With Biden’s agenda at stake, US votes in midterms
With the narrowly held House and an evenly split Senate, Democrats could easily see their fragile grasp on power slip
WASHINGTON: At a public school turned polling centre near Capitol Hill in the US capital of Washington DC, Liam Gordon was distributing campaign material for Democratic candidates on the ballot on Tuesday morning.
But even as he encouraged voters to back Democrats, the party volunteer was pessimistic.
“DC is Democratic. But I feel a whole lot of fear and anxiety about the national results today. I hope we do well but I think Republicans may take both the House and Senate,” Gordon said.
As Americans across the country turned out to vote in what have been the most expensive midterm elections in the country’s history, the stakes for both the Republican Party — which has an advantage according to polls — and the Democratic Party — which is hoping the polls are wrong and fearful of the outcome — are extremely high.
“It’s Election Day, America,” President Joe Biden, 79, tweeted as polling stations opened on the East Coast. “Make your voice heard today. Vote.”
Voters are choosing all 435 representatives of the House of Representatives, where Democrats, at the moment, have a slim majority, but are widely expected to lose control.
They are also electing 35 lawmakers to the Senate, which is evenly divided between the two parties at the moment, but with polls suggesting a close contest, especially in the states of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona and New Hampshire.
A loss of either one or both chambers will erode Biden’s political leverage on the Hill, making him a subject of investigations and weakening his presidency. Historically, the party in power in White House fares badly in midterms.
Americans are also voting for 36 governors, 30 attorney generals, 27 Secretaries of State and state legislators across the country — positions that will be critical in determine how states frame policies and conduct future elections.
In the lead up to the race, Democrats framed the election as critical to safeguarding American democracy and personal freedoms, including abortion rights. Republicans, on the other hand, mobilised voters on issues such as inflation, immigration, crime, and “parental control” on education. They also sought to leverage Biden’s unpopularity.
A number of Trump supporters within the Republican Party who are on the ballot have surged ahead in recent weeks, even as Trump has said he will make a “very big announcement” next week, which has been read as a hint that he intends to run for the for presidency for 2024.
While campaigning for Ohio Senate candidate, J D Vance, Trump said, “Not to detract from tomorrow’s very important, even critical, election, and I would say in the strongest way it’s a country-saving election…I am going to be making a very big announcement on Tuesday, November 15 at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.”
With the controversy around the 2020 elections and the presence of Republican “election deniers”, who reject the legitimacy of Biden’s election victory, the outcome of the midterms will have profound implications for the 2024 presidential election.
The first results are expected to begin trickling in on Tuesday evening local time, but the final outcome in all races could take days. More than 40 million Americans have already cast their votes in pre-polls, either through mail or in-person.