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On this US mid-term elections special of Business Matters, Fergus Nicoll broadcasts from St. Paul, Minnesota, as all eyes are on what former President Obama called possibly the most important elections of our time. The elections are widely seen as a referendum on the presidency of Donald Trump, as Democrats hope to take back the House and the Senate. We’ll take a look at the whole campaign trail, from the ads to the debates, the rallies to the activist groups.

Usually in the mid-terms, each state has just one US Senate seat up for grabs. In Minnesota this year, there are two. Incumbent Amy Klobuchar of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party goes up against Republican challenger Jim Newberger for one seat, while a special election takes place following the resignation of Democratic Party Senator Al Franken last year amid sexual misconduct allegations. We’ll go out into the field to meet the supporters and volunteers driving each campaign.

Looming large in this election is the issue of immigration. We’ll ask members of the Hmong and Somali communities in Minnesota for their view of the debate and the struggle for immigrants’ place in the United States.

Throughout the show we will be joined in the studio by Professor Larry Jacobs of the Humphrey School of Political Science at the University of Minnesota; Jonathan Weinhagen of the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce; Republican campaigner Amy Koch and a campaigner for the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, Erin Maye Quade.

(Picture description: A sign outside a polling place for the 2018 Minnesota primary election in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Photo credit: Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)