These Are the Most Pivotal Races in the Country | She Skates, She Invents ... and She's Not Yet 16

OZY’s final exclusive election forecast gives Democrats a 96.4 percent chance of retaking the House, while Republicans have an 89.1 percent chance of holding the Senate.

At last, it’s time for the polls and projections to give way to real votes. But before we do, the final word from our exclusive election forecast is that once the dust settles, there will be a Democratic House — with room to spare — and a Republican Senate.

OZY’s exclusive election forecast in partnership with data firm 0ptimus finds Democrats with a 96.4 percent chance of retaking the House, while Republicans have an 89.1 percent chance of holding at least 50 Senate seats and securing their majority. Both races became slightly more competitive in the past week, as the national political dynamics improved somewhat for Republicans and individual race polling provided a mixed picture.

Dive into our yearlong coverage of battleground races across the country.

At the start of this midterm season, we here at OZY got together with our friends at McClatchy newspapers to decide how best to give readers illuminating stories behind the elections that they can’t get anywhere else. The result was Ground Game, where we took a deep dive into 12 races across the country that are worth watching closely tonight to tell where the country is headed. Read McClatchy’s rundown of the six House races they tracked this year, and the latest on the three Senate and three governor races OZY is tracking.

Meet Pooja Kalyan, whose well-rounded life off the ice helps her excel on it.

In the search for a star to break an Olympic medal drought for American women’s singles figure skaters that has stretched more than a decade, Pooja Kalyan does not fit the typical mold. First off, she holds two patents for innovative consumer products. And her home might be the last place you’d look for skating talent: Arkansas has just two quality ice rinks and has sent precisely one native to the Winter Olympics (speedskater Kimberly Derrick).

And yet, Kalyan, on the verge of turning 16, is turning heads in the world of figure skating, after earning a silver medal in the junior division of the 2018 U.S. Championships.