Call it a high-stakes referendum on Donald Trump’s presidency and the Republican agenda that includes proposals to slash spending on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and anti-poverty programs to pay for tax cuts, appoint conservative judges to roll back voting rights and affirmative action, eliminate environmental protections and end abortions.

That’s the high-stakes reality that voters will face in the upcoming election on Tuesday, Nov. 6.

In less than two weeks, voters in Richmond and across the country will have their chance to continue Republican rule or end one-party control of Washington in filling the 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and 35 seats in the 100-member U.S. Senate.

Virginia will be at the center of the decision-making to determine control of Congress.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine is running for re-election for a new six year-term in the Senate against archconservative Trump supporter Corey Stewart, chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors who has been tied to adherents of white supremacy.

Virginia also has several closely watched congressional races, although Richmond’s Democratic congressman, A. Donald McEachin, 4th District, now appears to be far ahead of challengers Ryan McAdams, a Republican, and Peter Wells, a Libertarian candidate.

In the closely watched 7th District that includes parts of Henrico and Chesterfield counties, former CIA operative Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, is challenging GOP Rep. Dave Brat, who is seeking a second term.

Dozens of governor’s mansions and statehouses also will be up for grabs on Nov. 6, with major attention on Florida, Georgia and Maryland where, respectively, progressive African-Americans Andrew Gillum, Stacey Abrams and Ben Jealous are vying to make history as the first people of color to lead each of their states.

In Richmond, voters in the Church Hill area also will be filling a School Board seat. And voters at city polls could run across people seeking to get petitions signed to get a new initiative to support public school funding on a future ballot.

Still, the focus is on the congressional races where Democrats, crushed in the 2016 election with President Trump’s victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton, are working to win enough seats to retake control of one or both houses.

And for voters, this is their first chance to tell the president, who is spewing fresh falsehoods as he campaigns hard to keep Democrats out of power, how they feel about him since he took office nearly two years ago.

If Democrats do well and flip one or both chambers of Congress, they would be able to essentially serve as a block to President Trump’s and the Republicans’ legislative agenda — and possibly open serious investigations into the president, his administration and his associates.

But if the GOP retains control of both chambers, they’ll have a shot at introducing sweeping policy changes that could impact the nation for decades to come.

So far, the Republican agenda has been limited largely to deficit-boosting tax cuts. But some analysts believe the conservative to-do list may include a renewed effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, that has helped millions of people obtain health care coverage.

Democrats must hold 194 seats and flip at least 24 seats to gain a 218-vote majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In the Senate, Republicans could lose control if they lose just two seats. Democrats are struggling to make it happen while also trying to defend 26 seats now held by the party.

The big question is whether ordinary people who usually pay little attention to midterm elections will turn out to register their approval or displeasure with a president who routinely lies, lashes out at critics and seeks to undermine a free press and other American institutions.

Polls suggest that ordinary voters understand the stakes and are revved up to vote. States with early voting are already seeing surges in early turnout.

In Virginia, Sen. Kaine, a former governor and Richmond mayor, appears to be ahead of Mr. Stewart in the polls.

Most observers are focusing on sharply contested races in the 2nd, 5th, 7th and 10th Congressional districts that will determine if Republicans continue to hold seven of Virginia’s 11 seats in the House.

Four Democratic women, touting their support for Obamacare and their disdain for Republican fear-mongering, are leading the charge, including in the 7th District outside Richmond.

In the 2nd District around Virginia Beach, Elaine Luria, a former Navy commander, is seeking to upset incumbent GOP Rep. Scott Taylor, while in the rural 5th District, Democrat Leslie Cockburn, a veteran journalist, is seeking to win a seat the incumbent vacated against Republican rival Denver Riggleman.

In the 10th District in Northern Virginia, Democratic state Sen. Jennifer Wexton is seeking to oust incumbent Republican Rep. Barbara Comstock.

The big hope on both sides is that these races will spark an unusually large turnout.

Certainly, plenty of money is being spent to make it happen.

In the toss-up contests involving three Republican incumbents, Reps. Brat, Comstock and Taylor, independent committees alone have spent $9.2 million on influence ads for and against, a Virginia record for races in non-presidential years, according to the nonprofit Virginia Public Access Project.

Sen. Kaine, who used his campaign to show support for Ms. Spanberger and the other Democratic candidates, is optimistic.

He has said he believes people are coming off the sidelines and are eager take part to decide the contests.

Former President Obama, who has emerged as the top Democrat making the case for the party this fall, hopes that is happening. With President Trump shredding his legacy, the nation’s first African-American president returned to the political fray to implore voters to show up at the polls in November.

“Just a glance at recent headlines should tell you this moment really is different,” Mr. Obama said in a recent speech, “that the impacts of sitting on the sidelines are more dire.”