Gary Younge visits Racine, Wisconsin, one of the bellwether races in the US midterms. In recent history the city has been a reliable predictor of which way the country will swing. But how much will the Trump factor influence the result? Plus: Gaby Hinsliff on why people hate vegans

Two years on from the election of the most bombastic, divisive, jaw-dropping Republican president that America has ever seen, the Democrats finally have a chance to push back. While Trump himself is not on the ballot, the midterm elections are a chance for voters to boost the president, or check his powers.

The Guardian’s Gary Younge has spent the past weeks in Racine, Wisconsin, a swing battleground that usually reflects the national result. So what do voters make of the race? How much influence will Trump really have? And how worried should the Democrats be about failure on 6 November?

Also today: why do so many people hate vegans? Gaby Hinsliff on the new battleground in a generational culture war that this week claimed the job of a magazine editor after a joke backfired.