The presidency is not up for grabs during the midterm elections, the US has to wait until 2024 to elect a new leader.

That hasn't stopped former President Trump from teasing a presidential run. We've asked voters who they want to see on the ballot.

Mike from South Carolina says he prefers Republican governor Ron DeSantis, who has long been an ally of Trump. However this weekend Trump and DeSantis will hold competing rallies in Florida, perhaps foreshadowing a bit of tension to come for the Republicans.

As Trump teases a run for the White House in 2024, we've asked our voter panel who they want to see on the ballot.

We'll start with Democrat Morgain MacDonald, and next we'll hear from some Republicans. Morgain says she would fear for her safety if Trump returns to the White House in 2024.

Laura Trevelyan
BBC World News America presenter

Image source, Getty Images

Liz Cheney could have kept her place in the Republican House leadership and her congressional seat in Wyoming if she chose to.

Many of her colleagues have made private compromises and publicly supported the Trumpist direction of the Republican party, hiding their reservations.

But the attack on the US Capitol was a defining moment for this staunchly conservative Republican. She has blamed Donald Trump directly, saying he "summoned the mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack".

And so we now see the extraordinary sight of Dick Cheney’s (vice-president under George W Bush) daughter stumping for Democrats in tight races, in an attempt to keep Congress under Democratic control so Donald Trump can’t claim a Republican victory as his - and use the midterms as a launch pad for his next White House run.

But Cheney isn’t stumping for just any Democrats. She's campaigned for the former CIA analyst Elissa Slotkin in Michigan - who served with Cheney on the house armed services committee, and shares her view that American democracy is under attack from election deniers.

In Arizona, where the Republican candidates for Governor and Secretary of State say the 2020 election was stolen, Cheney is featured in political ads urging voters not to support these Republicans.

And in Ohio, where the Republican candidate for the Senate seat JD Vance has said the election was stolen from Donald Trump, Cheney has campaigned for Democrat Tim Ryan.

What the future holds for Liz Cheney is unclear - she hasn’t ruled out a run for president, though her path to the Republican nomination looks strewn with near-insurmountable hurdles.

James Clayton
North America technology reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Elon Musk has said he’s a “free speech absolutist”.

The general reading of that statement is that - as Twitter boss - he would introduce a light touch moderation policy. He said in May he’d reverse Donald Trump’s ban.

Yet, since becoming Chief Twit, he says moderation policy has not changed - and that he won’t be bringing banned accounts back before the midterms.

However, Elon Musk still has the potential to impact these elections.

For one, he now has a huge political clout himself. The only politician with more followers than Elon Musk is Barack Obama.

And he’s already shared disinformation - a tweet about Nancy Pelosi’s husband that he later deleted. The episode showed the power his account has to peddle falsehoods.

And although Twitter’s moderation policy hasn’t officially changed, we do know that the number of people allowed to make moderation actions has reduced significantly.

And of course, Musk has a history of saying one thing, and doing another – don’t rule out controversial moderation decisions in the next week.

Today, as mass lay-offs are expected at the company, our colleagues are bringing you the latest news on Twitter.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
BBC News

Image source, Getty Images

In the months ahead of next week's midterms, former President Donald Trump's son Eric repeatedly referred to the Republican Party as the "Trump Party" - and the election are widely seen as a litmus test of whether that's true.

The elder Trump has endorsed more than 250 candidates at the federal and state-wide level this electoral cycle, and the success of his favoured candidates may allow him to better gauge the level of influence he has over voters.

Experts say that if he succeeds, his political position may be bolstered. On the other hand, if they fail, some may question his political acumen.

Whether or not that has any impact on a potential run for the presidency in 2024 - an announcement which is expected soon - remains the question on the minds of many Americans.

Read more about what Trump wants from the midterm elections here.

Image source, Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump plans to hold a rally in Florida this Sunday - the same day as a series of rallies being held by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis amid mounting speculation of a rivalry between the two.

Trump's rally, being held in Miami in support of Senator Marco Rubio as he seeks a third term, comes on the same day as DeSantis has planned three stops in the Tampa area and in Southwest Florida.

DeSantis is widely seen as a leading Republican competitor to Trump should both men choose to run for president in the 2024 election.

Several US news outlets have reported that some members of the DeSantis camp have expressed anger that they were not informed of the rally prior to Trump's announcement.

"You've got the Sunday before election day totally hijacked by Trump parachuting in," a Republican consultant in Florida was quoted as saying by Politico.

"No Republican could go to a DeSantis event that day. None. And DeSantis won't be here? This is big."

A spokesperson for Trump downplayed any rivalry. When asked if he would campaign with DeSantis last week, Mr Trump said that "he's a nice man".

"I was the one who got him elected," he added, according to the New York Times.

Read more about DeSantis and the speculation about his future here.

Mike Wendling & Shayan Sardarizadeh
BBC News & BBC Monitoring

Image source, Reuters

We’ve been reporting on the America First Secretary of State Coalition – a group of seven Republican candidates who are aiming to take charge of future elections.

They want to ban mail-in voting, and they’ve expressed a variety of debunked election fraud claims. One candidate, endorsed by Donald Trump, insists that there hasn't been a free election in Nevada for decades, and that all elected office holders have been selected by a "deep state cabal".

Experts are worried that election denial claims will corrode democracy and lead to further political violence.

And what's more, the America First coalition was co-founded by a man who is a key figure in the QAnon conspiracy movement. He goes by the pseudonym "Juan O Savin".

Read the full story here.

Image source, Getty Images

Responding to the latest job growth numbers, US president Joe Biden struck an optimistic tone while taking aim at Republican opponents.

"While comments by Republican leadership sure seem to indicate they are rooting for a recession, the US economy continues to grow and add jobs," Biden said in a statement., external

He added his plan to bring costs down for Americans "is already making progress", citing a drop in the cost of gas at the pump by $1.20 a gallon since this summer.

Biden also took aim at Republican's "very different" plan to tackle inflation.

"They want to increase prescription drug costs, health insurance costs, and energy costs, while giving more tax breaks to big corporations and the very wealthy," Biden said.

Natalie Sherman
New York business reporter

Image source, Getty Images

The US economy is a top issue for voters. But what you think about it increasingly reflects who you are – not simply the facts on the ground.

Research suggests that the gap between economic perceptions among Republicans and Democrats doubled between 1999 and 2020, external – and no longer converge during times of economic crisis.

Today, Republicans are more concerned and rate the situation worse – even when considering their own financial situation, which tends to be less tied to political situation.

And while the views of Democrats have darkened, Pew Research has found, external only 13% expect their finances to be worse a year from now – compared to nearly 40% of Republicans.

It hasn’t helped that the economic data right now is confusing – and plenty of experts are divided about how to interpret it.

But when the dust settles, there is sure to be debate about how much the economy – or increasingly tribal politics – settled this contest.

Mike Wendling
US disinformation reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Away from the campaign trail, the biggest 6 Jan insurrection trial to date continues in a Washington DC courtroom.

Stewart Rhodes, leader of the Oath Keepers militia, took the stand in his own defence this morning. He’s on trial for seditious conspiracy along with four other Oath Keepers members, some of whom entered the Capitol on 6 Jan 2021.

Prosecutors say the group plotted to stop the peaceful transfer of power. Prior to the riot, they collected a cache of weapons which they stashed across the Potomac River in Virginia. The prosecution has introduced a slew of text messages, videos and audio recordings as evidence of a violent plot against the US government.

The defendants say they were in Washington that day to keep order and protect protesters and point out that the weapons were never ferried to the Capitol.

Read more: Who are the Oath Keepers and why are they on trial?

Michelle Fleury
BBC World News Correspondent in Nyack, New York

Strong job numbers and a growing economy are usually good for the party in power.

Yet in the final days of the midterms, the race in New York's 17th Congressional District has become uncomfortably close for Democrats who are traditionally heavily favoured in this region.

I spent the day in and around Nyack, a suburban area north of Manhattan that is seeing some of the fastest jobs growth in the region to try to understand why the party isn’t getting more credit for this.

Stephanie Compasso, director of local job training centre Rockland Works, tells me that jobseekers have the upper hand right now as employers are desperate for workers.

Democrats say it's thanks to their policies - a message that got a boost from today’s crucial jobs report, the last piece of economic data before the polls close.

Nationwide, the economy added 261,000 jobs economy, a sign of strength in the face of rising interest rates.

But the cost of living crisis is obscuring the good news for workers. Inflation is rising faster than wages.

When I stopped by the local hardware store on Nyack’s Main Street, Glen Monterey - who runs the place with his father - told me he's not as busy as usual. To him, the economy is in bad shape. He points to rising prices "from gas to food, all the basic stuff".

It is a sentiment that is tightening the race here. And what Republican Mike Lawler hopes will carry him to Washington.

He is challenging Democratic Representative Sean Patrick Maloney, the House Democrats campaign chief who has urged voters not to "punish the people who are fixing your problems".

Outcomes of the mid-term elections are likely to influence who runs in the 2024 presidential race.

Donald Trump has made strong hints that he will run in 2024, but if the candidates he has backed in the mid-terms do badly, he's less likely to get backing from the Republican party to run for president again.

He also faces a number of rivals within the Republican party who are paving the way for their own campaigns to be the presidential candidate in 2024.

In Florida and Texas, Republican governors Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott hope re-election will spur them on to a bid for the White House.

Other potential White House rivals include Trump’s former Vice-President Mike Pence and ex-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Meanwhile if the Democrats can hold on to power in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, that should give them some confidence as they build their 2024 campaign to get President Biden re-elected.

Natalie Sherman
New York business reporter

While the rate has slowed since June as motor fuel prices fall, the cost of groceries, medical bills and many other items continues to climb.

The issue has put Democrats, who hold a slim majority in Congress, at a disadvantage in the upcoming elections, a contest in which the party in power already tends to lose seats.

"People are depressed and often people vote with their pocketbooks," said Beth Ann Bovino, chief US economist at S&P Global Ratings.

"Inflation is almost everywhere. People are squeezed at the checkout stand, they're squeezed with their rental payments, when they try to buy a home."

Image source, Getty Images

As we take stock of the key issues for US voters, it's clear the economy remains a top concern ahead of next week's midterm elections.

Jobs growth in the US is continuing at a solid, though slowing pace, despite rising prices and higher borrowing costs weighing on the economy.

While Democrats have argued that the US economy is sound, consumer prices are rising at a pace not seen since the early 1980s, up 8.2% over the 12 months to September.

Wage gains are also strong, despite not keeping pace with inflation, with average hourly pay up 4.7% over the past year.

The ongoing strength of the labour market has raised hopes that the US may be able to avoid a sharp uptick in job losses and severe recession.

Read more

Holly Honderich
BBC News, Washington

From his home in Florida, Donald Trump - the self-proclaimed "king" of endorsements - has weighed in on almost 200 races, backing Republican candidates in Senate, House and top state offices across the US.

Experts say Trump’s endorsement spree is extraordinary - far above the typical number for ex-presidents.

So who are the candidates? The majority of candidates backed by Trump bore some resemblance to him - physically speaking.

Of the new candidates he endorsed, roughly 80% were caucasian and 70% were male. And, like Trump when he ran for presidents, many (53%) were political neophytes, who had never held office before, including Pennsylvania’s doctor Mehmet Oz and Georgia's Herschel Walker.

Loyalty was the other key factor in securing Trump’s support. The majority of candidates promoted, in some way, Trump’s unfounded claim that he won the 2020 presidential election, including Kari Lake, the former news anchor running to be Arizona's governor.

Read more

Image source, .

Gem O'Reilly
BBC News

Abortion, inflation, gun control and the right to vote are among the many topics Americans are debating ahead of this month's US midterm election.

One voter in Illinois, Chicago said: "I don't want to go backwards I only want to go forwards."

Image source, Reuters

Former President Donald Trump and his team are said to be discussing announcing a 2024 presidential bid on 14 November, according to Axios.

Citing three unnamed sources familiar the discussions, the news outlet reported that the announcement may be followed by a "multi-day series of political events".

Trump is expected to take credit for Republican victories if the midterms go in the party's favour. He has endorsed more than 250 candidates in federal and state-wide electoral races.

At a rally in Iowa on Thursday, Trump strongly hinted at an announcement, telling supporters that he will "very, very, very probably do it again" very soon.

In late October, the House committee investigating the 6 January 2021 riot at the US Capitol ordered that Trump appear for a deposition beginning on or about the same date of 14 November.

Image source, Getty Images

While the Republicans and Democrats will be aiming to mop up votes across the US, there's six key states that the parties are keeping their eyes on.

From Georgia to Michigan, here's a run-down of the pivotal areas that could change the course of the midterms:

Georgia: Two years ago, Biden became the first Democrat to win Georgia since 1992.

The race is expected to be a close-run affair as Democrat Raphael Warnock goes up against Trump-backed football star Herschel Walker, who is standing on a strongly anti-abortion platform, despite claims from two women that he paid for them both to have a termination.

We are bringing on the ground reporting from Georgia today as the state draws a record number of early voters to the polls.

Pennsylvania: The state’s attorney general, Democrat Josh Shapiro, is facing off against Doug Mastriano, a state senator backed by Donald Trump. The winner will be able to choose the state’s election officials for 2024 and can block - or advance - voting restrictions in the state.

Oprah Winfrey has backed Democrat candidate John Fetterman in the key Pennsylvania state race, despite Republican rival Mehmet Oz making regular appearances on her TV shows.

Arizona: In 2020, President Joe Biden became the first Democratic presidential nominee to win Arizona since Bill Clinton won the state in 1996.

The governor race in Arizona pits Trump-backed Republican and former TV news anchor Kari Lake against Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat who rose to national prominence for fighting back against Trump’s claims of election fraud.

Michigan: Biden won Michigan in 2020, after Donald Trump became the first Republican to win the state since 1988. Democratic governor Gretchen Whitmer faces conservative commentator Tudor Dixon, who has the backing of Donald Trump. The outcome of key governor and local races could mean further abortion restrictions being imposed.

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shuterstock

Speaking at an event in New York on Thursday, Vice President Kamala Harris told voters that "everything is on the line" in the midterms - particularly when it comes to abortion and women's rights.

Harris - along with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton - was rallying in Albany on behalf of Governor Kathy Hochul, who is facing a tight race against Republican challenger Lee Zeldin.

"We're going to need people in the state house and at the local levels who have the courage to stand up and push back against what is happening," Harris said. "In that way, who is your governor matters".

Clinton, for her part, told voters that Zeldin and other Republicans hope to "turn back the clock on abortion".

"They spent 50 years trying to make that happen," she added. "They want to turn back the clock on women's rights in general".

Zeldin, who has heavily focused on crime and cost of living issues, vowed in an interview with Politico on Sunday that he will not move to change the state's abortion laws if he wins.

Donald Trump tells cheering supporters he will "very, very, very probably" enter the race to be the Republican presidential candidate in 2024.