Americans have started voting in the midterm elections…
Americans went to the polls on Tuesday in crucial midterm elections that could give Republicans a majority in the House, limit Democratic President Joe Biden’s term for the next two years and set the stage for the return of Donald Trump.
Joe Biden urged the country to “stand up for democracy” as his Republican predecessor promised a “very big announcement” next week – hinting at another bid for the White House in 2024.
The first polls opened at 6 a.m. East Coast time (11 a.m. GMT) on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, following the tradition of national elections in the United States.
More than 40 million voters have already cast ballots in the country, where the entire House of Representatives, a third of the Senate and several locally elected positions are at stake. states: California, Vermont, Kentucky and Michigan.
After a fierce campaign focused on inflation, Republicans are showing increasing confidence in their chances of stripping Joe Biden of his majority in Congress.
“If you want to end the destruction of our country and save the American dream, you have to vote Republican tomorrow,” implored the ubiquitous former President Donald Trump during his final rally in Ohio, one of the nation’s industrial hubs, on Monday night. castles.
Surrounded by a wave of his beloved red hats, the 76-year-old billionaire announced that he will make a huge announcement on Tuesday, November 15 at his Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago. In Tuesday’s election, his lieutenants could offer him an ideal springboard for a 2024 presidential bid.
– Inflation, more than anything else –
These midterm elections, held two years after the 2020 presidential elections, are also a referendum for the occupiers of the White House. A president’s party rarely survives a sanctions vote.
To the end, Joe Biden’s camp sought to garner votes left and center by framing Republican opposition as a threat to democracy and social gains like abortion rights.
“We know deep down that our democracy is at stake,” the 79-year-old president said at a recent meeting in Maryland, outside Washington, on Monday night.
But inflation – an average of 8.2% over the year – is still the main concern of Americans, and Joe Biden’s attempts to be seen as the “president of the middle class” are not paying off.
According to the latest opinion polls, the Republican opposition has a chance of winning at least 10 to 25 seats in the lower house – enough to form a majority there. Pollsters are more mixed on the fate of the Senate, but Republicans have an advantage there as well.
Losing control of both houses of Congress would have serious consequences for the Democrat, who has so far said he intends to run again in 2024, signaling a possible rematch in 2020.
On Monday evening, the president assured that he would be “optimistic” about the results of the vote. However, he acknowledged that retaining control of the House would be “difficult.”
A sign that Americans are interested in this election: more than 43 million of them have already cast their ballots in anticipation or by mail by Monday evening.
The results of some of the closer duels may take days to be announced.
– Breathtaking duels –
Specifically, midterm elections are taking place in several key states — states that are already at stake in the 2020 presidential election.
So all eyes are on Pennsylvania, a former bastion of the steel industry, where Mehmet Oz, a multimillionaire Republican surgeon nicknamed by Donald Trump, is facing a bald colossus and former small-town Democratic mayor John Fetterman for the post. The most controversial first of the Senate.
Because the balance of powers of this upper chamber, which probably has great power, depends on this chair.
As in 2020, Georgia is at the center of all dreams. Democrat Raphael Warnock, the first black senator elected in this heavily segregated southern state, is seeking re-election against former African-American athlete Herschel Walker, who is backed by the former president.
Arizona, Ohio, Nevada, Wisconsin and North Carolina are also the scene of tight contests, where Democrats are everywhere running against Donald Trump’s nominees, who have pledged absolute loyalty to the former tenant of the White House.
All of these breathtaking duels raised hundreds of millions of dollars, making the election the most expensive midterm election in United States history.
