The fight for control of the US Senate is now officially underway after primaries in Texas and North Carolina delivered the first clues for Democrats and Republicans as they prepare for an eight-month march to the November midterm elections.

Private GOP polling that points to a bleak midterm landscape and a Senate firewall under strain has set off alarms inside the party, Axios reports.

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Alexander Vindman, the one-time National Security Council (NSC) aide whose testimony before Congress fueled the first impeachment of President Donald Trump, on Tuesday announced he's launching a Democratic Senate campaign in Trump's adopted home state of Florida.