Midterm election glossary: The terms you need to know to understand American politics

With the 2018 midterm elections just a week away, the casual reader may be coming across some strange terms in the American political lexicon. For anyone confused by reports on the battle between Democrats and Republicans to control Congress, The Independent has compiled a handy list of some common terms. Battleground State: A state is considered a battleground state if its electorate is split relatively evenly between Republicans and Democrats, making state-wide races especially competitive and hard to predict.