Here are 7 things that could change after the U.S. midterms

Midterm elections get treated like the boiled broccoli of the American electoral calendar. They elicit less enthusiasm and lower turnout than the pièce de résistance of presidential elections. 

Which is a pity. 

Because midterms matter: They elect one-third of the U.S. Senate, the entire House of Representatives and thousands of state and local offices.

Their effects can linger for years.

On Tuesday, Republicans are expected to regain some power: election forecasters view them as overwhelming favourites to win back the House of Representatives and, increasingly, as slight favourites to regain the Senate too.

Here are seven potential effects of this election.

A good night for Republicans could accelerate Donald Trump's return to politics.

The former president been hinting he intends to run again. Now some U.S. media report he wants to use the midterms as his springboard: If Republicans do well, he will take credit, announce a presidential run around Nov. 14, and start holding campaign rallies.

Trump hints at political comeback:

You know that abortion decision at the U.S. Supreme Court? Had the 2014 midterms turned out differently, parts of Roe v. Wade might have survived.

The reason: the Senate confirms judges. When Republicans took power in the Senate in 2014, there was a Democratic president too; judicial confirmations slowed to a historic trickle; Barack Obama even had a Supreme Court pick ignored.

The long-term consequences of court control were underscored in a dramatic way this year with right-leaning decisions on abortion, gun control and climate change. Next, affirmative action and control over elections are on the docket.

Democrats have been racing to reverse the rightward shift of U.S. courts, with President Joe Biden now appointing judges at a historically rapid pace including a Supreme Court justice.

For now. A Senate led by Republican Mitch McConnell would regain veto power over judges and slow those appointments considerably.