For all their differences over who should be elected, voters seem united in wanting more jobs for the struggling U.S. economy.
And two years after President Obama and the Democrats swept into office on the promise of hope and change, many voters say they now hope that Tuesday's election will usher in new leadership.
Even though Chattanooga's jobless rate has fallen this year, many local residents say they are voting their pocketbooks.
"I've never seen a jobless recovery like this before where unemployment stays so high for so long," said Mark Middleton, a 50-year-old Hixson resident, after casting his early vote last week. "We need a change in Washington."
Signal Mountain voter Sandy McMillan, 50, said he is as frustrated as he's ever been with the direction of the country.
"I think this country is moving more and more toward socialism, but I'm hopeful this election may help change that," he said.
Democratic voters, however, counter that it's too early to reverse course again.
"We're all frustrated by the state of the economy, but two years is just not enough time to turn around the economy, and it's unrealistic to think that we can," said Jackie Roberts, a Lake Hills homeowner who said she is voting for Democratic candidates this year. "It took a long time to get in this mess, and it's going to take a long time to get out of it."
Last month, unemployment averaged 10 percent in Georgia and 9.4 percent in Tennessee.
The September jobless rate in metropolitan Chattanooga was 8.3 percent, down from the peak of 10 percent in January. But economists predict it likely will be 2012 or 2013 until employment returns to where it was in 2007 before the recession began.
Changing directions
Jean Sterling, a 66-year-old Democratic voter from East Chattanooga, also said she is eager for change. But in Tennessee's 3rd Congressional District, she wants change back to the Democrats.
"Democrats are more concerned about ordinary people, and Republicans seem more concerned about the rich," she said.
But experts say Democrats running for Congress from Tennessee face tough times this year.
"When the economy is bad, voters tend to blame the party in power," said Ken Ellinger, professor of political science at Dalton State College. "Many people feel like the Democrats have had control in Washington and any ship ought to be able to be turned around in two years."
Dr. Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, predicts Republicans could pick up three more seats in Tennessee's congressional delegation as a result of Tuesday's election.
Sabato puts the seats of retiring Democratic Reps. Bart Gordon and John Tanner as "likely GOP" and projects the 4th District, represented by Democrat Lincoln Davis, as "lean GOP."
That could switch Tennessee's congressional delegation from five Democrats and four Republicans to 7-2 for the GOP.
Scott DesJarlais, a Jasper physician who is trying to unseat Davis, said jobs are voters' biggest concern across the rural 4th District. Most of the 26 counties in the sprawling district still have double-digit jobless rates.
Economy ripples through races
Voter angst with the economy is resonating in both federal and state contests.
"Overwhelmingly, the top concerns I have heard repeatedly over two years of campaigning across the state are the economy and jobs," Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Haslam said.
Haslam's Democratic opponent, Mike McWherter, agrees and says job creation will be his top priority.
McWherter has distanced himself from the national ticket and the president.
Obama, who received 42 percent of the vote in Tennessee in 2008, is even less popular today. A survey last week conducted for WRCB-TV showed only 27 percent of survey respondents in Tennessee would vote to re-elect Obama if the election were held today.
"I think there is a headwind against the Democratic Party nationwide, but I've never seen that come down to the governor's race," McWherter said. "The governor of Tennessee can't do much about Washington, but he can do a lot about getting people back to work and that's what I am all about."
Republicans are poised potentially to gain control of both the governor's mansion and both houses of the Tennessee General Assembly on Tuesday for the first time since Reconstruction following the Civil War.
State Rep. Tommie Brown, D-Chattanooga, said such changes make Tuesday's election a pivotal one at both the state and national level. Asked her views about a GOP-dominated government in Nashville, Brown turned spiritual.
"Let's just say I'm still on my knees praying," she said.