The off-year elections this week mark the beginning of a ferocious 12-month battle for control of the House of Representatives, a battle that will have an indelible impact on President Donald Trump’s final two years in office. The Democrats have won the first skirmish, with decisive victories in Virginia, New Jersey and California, but it’s a long war. And the stakes are huge.

If Republicans lose their minuscule three-vote margin, Trump’s legislative program would stop dead. More important, a Democratic majority would control all the House committees, giving them the power to hold hearings, conduct investigations, subpoena witnesses and — above all — possibly impeach the president.

“The president is obsessively focused on the midterms,” a senior Trump adviser told CNN. “He remembers what

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