Anthony Zurcher: Midterm carnage weakens Trump but he still wields power for now

Americans are electing members of Congress, which is made up of the House of Representatives and the Senate. All 435 House seats are up for election. In the Senate, only 35 of 100 seats are being contested because senators serve six-year terms.

This results tracker shows both the races being decided now and the 65 seats that are not up for election this year - 34 held by Democrats and 31 by Republicans. As the dust was still settling on the Democratic midterm wave that crashed across America, the official White House account posted a photograph on X of a stern-looking Donald Trump standing behind his desk in the Oval Office. It's the kind of message Trump surely wants to project – of a president firmly in charge and unbowed despite a dramatic electoral setback.

Left unsaid was that even without control of Congress, American presidents still have broad powers that they can exercise. And Trump has already shown that he is more than willing to push the boundaries of his executive authority.