Reinvigorated by polls, the Republican opposition led by Donald Trump vowed on Sunday to send “a warning” to Joe Biden and seize Congress in the upcoming US midterm elections, though Democrats insist they will remain in control.
Biden and his predecessor Trump redoubled efforts to get voters to the polls for Tuesday’s vote, which the Democratic president has called a “decisive” moment for American democracy.
After rival rallies Saturday night in the disputed state of Pennsylvania, the two made new appearances on Sunday: Biden in New York and Trump in Miami, while top party leaders were on television shows.
Midterm elections, in which the entire House of Representatives and a third of the Senate are renewed in addition to the choice of state offices, are often seen as a referendum on the incumbent president. The ruling party tends to lose congressional seats, especially if, as is the case with Biden, the president’s approval rating falls below 50%.
Some 40 million Americans have already voted early, NBC News reported on Sunday, as both sides anticipated their victory.
– Republican “Big Night”? –
Leading Republican Senate leader Rick Scott predicted a “big night” on Nov. 8, while fellow Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin said his party “offered common sense solutions” to Americans’ concerns, inflation and crime.
“This will be a wake-up call for President Biden,” Youngkin declared on ABC News.
Party chairman Ronna McDaniel promised on CNN that Republican candidates will “accept” all poll results, win or lose.
McDaniel also said he has “good momentum” from Republicans to tilt Congress to the right, which would seriously damage Biden’s agenda for the second half of his term.
For two years, Democrats had a narrow majority in the lower house and a single majority vote in the upper house, that of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Polls predict a clear victory in the House of Representatives for Republicans, who could also regain control of the Senate.
– Disputed results –
By pledging to “respect” the results, the GOP president contradicted many statements by candidates close to Trump, who never admitted defeat in the November 2020 presidential election.
Kari Lake, who aspires to be governor of Arizona, for example, declined to say she would accept defeat for her Democratic opponent in that polarized southwestern state. On Sunday, local media reported that she received two envelopes containing a suspicious white powder, which is under investigation by the FBI.
In Wisconsin, Republican Senator Ron Johnson, who is seeking re-election against Democrat Mandela Barnes, also declined to say whether he will accept the results.
According to analysts and the Democratic camp, there would be about 300 Republican candidates ready to contest Tuesday’s election results.
– “Communists” –
After a marathon of Democratic and Republican rallies in Pennsylvania on Saturday, Biden, a Catholic who wants to be the middle-class president, attended Mass in his Delaware stronghold on Sunday before leaving for New York to support Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul, fighting in the polls against his Republican opponent Lee Zeldin.
This new meeting in his progressive bastion of New York “shows how desperate the Democrats are to save their majority” and it “will add to Biden’s long list of failures,” the Republican party said in a press release.
“Let’s keep that majority,” replied a Democratic congressman from the state, Sean Maloney, on NBC.
In Miami, Florida, where Trump lives, the former president greeted “the great crowd” gathered for a rally through his Truth Social network. On Saturday, he accused the ruling Democrats of being “communists” and vowed to end the “destruction of the country”.
Also on Saturday, Biden, who turns 80 this month, and the ever-charismatic Barack Obama urged their voters to stand up for “democracy.” Trump, 76, has called for a Republican “big wave” to “save the American dream”.
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