Getty Images

The sun's just coming up on the US east coast, and it's mid-morning in the UK.

And as far a definitive result in the midterms is concerned, we're pretty much where we left you earlier.

The Republicans are inching towards control of the House of Representatives, but the Democrats could still win the Senate.

Senate control hinges on three races that are yet to be resolved.

Stick with us as we watch for those results, and bring you views and analysis from across the US as the political landscape changes.

We're pausing our live coverage for now, but will be back on Thursday when more key race results are expected. Here's a recap of what happened today and where things stand right now:

• Control of the US Congress hangs in the balance following Tuesday's midterm elections
• Republicans are still favoured to take the House of Representatives, the lower chamber, but face the growing prospect of an ultra-slim majority as Democrats continue to make surprising gains
• The fight for the upper chamber, the Senate, has come down to three key races that remain too close to call. We expect to hear more on Thursday from the states of Arizona and Nevada, but the race in Georgia will be determined by a runoff in December
• President Joe Biden celebrated Tuesday's results, saying Democrats defied history by resisting major losses and "had a good night"
• Biden acknowledged Americans were frustrated with the direction of the country but said his administration would keep promoting its achievements
• Former President Donald Trump commented on the results via his Truth Social platform, calling the elections both "somewhat disappointing" and also "a very big victory"

How much has gerrymandering affected these elections?published at 04:13 Greenwich Mean Time 10 November 2022

04:13 GMT 10 November 2022

Mike Wendling
Reporting from Chicago

John in London asks:

To what extent has gerrymandering influenced the outcome of these elections? Is the popular vote as close as these results would suggest?

Gerrymandering is the political practise of adjusting voting boundaries to maximise a party’s seats. It is indeed rife across the country - and both parties do it.

The process is often complex, but in general, state legislators draw boundaries after the national census every 10 years. Depending on who’s in charge at the time, the maps can become very distorted.

Take where I’m sitting in Illinois. Democrats will win 13 or 14 out of the state’s 17 House seats. At that rate you’d think about three-quarters of the state votes Democrat. But in this year’s big state-wide races, Dems only picked up roughly around 55% of the vote.

Texas presents the mirror image case. The governor, Republican Greg Abbott, won with about 55% of the vote. Texas has 38 congressional districts so, at that rate the Republicans should win … about 21 seats (feel free to double check my maths!). Instead, they’ve captured 25.

Now for your second question. The votes are still being counted in many places, so we don’t have a final tally. But pre-election polls of the so-called “generic ballot” indicated that Republicans were slightly ahead in the popular vote.

That’s more or less where we are in the total House seat count right now.

In Vermont, Michigan and California, voters moved to protect abortion access, by amending their state constitutions.

Abortion was a significant factor in the midterm elections, with more than 25% of voters calling it their most important issue, exit polls showed.

Here's a breakdown of votes on abortion measures in several states:

Image source, .

A short while ago, officials in Maricopa County, Arizona reported some 60,000 fresh ballots.

The Democratic candidates in the senate and governor races - Mark Kelly and Katie Hobbs - have both extended their leads over their Republican opponents, thanks to this new batch of votes.

But with hundreds of thousands of votes still uncounted, their races remain too close to call.

Why are some senators not up for election this year?published at 02:27 Greenwich Mean Time 10 November 2022

02:27 GMT 10 November 2022

Mike Wendling
Reporting from Chicago

Argyle Barclay in Glasgow asks: Why are some senators not up for election this year?

The short answer is: Because of the US Constitution.

US Senators serve terms of six years. At the founding of the US Congress, the Constitution organised the upper house to split senators into three groups - or "classes" - so that, as the foundational document says, “one third may be chosen every second year”.

The country’s “Founding Fathers” imagined the Senate to be a more deliberative, less democratic, even elitist body – smaller than the House, with slower turnover and more job security. Senators weren’t even directly elected by voters until the early 20th Century.

Like many other things in the US elections system, the length of senators’ terms and the fact that only one-third of them are up for election at any one time hasn’t changed much in the more than two centuries since the Constitution was written.

Samantha Granville
Reporting from Arizona

Image source, Getty Images

The race in Arizona has tightened in the 24 hours since polls closed and there are still more than 400,000 votes to count.

As we always knew there would be. On the eve of the election, the organisers said by Friday they would have counted 95-99% of the votes and they are still on course to do that.

In the hours since the first results were released, we have watched as the Democratic lead in all the races narrowed. As we expected it would. Now there is just a fraction of a percentage point between the Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs and her Republican opponent Kari Lake.

Democratic Senator Mark Kelly is maintaining a stronger lead over his Republican challenger Blake Masters, but it could still go either way in this crucial race that may determine which party controls the Senate.

Which way the races will go is impossible to predict. The votes yet to be counted are predominantly what are known as “late early votes”.

It may sound like an oxymoron, but they’re the last of the early votes to have been delivered before polling day. They need to be signature-verified and barcode-checked before being counted, and that takes time.

Was the number of people who voted because of abortion surprising?published at 02:01 Greenwich Mean Time 10 November 2022

02:01 GMT 10 November 2022

Sarah Smith
North America Editor

Julia from Minnesota asks: Was the number of people who voted because of abortion surprising? What does it say about the country?

The impact that the abortion issue had on voters’ decisions is one of the most interesting questions around these elections.

Exit polls suggested that inflation and the economy were foremost in voters' minds and that was supposed to benefit Republican candidates.

The fact that Democrats performed significantly better than they had been expected to may be because a lot of voters were choosing to support pro-choice candidates.

In the five states that had special propositions on the ballot about abortion rights - California, Kentucky Michigan, Montana, and Vermont - a majority of voters supported allowing women to terminate pregnancies.

Democrats chose to focus a lot of their campaigns around abortion rights, gun control and the threat to democracy. Pundits thought that was a mistake when the cost of living is rising. But the results suggest that Americans do care about things beyond the price of fuel.

Who's going to be the next House Speaker?published at 01:53 Greenwich Mean Time 10 November 2022

01:53 GMT 10 November 2022

Chelsea Bailey
BBC News, Washington

Lloyd in Bankson, England
 asks: Who will be the next Speaker of the House?

Great question Lloyd. The short answer is - it depends on who wins. At the moment, the House looks likely to go to Republicans.

California Rep Kevin McCarthy was the Republican majority leader during Donald Trump's presidency and he has already indicated that he will compete to become House Speaker.

But in the unlikely event that Democrats win, Nancy Pelosi is likely to keep her title - that is unless she decides to retire from the leadership position.

The Speaker of the House must be elected by a majority of members from his or her party at the start of a new Congress. They are third in line for the presidency.

Image source, Getty Images

When will the presidential campaign start?published at 01:41 Greenwich Mean Time 10 November 2022

01:41 GMT 10 November 2022

Sarah Smith
North America Editor

Katharina from Cologne, Germany asks: When will people start campaigning for president again? Who will be the next president?

I would say the next presidential campaign has probably already started.

Donald Trump has been dropping very heavy hints that he might be about to declare another run at the White House next week.

Joe Biden said today that he and his wife would make a decision before Christmas with a possible announcement early next year.

Many people are already looking at the results of the midterm elections to assess what they mean for other potential candidates. Particularly Ron DeSantis who won a big victory when he was re-elected as the governor of Florida. That puts him a good position to run for the Republican nomination if he wants to.

Next year, various candidates will start to campaign to win their party’s nomination. The process kicks off officially early in 2024 when the primaries begin. All the candidates will compete in different states with voters getting their say on who they would like to have as their party’s candidate for president.

2024 might sound a long way off but it won’t be long before the contest for who will be the next US president begins in earnest

Whatever happens, Joe Biden remains the president until 20 January 2025.

US media are reporting that there is set to be a new batch of results released any time now in the key state of Arizona. The update is expected to come from Maricopa County, but we don't know yet what the affect will be on the overall race for the Senate seat.

As a reminder, the contest between Republican Blake Masters and Democrat Mark Kelly is yet to be called. Republicans and Democrats need to win two of either Arizona, Nevada or Georgia to take control of the Senate.

We'll bring you the latest information as we get it.

How is the UK reacting to the midterms?published at 01:09 Greenwich Mean Time 10 November 2022

01:09 GMT 10 November 2022

Adam Durbin
BBC News, London

Max, 15, in Arlington, Virginia asks:

I’m an immigrant from the UK to the US and I’d like to know how the people in the UK and the UK government is reacting to these elections.

As you might suspect Max, many people in the UK pay close attention to US election results - because, like it or not, what happens across the Atlantic has huge consequences for rest of the world.

But it is important to note that, while we do have many aspects of our political culture that are shared, lots of issues that are significant debates in the US do not figure in elections here in the UK.

For example, the issue of abortion is just not a big part of British electoral politics in much of the country - although there is an ongoing debate over the issue in Northern Ireland - while many people in the UK find the US stance on guns very alien.

On how the British government has reacted, the answer is - not much at all, in public.

Generally speaking governments of allied democracies - particularly those as closely entwined as the US and UK (an alliance some refer to as the "special relationship") - tend to avoid commenting on internal elections to avoid diplomatic problems.

British diplomats behind the scenes will almost certainly be advising the government of what the likely implications of the midterm results are for US foreign policy, so they are better able to work together on key foreign policy issues.

How will the House and Senate results affect the UK?published at 01:00 Greenwich Mean Time 10 November 2022

01:00 GMT 10 November 2022

James Landale
Diplomatic correspondent

Padraig McClay, 15, in Guernsey, asks:

How will the House and Senate results affect the UK?

The US midterm elections will not directly affect the UK. They are US elections for the US offices. Where they might affect the UK is if the political shape of the House and the Senate means that American policy changes on issues that matter to the UK.

The most important of those is Ukraine. Some Republicans have been expressing doubts about supporting Ukraine, asking if domestic economic concerns should come before giving money and weapons to Kyiv.

Some of that aid has to be signed off by Congress. If that becomes harder, it might put more pressure on the UK and other European countries to pick up the slack. It might encourage President Putin to think he has more strategic patience than the West.

The elections will also affect the UK by how they shape the next few years of the Biden presidency. With the elections over, will Biden feel able to work towards reviving the Iran nuclear deal? Will he take fresh action to challenge the growth of an increasingly assertive China? Will his administration engage afresh with the world, or will it turn inward as it prepares for the presidential election in 2024?

All of those choices will affect the UK and other allies in the West.

Which results will decide if House goes to Republicans?published at 00:54 Greenwich Mean Time 10 November 2022

00:54 GMT 10 November 2022

Mike Wendling
Reporting from Chicago

Jose asks:

What are the results that will decide which party wins the House of Representatives?

It’s hard to characterise the seats that haven’t yet been called because they’re quite a diverse bunch – ranging from suburban and exurban seats in New York and New Jersey; big rural districts in Colorado and New Mexico; and quite a few where the counting is still going on in California.

This being the United States, some of the delays in results are down to the quirks of state laws. In Nevada, postal votes can arrive four days after the election. Alaska uses a ranked-choice system which will delay a final count for weeks. Margins on other seats are simply too tight to call until we get as close as possible to the final vote tally.

That said, most of the seats still up for grabs are in the western part of the country – and remember you can always keep an eye on our results page for the latest figures.

We're answering your questionspublished at 00:49 Greenwich Mean Time 10 November 2022

00:49 GMT 10 November 2022

It's been a huge day, but so far control of Congress is still hanging in the balance.

To help make sense of what's happened and what it all means, we're going to put your questions to our experts.

We've lined up digital reporter Chelsea Bailey, disinformation reporter Mike Wendling, diplomatic correspondent James Landale, state department correspondent Barbara Plett Usher and more to give us some answers.

Stay tuned.

Holly Honderich
BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

Just days ago it had looked like Lauren Boebert - Colorado’s ultra-right wing first term Congresswoman - would waltz into re-election.

You might remember her from her early days in Congress when she fought to bring her gun into Congress.

Polling site FiveThirtyEight put her odds of winning at a whopping 97%.

But now, that sure thing win is in serious jeopardy.

Boebert is neck-and-neck with her opponent, political newcomer Adam Frisch.

Frisch, a Democrat who campaigned as a “conservative businessman” wore his party affiliation lightly in the district he shares with Boebert - mostly rural, Republican area in Colorado’s west.

Speaking to Frisch before the election, he knew he was the underdog. But he also thought that Boebert’s combative style had made a surprise upset possible.

“I think [Boebert] has done a good job on opening up a huge allowance for someone else to come in there,” Frisch said.

Today, the tone from his camp was celebratory, saying he was hopeful as the final votes were counted.

“Hopefully soon Coloradans and Americans alike can breathe a sigh of relief knowing that there is one less extremist in office,” Frisch said.