The rain has not stopped people from voting in New Jersey. Voters came as early as 6 a.m., at the Camden location. Election officials say the turnout resembles the presidential election, rather than a midterm election.

Election Day is always about questions of power.

Will Democrats regain control of Congress after eight years?

Are women going to seize greater equity in the political arena?

Do Americans want to send the president a message?

The midterm elections today will answer these broad questions. But today also represents the strength of the individual citizen in our democracy. Each vote cast is a spark of power.

Every two years, the country gets the opportunity to readjust its leadership. For dismayed liberals, it is easily forgotten that Congress during the majority of the last century has been controlled by Democrats.

Only a couple years ago, the last Republican president before Donald J. Trump’s surprise election, George W. Bush, wondered privately if he would be the last Republican ever to live in the White House.

The exaggerations and overblown rhetoric of national political theater can overshadow an often-quoted tenet of American democracy: “All politics is local.”

It’s a phrase once uttered by former House Speaker Tip O’Neill, the powerful Democrat from Boston. O’Neill presided over a decades-long reign by Democrats in the House of Representatives until a sudden, seismic power change in 1994. That's when a young, ambitious firebrand named Newt Gingrich led a Republican uprising.

What O’Neill meant is that Americans must remember where true power lies in American democracy: at state and local levels.

And down-ballot at today’s polls, voters will find options for town councils, county commissioners and state legislatures.

In Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, and the rest of the 50 states, hundreds of candidates hoping to represent constituents in local and state governments are on the ballot.

Polling places in all three states will be open until 8 p.m.

The winners of these less-known political races will decide for years to come what laws and policies govern issues ranging from bail reform and education spending to abortion rights and congressional district boundaries.

In the mix also are governors' races in 36 states, including Pennsylvania, which will determine the woman or man who has direct say over state budgets and redistricting after the 2020 Census.

Today, much of the news coverage will focus on the 435 congressional seats and 33 U.S. Senate seats up for grabs, including one each in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.

But what’s at stake should not be lost on each citizen eligible to cast a vote: the tiny sparks of power that conflate into the bright light of democracy.

The less sparks there are, the weaker the power is.

For a complete rundown of the races, candidates and issues that have been central to the lead-up of Election Day, click here for NBC10’s Decision 2018 page.

A minivan struck and killed an elderly woman as she headed into an eastern Pennsylvania polling place Tuesday.

The elderly woman was struck in front of the Forks Township Community Center on Zucksville Road in the Northampton County township around 10:45 a.m.

Medics performed CPR on the woman as she was rushed to St. Luke’s University Hospital in Bethlehem, police said. The unidentified woman died a short time later.

The minivan driver stopped at the scene and was questioned by investigators before being released without charges, polices said.

Voters continued to walk in and out of the polling place as police investigated outside.

Mary Gay Scanlon, a civil rights attorney in Philadelphia, was the first. But she was certainly not the last Tuesday night: four women are now projected winners of Congressional seats in Pennsylvania.

Scanlon was officially the first woman elected to Congress from Pennsylvania in three years, winning Pennsylvania's 5th District seat in suburban Philadelphia. That's a new seat, created by redistricting.

But she was quickly joined by the rest of the "Fab Four," as they call themselves.

Former State Rep. Madeleine Dean, who was elected in Pennsylvania's 4th Congressional District, said she is "a little overwhelmed" but "utterly thrilled" by the love and support from family, friends and supporters.

She said she visited about 25 polling sites Tuesday. "This just felt like a truly American day in all the senses," she said. 

Air Force veteran and former business executive Chrissy Houlahan, Allentown’s former solicitor Susan Wild and Dean joined Scanlon a short time later when NBC News projected all of them winners against Republican challengers in the Philadelphia suburbs.

The wave swept farther than just Pennsylvania. In Delaware, Lisa Blunt Rochester was re-elected to the state's lone House seat.

And Democratic incumbent Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman beat Republican Daryl Kipnis in New Jersey's 12th district, which includes Princeton. Add Coleman to the wave of women elected or re-elected from Philadelphia's suburbs on Tuesday.

Voters in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware filled a combined 31 seats for the three states by the end of the night, with only one race remaining uncalled because the vote tally was so close.

A historic number of women were on Pennsylvania ballots as one of the two major party candidates in seven of the 18 races.

Turnout for the midterm elections seems to have been high throughout Philadelphia and its suburbs Tuesday.

Official vote tallies will take a while to collect. But with 98.4 percent of precincts reporting as of 3:45 p.m. Wednesday, unofficial voter turnout was at 51.25 percent, with an estimated 545,383 people casting their ballots.

That number eclipses turnout for the 2014 midterms, which was 37.3 percent and totaled 383,834 voters, according to Nick Custodio, deputy commissioner at the Philadelphia Commissioner's Office.

This year's 51.25 percent turnout is expected to increase after provisional and absentee ballots are counted, Custodio said.

Pennsylvania's highest midterm turnout in the last 20 years was in 2006, when it was 50 percent.

"It was a fantastic day for democracy in Philadelphia. I’ve been involved in elections in Philadelphia for over 30 years. If anyone would have told me that we would reach this number with the weather we had this morning, I would not have believed them," Deeley said.

The Committee of Seventy estimated that as of 5:20 p.m. about 404,000 people had voted in Philadelphia. In the entire 2014 election, a total of 381,503 voted, according to the non-partisan group.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney put out a statement that Philadelphians had voted "in greater numbers than any midterm election in recent history."

At the University of Pennsylvania, numbers provided by poll workers showed that voter turnout had more than doubled from 2014, the Daily Pennsylvanian reported. In 2014, 1,113 people voted on campus; today, 2,398 voted.

The turnout seemed high in the suburbs, too. Even before 11 a.m., 300 people had voted in a single ward in Nether Providence Township in Delaware County. Lines were seen at polling places in Chester County and in the city of Philadelphia.

In the Lehigh Valley, turnout was "more like the presidential election," WFMZ quoted a precinct judge.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is the projected winner in his campaign for a second term, defeating Republican challenger Scott Wagner, according to NBC News.

Wolf, 69, a Democrat from York County, stayed out of squabbles that Wagner tried to drag him into throughout the campaign. He ran on his committment to education and recent relative quiet in Harrisburg following years of budget battles.

Wagner, 62, failed to connect with voters over the summer after a bruising primary election against fellow Republicans. He could never seize momentum from Wolf, who led a measured campaign and never took the bait when Wagner at times accused the incumbent of being afraid to debate.

Wolf only agreed to one debate, despite Wagner's persistent calls for more. The only debate's lasting effect was by its moderator, Alex Trebek, who stole the show from the actual candidates.

Wolf is the scion of one of the oldest and most successful families in York County. He won a first term in 2014 by making Republican Gov. Tom Corbett the first incumbent to go down in defeat since Pennsylvania in the 1970s began allowing governors to serve a second term.

Wagner, a sanitation management tycoon, at times ventured outside the boundaries of political decorum, including calling Wolf a "gutless coward."

Then, on Oct. 12 in a social media video, the GOP challenger trailing badly in polls threatened the incumbent Democrat with golf spikes.

"Between now and Nov. 6, you better put a catcher’s mask on your face," Wagner said along the side of a road in his home base of York County in a Facebook Live post. "Because I’m going to stomp all over your face with golf spikes. Because I’m going to win this."

Hours later, Wagner took the old one down.

"I may have chosen a poor metaphor. I may have had a poor choice of words. I shouldn’t have said what I said," Wagner said in the replacement post. 

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Incumbent U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick is projected to hold onto his seat representing Bucks County in Pennsylvania in what turned out to be a very close, very expensive race.

Fitzpatrick, who represents the First Congressional District, portrayed himself as a moderate Republican willing to buck his conservative colleagues as well as President Donald Trump. But critics pointed to his harsh attack ads that labeled Democratic challenger Scott Wallace as an liberal extremist.

In the end, the candidates and outside PACs spent about $26 million.

Fitzpatrick will find a very different Pennsylvania congressional delegation when he heads to Washington in January. In particular, a women's wave of Democrats swept through the Philly suburbs as four first-time female candidates won seats.

In South Jersey, state Sen. Jeff Van Drew won a surprisingly close race against Republican former Atlantic City Councilman Seth Grossman in the race to succeed retiring U.S. Rep. Frank Lobiondo.

Voters in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware filled a total of 31 congressional seats by night's end, with only one remaining too close to call, according to tallies by NBC News.

Incumbent Rep. Tom MacArthur, of New Jersey's Third Congressional District, was about 2,315 votes ahead of Democratic challenger Andy Kim with nearly 99 percent of precincts reported as of Wednesday morning.

In other races around the region:

In Pennsylvania's 2nd Congressional District, Democratic incumbent Rep. Brendan Boyle swamped contender David Torres. Torres, who had entered the race only 10 days before the nominating petitions were due, was fueled by a desire to combat the city's opioid crisis, which had claimed the life of his son.

But the area is overwhelmingly Democratic, and Boyle won with about 80 percent of the vote.

In the state's 3rd Congressional District, longtime Democratic Philadelphia politician Dwight Evans beat challenger Bryan Leib. Evans was elected to his second term in Congress.

In New Jersey, incumbent Rep. Donald Norcross, a Democrat, was re-elected to the state's 1st Congressional District. Republican incumbent Rep. Chris Smith beat Joshua Welle in New Jersey's 4th Congressional District, in the middle of the state.

And Democratic incumbent Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman beat Republican Daryl Kipnis in New Jersey's 12th district, which includes Princeton. Coleman is among a wave of women elected or re-elected from Philadelphia's suburbs on Tuesday.

Democrats now have a slight majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, giving them the ability to serve as a check on President Donald Trump. The big question for Democrats now is if Nancy Pelosi will be speaker of the House again or if they will elect someone new to the leadership position.

Penn Presbyterian Medical Center and Ephrata Hospital made it possible for patients to vote Tuesday. Last-minute, emergency absentee ballots were provided and extra staff and notaries were on hand in case a patient needed assistance.

The tight race between Democratic challenger Andy Kim and incumbent Republican Rep. Tom MacArthur in New Jersey's 3rd Congressional District is too close to call and neither were comfortable declaring defeat or victory. Tens of thousands of provisional and absentee ballots still have to be counted, which will help determine a winner.

Police surrounded a North Philadelphia home where a man in his 60s was shot Wednesday morning.

Police said the man’s gunshot wound to his right side was possibly related to the barricade along the 400 block of West Indiana Avenue in the Fairhill neighborhood after 9 a.m.

The 63-year-old man was rushed to the hospital in critical but stable condition. It was unclear who shot him.

People working nearby say they heard gunshots and people running away from the scene.

Officers in SWAT gear could be seen gathering near the home where initially they said a 25-year-old man was armed with a gun.

The officers entered the home shortly before 11 a.m. They came out minutes later without anyone appearing to be in custody.

The situation appeared to be over.

It was unclear why police first responded to the block. 

Dr. Eric Horwitz, chairman of radiation oncology at Fox Chase Cancer Center, says that his patients love the new hypofractionation technique for treating cancer. It's a method that involves giving patients higher doses of radiation during treatments, shortening how many radiation sessions are necessary.

Two suspects are in custody after 31-year-old Philadelphia police officer Paul Sulock was struck by gunfire while attempting to thwart a shooting near Kensington, Philadelphia police said.

Sulock, 10-year police force veteran and married father of four, was shot in the right thigh, police said. He was rushed to a nearby hospital and remains in stable condition.

Sulock's father, also a police officer, was by his side as he recovered.

"We are very fortunate right now given those circumstances," Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross said. "He is in good spirits."

Chaos erupted around 11:10 a.m. near Madison and G streets in the shadow of SEPTA's Market Frankford Line. 

Sulock and his partner had been patrolling nearby when they saw two men crouched behind cars, possibly preparing to shoot at each other, Ross said. At least one of the men had a gun.

Sulock and his partner got out of their car and approached the two men. One of them opened fire on the police officers.

Despite his injury, Sulock chased down the suspects and apprehended one of them, Ross said.

"This is valor to the highest degree," Ross said. "[The officers] probably saved the life of the guy who shot him."

Sulock's partner and the two suspects were not injured, Ross said. 

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner joined Ross and Mayor Jim Kenney outside the hospital where Sulock was being treated Tuesday. He promised swift justice.

"We are here to support this truly heroic officer," Krasner said. "We want you know that the District Attorney's Office is taking this case extremely seriously."

The matter will be assigned to the legal unit that handles homicide and shooting matters, Krasner added.

At least three dozen police cars from the city and SEPTA police departments flooded nearby Allegheny Avenue as the investigation continued. Armed officers could be seen running through back alleys behind homes in the area.

"I'm shot. I'm shot in the leg," Sulock could be heard saying over the police department's radio system after he was shot.

SkyForce10 was overhead as several other people were also arrested and taken into custody. Police will not try to piece together what led to the confrontation between the two suspects.

Patients of a now shuttered eastern Pennsylvania dental office are being asked to get tested for HIV and hepatitis after state health officials allegedly found unsanitary conditions.

The Department of Health began investigating Cotturo Dental Associates operated by Palmer Cotturo in Mt. Bethel, Northamptom County, in August.

Health department investigators found that the dental office didn’t follow the proper procedures to prevent infections. The office didn’t properly clean, disinfect or sterilize devices leading to an infection risk, the health department said.

Cotturo surrendered his license in September, health officials said.

Health officials urge any patients treated at the office from Jan. 1, 2017 to Sept. 14, 2018 to get tested for HIV and Hepatitis B and C.

Former patients of Cotturo flooded Mt. Bethel area doctor's offices this week looking to get tested for the infectious diseases.

“I had to go get blood work done right across the street,” patient Thomas Depuy said.

"It was kind of odd that he was using utensils that weren’t in the sanitary packages,” Depuy said after being tested. “He brought them in and set them on the tray there were no packaging or nothing.”

Cotturo's office was dark Wednesday, the phone disconnected and keys still in the door.

NBC10 has been unable to reach Cotturo for comment.

The blood tests could take three to five days to come back.

With a projected dominant win in the 181st District, Malcolm Kenyatta is set to make history by becoming the first openly gay person of color to join the Pennsylvania statehouse.

Kenyatta, a 28-year-old Temple University graduate, takes over a district held for decades by Rep. W. Curtis Thomas, who did not seek reelection. The majority black district includes large portions of North Philadelphia and Northern Liberties. Temple University also falls within the district, injecting young voters into his constituency.

"We decided to choose love over hate. We decided to choose the future over the past. We decided to choose innovation over stagnation. And we decided to choose a vision of our city and of our district where we get things done together," Kenyatta said of his historic win.

During the campaign, Kenyatta positioned himself firmly against President Donald Trump's "racist, homophobic and hateful priorities." The rhetoric espoused by the president, Kenyatta said, has seeped into local politics.

Kenyatta was the subject of homophobic attacks over the course of his run for office. Flyers that depicted a red "No" symbol superimposed over a picture of him and his ex-husband were distributed during the May primary.

In the general election, homophobic slurs were directed at Kenyatta, according to Sean Meloy, senior director for the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which backed the candidate.

Kenyatta, however, believes that his victory demonstrates that the majority of the electorate rejects such views. "People made it clear that bigotry has no place in our politics," he said.

Running on a platform of better schools, housing security for seniors and raising the minimum wage, Kenyatta handily beat out Republican opponent Milton Street, garnering more than 95 percent of the vote with 82 of 84 precincts reporting Wednesday afternoon.

Kenyatta, who was also backed by Run for Something, a group dedicated to electing young progressive candidates, said he hopes he can serve as a beacon for other young people thinking of running for office and for marginalized groups who have not had role models to look up to in the past.

"I really do hope that it inspires other kids who might be LGBTQ or young, or come from a poor background, or may feel left out and left behind, that they can run, that they can organize their communities and that they can win," he said.

The former dean of a Philadelphia charter school was convicted of raping a teen girl at a Delaware County motel.

Omar Harrison, 43, of Elkins Park, was found guilty of statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse of a child less than 16 years of age, institutional sexual assault, indecent assault of a person less than 16 years of age, and corruption of a minor.

On June 12, 2017, Harrison, a former dean at Mastery Charter Harrity Elementary School in Philadelphia, drove a 14-year-old student to the Econo Lodge in Essington Township near Philadelphia International Airport. During the ride, Harrison told the teen, “Don’t be nervous. Don’t be scared. If you want to do this, you can’t tell everybody. You’re going to get me trouble.”

Harrison then sexually assaulted the girl at the motel before driving her home and dropping her off on the corner.

“Omar Harrison used his position of authority to manipulate, coerce and sexually exploit the victim in this case for his own sexual gratification,” Delaware County District Attorney Katayoun M. Copeland said. “He will now be held accountable for his actions and is facing lifetime Megan’s Law Registration."

Officials learned of the assault after the girl's mother came to the school to confront Harrison in October.

A Mastery Charter spokesperson said the school was placed on lockdown and the police were called when the mother made the accusation.

Mastery Charter fired Harrison after his arrest.

Emergency crews are working to rescue at least one person trapped inside a car in Camden County, New Jersey.

A tree fell on top of the vehicle on the 500 block of Warwick Road in Somerdale Wednesday around 5 p.m. At least one person is trapped inside. SkyForce10 was over the scene as crews worked to get the person out.

This story is developing. Check back for updates.