Americans are voting in huge numbers today as Election Day arrives in the US midterm elections, a contest that will decide who controls Congress for the remainder of Donald Trump’s presidency.
Republicans are asking voters to stick with them after two years in power, while Democrats are betting that public frustration will translate into gains at the ballot box.
Surveys heading into the final day showed Democrats in a strong position to take the House of Representatives, even as the fight for the Senate appeared far closer.
If Republicans lose the House, Democrats would be able to bog down Mr Trump’s legislative ambitions and open wide-ranging investigations into his administration.
A loss of the Senate would carry even higher stakes, jeopardising his ability to confirm Supreme Court nominees and top government officials.
Voters will decide all 435 House seats and 35 of the 100 Senate seats, as well as 36 governorships across the country.
Democrats require only three additional House seats and a net gain of four Senate seats to seize both chambers from Republican control.
The vote has effectively become a national verdict on Mr Trump, with sentiment shifting sharply against Republicans amid anger about soaring living costs and the war against Iran.
Immigration and the economy have also dominated the closing stretch of the campaign.
This year’s midterms have become the costliest in US history, with total spending projected to approach $12 billion.
All 435 House seats and 35 of the 100 Senate seats are at stake in the midterm elections
Mr Trump returned to office last year pledging to reduce prices, but Americans have felt increasing pressure from inflation, tariffs and fuel costs driven higher by conflict in the Middle East.
The 80-year-old has seen his approval rating linger around the low 30s.
Economic discontent
Republicans argue that Mr Trump’s tax cuts and immigration crackdown will ultimately help households, and they have sought to paint Democratic contenders as left-wing radicals.
Yet during his final public appearance of the campaign, Mr Trump spent little time on economic concerns, focusing instead on a meandering account of his troubled renovation of Washington’s Reflecting Pool.
“This is the last day before the midterm elections, the most important midterm I believe in our lifetime,” he said, 26 minutes into the speech, before quickly pivoting back to renovations.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer dismissed the remarks as a “pathetic closing message”.
Even so, some Republican voters voiced confidence heading into Election Day.
“We’re going to win. As a matter of fact, we’ve probably already won,” Texas military veteran Yvonne Clouser told AFP.
A poster urging people to vote in Dallas
Republicans currently hold the Senate 53-47, but the map has forced them to play defence in reliably conservative territory including Kansas, Texas, Iowa, Ohio and Alaska.
Democrats, meanwhile, face their own vulnerabilities in several competitive races, including Michigan, where a fierce internal fight resulted in congresswoman Haley Stevens backing Republican Mike Rogers instead of the Democratic nominee, Abdul El-Sayed.
Decision Desk HQ’s final forecast forecasted 241 House seats for Democrats against 194 for Republicans, along with a tighter 52-48 Democratic majority in the Senate.
Disputed results?
Polls have sometimes failed to capture one party’s true level of support, and Republicans are hoping their voters show up in large numbers today.
More than 57 million Americans had already cast ballots early, a sign of intense engagement in the election.
More than $11 billion has been spent on political advertising, and billionaire Trump ally Elon Musk has funnelled hundreds of millions of dollars into Republican efforts.
As polls begin to close, attention is expected to shift to whether Republicans will accept the outcome.
Mr Trump, who sought to overturn his 2020 defeat, has repeatedly claimed widespread voter fraud and has accused Democrats — without evidence — of cheating.
More than 57 million Americans have already voted early
A judge yesterday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from proceeding with a plan the government says would deter non-citizen voting, but that critics warn could disenfranchise eligible voters and encroach on states’ authority to run elections.
US District Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security not to send states lists of registered voters the administration contends may not be citizens, and barred federal officials from urging election administrators to separate those ballots or withhold them from counting until citizenship is confirmed.
Judge Chutkan, a Washington, DC-based appointee of former Democratic President Barack Obama, said the data underlying the administration’s plan might be unreliable, creating a risk that lawfully registered voters could lose their right to have their ballots counted.
The Justice Department, led by a close Trump ally, has already filed suit that could have blocked certification of Alaska’s Senate race if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan were to lose narrowly, though a court rejected the attempt on the eve of the election.
Separately, the Supreme Court turned down an emergency request to require California to set aside mail-in ballots from more than 20,000 people on the grounds they may not be American citizens.
Mr Trump, who plans to follow the results from the White House, suggested he could simply refuse to cooperate if Democrats take Congress.
“I veto everything,” he told a podcast yesterday, while adding that he might eventually negotiate with Democrats.
Additional reporting: AFP, Reuters
