PITTSBURGH, United States — Americans headed to the polls on Tuesday in
midterm elections in which
Republicans are chasing a congressional majority
that would paralyze President Joe Biden’s agenda and serve as a springboard for
another White House run by Donald Trump.
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Biden’s Democrats
are facing a gargantuan struggle to hang on to Congress, after a race the
president has cast as a “defining” moment for US democracy — while Trump’s
Republicans campaigned hard on kitchen-table issues like inflation and crime.
“It’s Election
Day, America,” the 79-year-old Biden tweeted as polling stations opened on the
East Coast. “Make your voice heard today. Vote.”
At stake are all
435 seats in the House of Representatives, one-third of the Senate and a slew
of state and local positions. Five states are holding referendums on abortion —
California, Vermont, Kentucky, Montana, and Michigan.
First results
will begin trickling in after 7pm but with razor-thin margins in some key
congressional races a full picture may not be available for days or even weeks,
setting the stage for likely acrimonious challenges.
The political
divide in the country was on the minds of many voters as they cast their
ballots.
Trump — who has
all but announced he will seek the White House again in 2024 — grabbed the
election eve spotlight to flag “a big announcement” on November 15, while Biden
made a final appeal to Democrats to turn out en masse.
“The power’s in
your hands,” Biden told a rally near the capital. “We know in our bones that
our democracy is at risk and we know that this is your moment to defend it.”
Polls show
Republicans in line to seize the House, which would allow them to snarl the
rest of Biden’s first term in aggressive investigations and opposition to
spending plans.
‘Giant red wave’
Returning to the White House Monday night, Biden told reporters he
believed Democrats would hold on to the Senate but it would be “tough” to
retain the House and his life in Washington may become “more difficult”.
If both the
House and Senate flip, Biden would be left as little more than a lame duck and
his legislative agenda would be frozen.
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.
An influx of
far-right Trump backers in Congress would also accelerate the shift that has
been taking place inside the Republican Party since the former real estate
tycoon stunned the world by defeating Hillary Clinton for the presidency in
2016.
Despite facing
criminal probes over taking top secret documents from the White House and
trying to overturn the 2020 election, Trump has been using the midterms to
cement his status as the de facto Republican leader and presumptive
presidential nominee.
In a typically
dark, rambling speech to supporters in Dayton, Ohio, the 76-year-old Trump
said, “if you support the decline and fall of America, then you must, you
absolutely must vote for the radical left, crazy people.”
“If you want to
stop the destruction of our country, then tomorrow you must vote Republican in
a giant red wave,” he said — before teasing his 2024 announcement.
Across the
country voters called on their fellow citizens to cast their ballot in the
midterms, which historically have low turnout.
44 million early
votes
More than 44 million ballots were cast through early voting options,
meaning the outcome had already begun to take shape before election day.
Senate races in
Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, and
Ohio are
expected to be close and any one of them could swing the balance of power in
the chamber.
Trump has
already claimed that swing state Pennsylvania “rigged” the midterms — reprising
his playbook from the 2020 election which he falsely asserted was stolen by
Biden.
Citing growing
support for voter conspiracy theories among Trump and his Republicans, as well
as their push to curb abortion access, Biden has warned that democracy and
basic rights are at stake on Tuesday.
Republicans have
countered that a vote for Democrats means more soaring inflation and rising
violent crime, seeking to make the midterms a referendum on the president.
The outcome will likely
determine whether Biden, who turns 80 this month and is the oldest president
ever, will seek a second term in 2024 — or step aside.
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