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More than 35 million Americans have already voted in the national legislative races ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections, while key Republicans on Sunday predicted they would seize control of both houses of Congress from Democrats during the second election. half of Democratic President Joe Biden’s four-year term.
The early voting trend continues, with the US Elections Project saying this year’s pre-vote day total has already surpassed that of congressional elections in 2014 and 2018 that occurred halfway through presidential terms. Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
Voting rules were changed in many states ahead of the 2020 presidential election when Biden defeated Trump to pave the way for early voting and allay the fears of many voters who are afraid to cast their ballots in person at polling places during the height of the election. of the coronavirus pandemic.
Now, many voters have gotten used to voting before Election Day, particularly Democrats. Meanwhile, Trump, repeatedly pointing out that he is about to announce a 2024 presidential campaign, and some other Republicans who repeatedly attack early voting, claim without evidence that he promotes fraud.
All 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate are up for grabs. Democrats have had the slimmest control of both chambers since early 2021, allowing Biden to advance some of her legislative priorities, often over nearly entrenched opposition from Republican lawmakers.
In the program “State of the Union” of On Sunday, Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, declared, “I think we’ll get the House and the Senate back.”
The Senate is now split 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats, with Vice President Kamala Harris giving Democrats the lead on tied votes.
Florida Senator Rick Scott, at the forefront of the Republican campaign’s effort to win a majority for his party, predicted on the show “Meet the Press” of NBC that Republicans would win at least two seats to gain a majority in the Senate that will take office in January.
“I see a great night for the Republicans,” he predicted in Marc Short, former Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff.
Democrats are cautious about the outcome of Tuesday’s election, and Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen told : “We don’t listen to voters in this election.” He also said that the Democratic candidates did not focus enough on the rising cost of living that the vast majority of voters say is their biggest concern, and not on whether the Republican candidates still reject the legitimacy of Biden’s victory over Trump in 2020, as many Republicans maintain.
Still, New York Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, facing a tough re-election race, expressed confidence in Democrats’ ability to maintain control of the House.
“We are going to maintain this majority,” he told NBC.
as it is now, it predicts Republicans leading 216 House races, just short of the 218 needed for a 435-member House majority, and Democrats leading 199 contests, with 20 seats too close to the bill.
said eight competitive Senate races would determine upper house control of Congress.
A leading US political polling site, fivethirtyeight.com, now gives Republicans a 55% chance of winning the Senate and an 84% chance of overcoming the Democratic control of the House.
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