The federal civil service was created to operate independently of the political class and smoothly in spite of the upheaval caused by elections.

In practice, lawmakers control just about every aspect of federal employees’ jobs. The day-to-day functions of federal workers remain largely without political influence, but from pay to agency budgets, lawmakers impact the workforce with an array of  decisions.

There is, therefore, a lot at stake for feds in Tuesday’s midterm elections. If Republicans take control of the Senate, as most prognosticators anticipate, they will head up all the committees currently led by Democrats. What new faces will be making the decisions affecting federal employees come 2015? Which figures long known to feds will no longer be around?

Here’s a list of where federal employees should be focusing as the results start coming in Tuesday evening:

1) Virginia Senate – Sen. Mark Warner, D, vs. Ed Gillespie, R

2) Arkansas Senate – Sen. Mark Pryor, D, vs. Rep. Tom Cotton, R ( Pryor, a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee)

3) Alaska Senate – Sen. Mark Begich, D, vs. Dan Sullivan, R ( Begich, a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee)

4) Louisiana Senate – Sen. Mary Landrieu, D, vs. Rep. Bill Cassidy, R ( Landrieu, a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee)

5) Wisconsin Governor – Gov. Scott Walker, R, vs. Mary Burke, D

and more with a summary of why these races are important..

10 Races Federal Employees Should Watch on Election Day