IT is customary, not to mention polite, to wait until after an election is lost before calling for leadership heads to roll. Not, however, if you are fighting for a key seat in the 2022 midterms, an electoral contest that is beginning to make Fight Club look like soft play hour.

Tim Ryan, a Democrat standing in Ohio for election to the Senate, was asked this week if he was in favour of President Biden running for a second term in 2024. Mr Biden, who turns 80 next month, has had a better time of it in the polls lately after a dreadful few months.

Mr Ryan, however, remains unimpressed with the boss. Indeed, he not only wants Mr Biden to put his feet up, he thinks there should be a clear-out of the old guard in general, Republican and Democrat. “We need a new generation,” said the Congressman. At 49, Mr Ryan would be a relative pup in a Senate where the average age is 64.

He is hardly the first to cast doubt on another Biden run, but to do so a month out from the midterms on November 8 has caught the attention of the media and voters. His doubts, and willingness to be so open about them, are one sign among several that these midterms are set to be the liveliest in recent memory.

The fight is likely to become uglier still tomorrow when Herschel Walker, a former NFL star, current protege of Donald Trump, and now standing for the Republicans in Georgia, goes head to head in a televised debate with his Democrat opponent for the Senate seat, Raphael Warnock.

Following the example of his mentor, Mr Walker has been keeping the media very busy of late. An opponent of abortion in all circumstances, including rape and incest, he is accused of paying for a now ex-girlfriend to have the procedure. On another occasion, his ex claims, she refused to have an abortion and gave birth to a son. Mr Walker denies the claims.

Meanwhile, Mr Walker’s son, Christian, from his first marriage, has been on Twitter, alleging that his father had affairs, threatened to kill Christian and his mother, and was violent.

Mr Walker’s response, also on Twitter, was: “I love my son no matter what.”

It all makes for a lively debate tomorrow in Savannah. Debates have been relatively rare in these elections, with some candidates refusing to share a platform with opponents. No platforming is no longer just for students.

Within the main parties, however, it is a different story. Both Republicans and Democrats are using these midterms as a testing ground to find out what works, and who works, with voters.

First and foremost, however, the elections are about control of Congress. While the Democrats are tipped to maintain their majority in the House, the Senate is currently split 50-50, with vice-president Kamala Harris holding the casting vote. In short, there is everything to play for.

The results on November 8 will have implications far beyond election day. They will determine in large part whether the next two years of Mr Biden’s presidency are a success or a flop. That, in turn, will have an effect on the 2024 race for the White House, and beyond that, who knows. It is almost the law to say elections are pivotal, but on this occasion it is hard to disagree. Either everything will change, or nothing will. Whatever way you look at it, these midterms matter.

They certainly matter to Donald Trump, who has been throwing endorsements around as if he was in charge of the scramble at a Scottish wedding.

He is now backing more than double the 90 candidates he endorsed in 2018. It is hardly altruism on his part. Support is conditional on candidates backing Mr Trump’s baseless claim that the 2020 Presidential election was “stolen” from him. A good showing from “his” candidates will be considered a green light for his run in 2024, although some say he is making safe bets only.

Success for the Democrats will not translate automatically into backing for a second Biden term. The Democrats go into these elections with much better prospects than a year ago. The Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v Wade, allowing individual states to further limit or ban abortions, has energised the party’s base in a way few issues have in recent years.

There has been a surge in voter registration, with women in particular – always a reliable voting group anyway – determined to show how angry they are at the Court’s decision, and not all of them are Democrats.

Mr Biden has aided his party’s chances by getting bills through Congress to tackle inflation and boost investment in the country’s science and tech sector.

Mr Trump has done his bit by becoming ever more embroiled in legal and other tangles. An FBI raid is not a good look on anyone far less a candidate for the highest office in the land. The number of lawyers now after him almost make a person feel sorry for him. Almost.

Despite all that, Mr Biden is still struggling in the polls. While his disapproval rating is heading downwards from a recent record high, it remains at 52.5%.

In a survey by Marquette Law School at the beginning of September, a remarkable 72% of Americans gave the thumbs down to Mr Biden running again. The questions about his age are not going away; quite the opposite.

Should the Democrats be successful on November 8 and keep control of Congress, it could go either way for Mr Biden’s chances of standing again. The party might conclude it can do it without him in 2024, or that he is just the sort of steady as she goes presence America needs in unpredictable times.

And what of the Republicans? If they triumph, to whatever degree, will the party credit Mr Trump, as he hopes? Or will it embolden more of them to keep their distance?

The hope of many is that the midterms show an America that is moving on in a positive way from the standstill politics of the past.

In many ways it would be the worst possible outcome if, come 2024, it is the same two old guys fighting the same battle. After 2020 and all that has happened since, America needs to regain its faith in the ballot box as the only way to bring about peaceful change for the common good.

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