Good evening from New York. I'm Chris Hayes. It is election night in America

and we are watching and waiting for results in key races across the country.

Democratic Governor Andy Bashir is up for

re-election in Kentucky as is the Republican governor Tate Reeves in Mississippi

where polls just closed at 8 p. In Ohio measures on marijuana and crucially abortion rights are on the ballot.

Reproductive rights are also at the center of the battle for control of the state legislature,

both houses in Virginia. And all of tonight's elections will be a test of a

fascinating and defining political dynamic of the Biden era where we have seen

Democrats reliably outperforming against all odds.

First, the incumbent party controlling the White House

is usually at a disadvantage.

Voters naturally react against them swimming back

in the other direction.

That is why midterm elections tend to favor the party that is out of power.

And then there are, of course, the actual conditions

Joe Biden Democrats have been up against coming out of the COVID pandemic. They have dealt with serious economic

headwinds, economic headwinds that have wrecked most of the economies in the world, chief among

them high inflation which peaked last year at a stunning 9.1%. The president's

approval rating has suffered to say the least. He has been underwater since his

first year in office recently falling back below 40%. Polling of a head-to-head

matchup between Biden is most likely opponent Donald Trump is keeping Democrats

awake at night. Trump leads in five of the six most important battleground states,

...