Democrats argue that Republican victories could profoundly and negatively reshape the country, eliminating abortion rights nationwide and unleashing broad threats to the very future of American democracy. Republicans say the public is tired of Biden’s policies amid high inflation and concerns about crime. “We know in our bones that our democracy is at risk,” Biden said during an evening rally in Maryland, where Democrats have one of their best chances to reclaim a Republican-controlled governorship. “I want you to know, we’ll meet right now.” Returning to the White House shortly afterward, Biden was more candid, saying, “I think we’re going to win the Senate. I think the Parliament is tougher.” Asked what the reality of governance will be like, he replied: “More difficult.” The event in Maryland followed Biden’s late-campaign strategy of staying largely in his party’s strongholds rather than lurching into more competitive territory where control of Congress may ultimately be decided. Biden won Maryland with more than 65 percent of the vote in 2020 and appeared with Wes Moore, the 44-year-old Rhodes Scholar who could become the state’s first black governor. The president said at an earlier mock event: “Imagine what we can do in a second term if we stay in control.” Most political forecasters don’t think Democrats will — and predict Tuesday’s results will have a major impact on the next two years of Biden’s presidency, shaping policy on everything from government spending to military support for Ukraine . In the first national election since the violent Capitol uprising on Jan. 6, 2021, Democrats sought to focus key races on fundamental issues about the nation’s political values. The man at the center of most of the talk on Jan. 6, former President Donald Trump, was in Ohio for his final 2022 campaign rally — and he was already thinking about his future in 2024. He had teased that he could officially launch a third presidential run. attended Monday night’s rally with Senate candidate JD Vance — which Trump ended by promising a “big announcement” next week at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Trump’s endorsement of Vance in Ohio this year was crucial in helping the author and businessman — and onetime Trump critic — secure the GOP nomination for a Senate seat. He now faces Democrat Tim Ryan. “When I think about tomorrow, it’s about making sure the American dream survives into the next generation,” Vance told thousands of cheering supporters, some wearing Trump 2024 hats and T-shirts, at Dayton International Airport. While the GOP likes its chances of flipping the House, control of the Senate could come down to a handful of crucial races. They include Georgia, Arizona and Pennsylvania, where Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman was locked in a tight race against Republican celebrity surgeon Mehmet Oz. “This is one of the most important races in America,” Fetterman told a crowd of about 100 people Monday outside a union hall near a steel mill in Coatesville, about 40 miles west of Philadelphia. “Dr. Oz has spent over $27 million of his own money. But this seat is not for sale.” At a nighttime gathering at a suburban Philadelphia estate, former US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley introduced Oz to a crowd of about 1,500. “There are too many extreme positions in Washington, too many out there that are taking us away from where the real answers are,” Oz said. “I will bring balance to Washington. But John Fetterman? It will bring more extreme.” Fetterman’s campaign noted that in recent days, Oz has been campaigning with Trump at a wedding venue that denies same-sex marriage and at a gym whose owner organized buses to Trump’s Jan. 6, 2021, rally in Washington. In Georgia, Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, who has been in conflict with Republican Herchel Walker, tried to portray himself as a realist — capable of succeeding in Washington even if the Republican party has more power. Warnock promised on Monday “to do what I need to do and work with whoever I need to work with to do good things”. Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly also tried to strike a subdued tone. He praised the late Republican state Sen. John McCain, while noting that he did not ask Biden to campaign with him, but “would welcome the president to come here anytime.” Kelly’s Republican opponent, Blake Masters, called the senator “just another vote for Joe Biden’s failed agenda.” “Look at what Biden and Mark Kelly are doing. It’s like, are they that incompetent or are they trying to destroy the country?’ said the Master. “I think it’s both.” Elon Musk, whose purchase of Twitter has taken the social media world by storm, used the platform on Monday to support the GOP, writing: “I recommend voting for a Republican Congress given that the Presidency is Democratic.” That came too late for more than 44 million Americans who had already voted early. Biden, meanwhile, wasn’t all positive on the final day of the campaign. He has spent weeks warning against extremism and also said on Monday: “We are facing some of the darkest forces we have ever seen in our history.” “These MAGA Republicans are a different breed of cat,” he said, referring to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan. Biden also raised concerns about voter intimidation during the presidential midterms, even suggesting that some were outside polling stations with automatic rifles. The president was expected to watch Tuesday night’s returns from the White House. Trump has long falsely claimed that he only lost the 2020 election because Democrats cheated, and has begun to raise the possibility of election fraud this year. Many Republican candidates across the country continue to adhere to his election denial, even as federal intelligence agencies warn of the potential for political violence from far-right extremists. Threats could also come from abroad, as happened in previous matches. Kremlin-linked Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin admitted on Monday that he had meddled in the US election and would continue to do so. “If you want to stop the destruction of our country and save the American dream, then tomorrow you have to vote Republican in a huge red wave that we’ve all heard about,” Trump said at Monday night’s rally in Ohio. She also went after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying, “I think she’s an animal” just days after her husband, Paul, was brutally beaten by an assailant at the couple’s San Francisco home. First Lady Jill Biden appeared with her husband in Maryland and earlier on Monday campaigned for Democratic Rep. Jennifer Wexton in northern Virginia. It could be an early indicator of GOP midterm strength if Wexton flips her Republican challenger, Hung Kao. The first lady told about 100 people outside a home in Ashburn, about 30 miles from Washington, that the race could come down to a narrow margin. And he warned that, in Congress, “a Republican majority will attack women’s rights and health care.”
Weissert reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Bill Barrow in Macon, Georgia, Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix, Josh Boak in Bowie, Maryland, Julie Carr Smyth in Vandalia, Ohio, Matt Rourke in Pennsburg, Pennsylvania, and Jill Colvin, Colleen Long and Chris Megerian in Washington contributed to this report.
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