Voters struggling with high prices and angry over an unpopular war with Iran were deciding whether to drastically shift power in Washington in midterm elections that will serve as a referendum on US President Donald Trump’s second term.
Democrats were cautiously optimistic as they watched Republicans spend the campaign’s final stretch pumping tens of millions of dollars into states and districts that Mr Trump won easily two years ago.
They are betting that discontent over Mr Trump’s failure to deliver on his promise to tackle rising costs and perceptions that he has focused more on gilding the nation’s capital than their pain at the pump will depress Republican turnout and drive their own voters to the polls.
Republicans held out hope their money advantage would help stem the tide, but they were bracing to lose control of the US House and fighting to hang onto the US Senate — an outcome that seemed unlikely earlier this year, given a map widely seen as favouring their party.
Margins are tight in both chambers; one or two seats could tip the balance. Democrats need a net gain of four seats in the 100-member Senate to win the majority, and most competitive races are in historically red states. In the 435-member House, they need three.
More than 57 million people had already cast ballots as of Monday, with turnout surpassing the early vote four years ago in many closely watched states.
Mr Trump, whose party has struggled when he is not running to turn out the low-propensity voters who have fuelled his victories, has told voters to act as though he is running, even as many Republican candidates have kept their distance.
On Tuesday, he declared in a Fox News Channel interview that “everything’s going good” and “inflation is solved” — even though consumer prices rose 3.6% in September from a year earlier, up from 3.4% in August, the commerce department reported last week.
“I think the results are going to be better than you think,” Mr Trump said of the elections.
Mr Trump’s aggressive schedule had stops in the reddest states, including Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas, underscoring his party’s challenges.
Mr Trump has made false claims about voting fraud, such as insisting non-citizens are casting ballots en masse. His administration has filed lawsuits in Alaska and California. Democrats fear interference and voter intimidation as his justice department threatens to prosecute local election officials.
The results will shape the final two years of Mr Trump’s second term after the Republican-controlled Congress acted as a rubber stamp to much of his agenda.
While Mr Trump has proven adept at steamrolling efforts to rein him in, Democrats taking control of even one chamber of Congress would open the floodgates to investigations and possible impeachments.
Defence secretary Pete Hegseth and tech titan Elon Musk, a former top Trump adviser, are among possible targets.
An especially strong showing for Democrats would also boost potential presidential candidates, including California governor Gavin Newsom, Illinois governor JB Pritzker and former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg. It could also complicate the paths of vice president JD Vance and other Republicans who may be looking to turn their loyalty to Mr Trump into momentum.
Republicans tried to buck historical precedent — a president’s party almost always loses seats during the midterms — with an aggressive redistricting effort aimed at creating a more favourable congressional map.
But the plan may fall short as districts drawn in Florida and other states to be safely red may not vote that way.
Share