Trump to give closing midterm pitch at Lincoln Memorial as Democrats hold final rallies on eve of election
With a record 54 million early votes already cast, Donald Trump will deliver his closing midterm message at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Monday while Democrats hold final get-out-the-vote rallies across the country, a day before voters decide control of Congress.
The United States midterm campaign reaches its final day on Monday, with President Donald Trump set to deliver his closing pitch at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington and Democrats holding last get-out-the-vote rallies across the country, one day before voters decide who controls Congress.
Tuesday's election will fill all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 Senate seats, and it will determine whether Trump faces a Congress controlled by his own party or by Democrats for the final two years of his second term. Early voting has already broken records: AFP reported on Monday that 54 million ballots had been cast ahead of election day, well above the early-voting total in the 2022 midterms.
For his closing argument, Trump chose a venue steeped in American political history rather than a battleground state. The White House formally announced on Sunday that he would speak on Monday afternoon at the Reflecting Pool, the long, shallow pool between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument that has framed some of the country's most famous speeches and protests.
Trump signalled the choice himself on Sunday as he stepped off Air Force One for a rally in Iowa, telling reporters that speaking at the site would show how beautiful it is. Hours later, the White House confirmed the Monday event, capping a month-long rally blitz in which the president held more than two dozen in-person events, mostly in conservative areas, urging Republicans to turn out.
The choice of venue also brings an awkward subplot into the spotlight. The Associated Press reported that the Reflecting Pool project has been slow, expensive and problem-plagued, and that Trump's decision to stage his closing event there pushes his efforts to repair and redevelop parts of the capital back into public view. Trump has spent much of his second term reshaping Washington, and the pool has become, in AFP's words, synonymous with that drive.
Trump's final campaign stops on Sunday were in Iowa and Kansas. In Dubuque, Iowa, he campaigned for Republican Senate candidate Ashley Hinson, who faces a close contest against Democrat Josh Turek, and in Salina, Kansas, he rallied for Republican Senator Roger Marshall, who is seeking re-election against Democrat Adam Hamilton. Trump described the Kansas event on social media as his last stop of the rally tour, before the Washington speech on Monday.
Addressing the crowd in Iowa on Sunday, Trump warned that Democrats were extreme and dangerous radicals who would steal wealth and let migrants ransack, rape and plunder, in remarks reported by AFP. He told supporters on Sunday that his side was going to win, even as polls point in the opposite direction, and he has repeatedly urged crowds to vote as though he himself were on the ballot.
Democrats, meanwhile, teed up their own final rallies on Monday, hoping to convert polling leads into control of at least one chamber of Congress. Star Democratic Senate candidates including James Talarico in Texas and Adam Hamilton in Kansas were among those holding closing events, capping a campaign AFP described as one of breathtaking tension and bitterness.
The polling picture heading into the final day is bleak for Republicans. AFP reported that polls show Democrats are near certain to take the House majority and have a real shot at winning the Republican-held Senate. An NBC News poll released on Sunday put Trump's disapproval rating at 60 per cent, with voters particularly unhappy about high prices, while the final New York Times/Siena poll released on Sunday evening showed Democratic candidates leading in all seven of the most competitive Senate seats surveyed, although five remained within the margin of error.
The campaign has also been shaped by extraordinary spending and by internal Democratic drama. AFP put total advertising spending in the midterms at about 11 billion dollars, while the Michigan Senate race was roiled in the final days by former Democratic primary candidate Haley Stevens endorsing Republican Mike Rogers, a move that drew sharp condemnation from Democratic leaders.
What happens next will be decided on Tuesday, when polling stations open across the country and the early-vote lead is tested against election-day turnout. If Democrats win the House, they would gain the power to block Trump's legislative agenda, launch investigations and force difficult votes for the remainder of his term; a Senate win would go further, giving them control over confirmations. If Republicans hold both chambers, Trump would keep a clear path for his programme. Either way, the result will be read as a verdict on his second term, on the cost of living, and on the war in Iran that has hung over the campaign.
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