Americans voted on Tuesday in pivotal midterm elections, with Democrats hoping to seize control of Congress and impose the first significant checks on Donald Trump’s chaotic second term in the White House.
Multiple polls predict Democrats will take control of the House of Representatives and have a shot at seizing the Senate on the back of voter resentment at a deeply unpopular president, soaring energy costs and the dragging conflict with Iran.
Republicans losing the House would give Democrats the power to stall Trump’s legislative agenda and launch sweeping investigations of his administration. A Senate defeat would also threaten his ability to appoint Supreme Court justices and senior officials.
Donta Comer, a 38-year-old project manager in an Atlanta suburb, told AFP he “voted for mostly Democratic candidates”.
“It’s just about the cost of living, gas prices, those kind of things,” Comer said. “It needs to change for the everyday person and I’m an everyday person.”
Trump defended his record in a final TV phone-in pitch to voters on Tuesday, saying he had rebuilt the country through his immigration crackdown, war on Iran and tariff policy.
“We have to keep America great. We’re great now. We were terrible two years ago,” Trump told “Fox & Friends”.
The election amounts to a nationwide judgment on Trump, with the mood turning sharply against Republicans amid anger over soaring living costs and the war on Iran.
All 435 House seats and 35 of the 100 Senate seats are at stake, along with governorships in 36 states. Democrats need only three House gains and a net four seats in the Senate to wrest both chambers from Republican hands.
Trump returned to office last year promising to bring down prices, but inflation, tariffs and fuel costs inflated by the Middle East conflict have squeezed Americans.
The 80-year-old’s approval rating has hovered near the low 30s.
In the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia, retired teacher Jane Callum, 77, was among Democrats canvassing for Senator Jon Ossoff, who framed the race as a watershed moment for the country’s future.
“I really feel an obligation to do everything that I possibly can to change the direction that our country is going in now, and put it more on the path to democracy and away from autocracy,” she told AFP.
Economic discontent
Republicans insist that Trump’s tax cuts and immigration crackdown will benefit Americans, and they are portraying Democratic candidates as left-wing radicals.
But in his final public campaign appearance Monday, Trump barely touched on the economy and spent most of the time in a rambling talk about his problem-plagued renovation of Washington’s Reflecting Pool.
“This is the last day before the midterm elections, the most important midterm I believe in our lifetime,” he said, 26 minutes into the speech, before quickly returning to talking about renovations.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer branded it a “pathetic closing message.”
Some Republican supporters remain confident.
“We’re going to win. As a matter of fact, we’ve probably already won,” Texas military veteran Yvonne Clouser told AFP.
But while Republicans hold a 53-47 Senate majority, the battlefield is extending into conservative states like Kansas, Texas, Iowa, Ohio and Alaska.
Democrats must also defend competitive seats, including in Michigan, where a bitter internal dispute saw congresswoman Haley Stevens endorse Republican Mike Rogers rather than the Democratic nominee, Abdul El-Sayed.
Decision Desk HQ’s final forecast forecasted 241 House seats for Democrats against 194 for Republicans, and a narrower 52-48 Democratic Senate majority.
Disputed results?
More than 57 million Americans had already voted early before Tuesday, indicating high engagement.
The campaign has attracted more than $11 billion in political advertising, while billionaire Trump ally Elon Musk has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Republican political efforts.
As soon as polls close, concerns will mount over whether results will be accepted by the Republicans.
Trump, who tried to overturn his 2020 election defeat, has repeatedly alleged widespread voter fraud and accused Democrats — with no evidence — of cheating.
The Justice Department, run by a close Trump ally, has already sued to potentially block certification of Alaska’s Senate race if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan narrowly loses, although a court ruled against the effort on the eve of the election.
And the Supreme Court rejected on Monday an emergency bid to force California to set aside the mail-in ballots of more than 20,000 people on the grounds they may not be American citizens.
Trump, who will watch the midterms results at the White House on Tuesday night, signalled that if he does lose control of Congress he could simply defy Democrats.
“I veto everything,” he told a podcast on Monday, although he said he might strike deals with Democrats eventually.
Justice Department to monitor elections in all 50 states
The US Justice Department announced that it was deploying approximately 1,000 election monitors and observers across all 50 states for the first time in its history.
The move comes amid Trump’s repeated claims of election fraud and concerns raised by his administration about non-citizens voting and the integrity of the electoral process.
The department described the deployment as “the largest election-monitoring effort in its history”, saying it was intended to “protect voting rights, ensure election integrity and promote transparency”.
Trump has repeatedly questioned the integrity of American elections, challenging his 2020 defeat and claiming that non-citizens pose a threat to the fairness of the voting system. His administration has stepped up efforts to investigate suspected non-citizen voting, although research and election officials indicate that such cases are exceedingly rare.
The expanded monitoring effort has also raised questions about the federal government’s role in elections, which are primarily administered by state and local authorities. The Justice Department is part of the executive branch headed by Trump, unlike the courts, which exercise an independent judicial function.
The department said the monitoring programme, coordinated by its Civil Rights Division, would focus on ensuring compliance with federal voting rights laws.
“The DOJ has sent election monitors in support of this mission since the enactment of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 across all administrations,” it said in a statement.
“Today, the DOJ will further this mission by engaging in its largest monitoring effort in history — with approximately 1,000 election monitors and observers deployed, and, for the first time, in all 50 states.”
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon, who heads the Civil Rights Division, described election integrity as a top priority for the administration.
“Election integrity has been one of the top priorities for this Administration and this Division,” Dhillon said. “I am very proud we are deploying the largest monitoring effort in DOJ history, and pursuing transparency for elections in an assertive and nondiscriminatory manner.”
The monitors will check compliance with federal laws protecting voting rights, including the Voting Rights Act. Their responsibilities will also include overseeing protections for voters with disabilities and enforcing laws prohibiting voter intimidation and suppression based on race, colour, national origin or religion.
The department said its personnel would remain in contact with state and local election officials throughout Election Day.
It also urged voters who encounter violence, threats or intimidation at polling places to contact local police immediately by calling 911. Suspected violations of federal voting rights laws can also be reported to the Civil Rights Division.
The unprecedented deployment comes amid a broader national debate over election security, the limits of federal authority and public confidence in the American electoral process.
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