WASHINGTON, DC — Politicians of the
Democratic and Republican parties traded final blows on Monday ahead of the US’
midterm elections.
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More than 40 million ballots have been cast through
early voting options, with hours to go before polls open nationwide Tuesday.
Biden, who has framed his closing argument as a
warning that American democracy is on the line, was set to close out days of
frantic campaigning for Democratic candidates at a rally Monday evening near
Baltimore.
Trump, who is using the midterms to repeatedly tease
a possible 2024 White House run, was holding a rally in Ohio.
With polls showing Republicans in line to seize the
House of Representatives, some have suggested snarling the rest of Biden’s
first term in aggressive investigations and opposition to spending plans.
Kevin McCarthy, who would likely become speaker of
the House — placing him second in line to the president — also refused to rule
out impeachment proceedings.
“We will never use impeachment for political
purposes,” McCarthy told CNN. “That doesn’t mean if something rises to the
occasion, it would not be used at any other time.”
One key question remained whether the US Senate
would also flip, leaving Biden as little more than a lame duck.
With Congress out of Democrats’ hands, Biden would see
his legislative agenda collapse.
That would raise questions over everything from
climate crisis policies, which the president will be laying out at the
COP27 conference in Egypt this week, to Ukraine, where Republicans are reluctant to
maintain the current rate of US financial and military support.
While insisting he supports Ukraine’s struggle,
McCarthy told CNN that there could be no “blank check” — a nod to the
isolationist, far-right Trump wing of his party and a signal likely sending
shivers through Kyiv.
Just how bad Tuesday goes will also likely determine
whether Biden, who turns 80 this month and is the oldest president ever, will
seek a second term or step aside, plunging his party into fresh uncertainty.
‘Wake-up call’
Up for grabs are all 435
House seats, a third of the 100 Senate seats, and a slew of state-level posts.
Former president
Barack Obama and other Democratic
stars have been racing from campaign to campaign in hopes of seeing off the
predicted Republican “red wave”.
But the political landscape has been tilting away
from Democrats since the summer, as Republican messaging about high inflation,
crime, and illegal immigration overwhelmed the incumbents.
“This is going to be a wake-up call to President
Biden,” was the bullish weekend prediction of Glenn Youngkin, Virginia’s
Republican governor and a rising star being touted as a possible party
alternative to Trump in 2024.
The Senate is more of a toss-up but Democratic hopes
of keeping the upper chamber, which they currently only barely control thanks
to the tiebreaking vote from Vice President Kamala Harris, hang in the balance.
Dave Wasserman of the nonpartisan Cook Political
Report said Republican candidates have “a little more upside” with
late-deciders.
Wasserman told MSNBC there could be a Republican
gain of 15–25 House seats, while “Republicans might gain the one seat they need
to win control of the Senate.”
Races in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia,
Wisconsin, New Hampshire, and Ohio have narrowed to projected photo finishes, and
any one of them could swing the balance of power.
Democrats have focused their closing arguments on
voting rights, protecting abortion access, and welfare — and on the threat
posed by growing support among Trump Republicans for political conspiracy theories.
The Republicans counter that a vote for Democrats
means more soaring inflation and rising violent crime, seeking to make the
midterms a referendum on the president.
With his own approval rating marooned around 42
percent, Biden has largely avoided campaigning in the most contentious states.
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