The End of a Robust Campaign Season – Daily Local

Will Weissert (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A turbulent election season that has reignited America’s political divisions and questioned its commitment to a democratic future is in the top races across the country to offer a crucial test for Joe Biden’s presidency. It will end on Tuesday.

Democrats feared their control in the U.S. House of Representatives could be waning and their hold in the U.S. Senate, once considered safer, to loosen. Governors of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Nevada are also glaring at serious Republican challengers.

Even Biden, who was scheduled to see the evening elections take place at the White House, said late Monday night that he thinks his party will keep the Senate, but that “the House is tougher.” When asked what he would do, his assessment was harsh: “It will be harder.”

All seats in the House of Representatives and 34 seats in the Senate were contested. Thirty-six states have elected governors, and many of those elections are also poised to be the narrowest margins.

This election could have significant implications for the next two years for Mr. Biden. Even a Republican control of his one House of Representatives leaves the president vulnerable to numerous investigations into his family and administration, while also wiping out major health insurance and social spending packages, plus infrastructure legislation. You end up defending the achievements of the president’s policies.

Bold Republicans can also make it harder to raise the debt ceiling and limit additional aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia.

Republicans are betting that messages focused on the economy, gas prices and crime will resonate with voters in a time of rising inflation and violence. I’m sure the anger stemming from the Supreme Court’s decision to remove the right has faded and the midterm elections have become a more traditional measure of a president’s performance.

“It’s going to be a referendum on the incompetence of this administration,” Minnesota Republican Rep. Tom Emer said of the election, where Republicans are striving to retake the House.

Few major voting issues were reported, but most election days had typical problems. Some tallyers did not work in New Jersey county. In Philadelphia, where Democrats are expecting a strong turnout, people complained of refusal when they showed up in person to try to resolve the issue of previously cast mail-in ballots. said there is still time to reconcile these issues.

In Maricopa County, Arizona, which includes Phoenix, Arizona, officials are reporting problems with ballot counting machines in about 20% of polling places. While there were few examples of long lines, the incident fueled growing anger and skepticism about the vote among some Republicans since the state narrowly backed Biden in 2020. .

“Maybe they’re trying to slow the red tsunami,” said Kari Lake, the state’s Republican gubernatorial candidate.

If Republicans run particularly strong elections and win congressional seats held by Democrats in places like New Hampshire and Washington, the pressure could build for Biden to choose against re-election in 2024. . Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump may try to capitalize on Republican interests by officially launching another bid for the White House in a “very big announcement” in Florida next week.

Trump, who voted in Palm Beach, Fla., on Tuesday, predicted that Republicans had a “great night” on Tuesday and that the upcoming event “is going to be very exciting for a lot of people.”

The former president has endorsed more than 300 candidates in the midterm election cycle and said he voted for Republican Ron DeSantis, who is seeking a second term as governor of Florida. DeSantis is seen as a potential primary Republican alternative should Trump run for his 2024 White House election, as has been widely anticipated.

The midterm elections come only for the US to emerge from the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic and face steep economic challenges. The Supreme Court has stripped the constitutional right to abortion and abolished protections that have been in place for 50 years.

“People are realizing that this basic freedom has been taken away,” said Planned Parenthood Federation of America president Alexis McGill Johnson.

“They see this as an economic issue, a health issue, a freedom issue,” added McGill-Johnson. “And they are furious.”

It is also the first national election since the Jan. 6 riots, meaning the country’s highly democratic future is at stake. Some of those who took part in or were close to the deadly attack are poised to win Tuesday, including a seat in the House of Representatives. Arizona gubernatorial candidate Lake and Republican hopefuls for secretary of state in her state, including Nevada and Michigan, have refused to accept the results of the 2020 presidential election.

As such, it could end up overseeing future elections in states that are often important in presidential elections.

With very rare exceptions, the president’s party loses seats in the first midterm elections. Biden’s delayed confirmation also made many Democrats reluctant to campaign alongside him in a highly competitive race. The survey found that only 43% of U.S. adults said they approve of how Mr. Biden handles his job as president. At that time, only 25% said the country was moving in the right direction.

Still, Biden’s allies have expressed hope that voters will reject Republicans who have contributed to the extreme political environment.

“This is something we have to defend, and we defend it by voting, going out and supporting our country,” said Kevin Tolbert, a 49-year-old labor law worker from Southfield, Michigan. said.

“It’s a fragile place where we’re in. I think it’s really important to protect this because we can become dictators and things like we’ve seen in the past,” Tolbert said. . “I don’t need it.”

Washington’s 83-year-old Michael Dupigny didn’t anticipate the problem, but went to the polls in person and said, “Look at what’s going on with the machines and with the people, and it’s all going well with the votes.” I wanted to confirm,” he said. station. “

Federal and state election officials, and Trump’s own attorney general, have said they have no credible evidence that the 2020 election was tainted. was rejected altogether by But the political divide that has simmered for two years was nowhere to be seen on Tuesday.

Barbara Brown, 76, voted Tuesday in Chestertown, Md., east of state capital Annapolis, as Republican and Democratic candidates stood together, holding campaign signs and “laughing and talking.” I was overwhelmed.

“But I’ll take whatever I can get,” said Brown, noting that the local candidate has shown political decency.

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Associated Press writer Corey Williams of Southfield, Michigan; Gary Fields of Chestertown, Maryland; Anita Snow of Phoenix and Claudia Lauer of Philadelphia; Jill Colvin of Washington; Jacqueline Martin contributed to this report.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the 2022 midterm elections at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections. Also, visit https://apnews.com/hub/explaining-the-elections to learn more about the issues and factors in the midterm elections.