(Headline USA) Republicans are eyeing major gains in Tuesday’s elections and appealing to supporters over the final weekend before the 2022 election to punish Democrats for high inflation and crime rates that have risen in parts of the country. Top Democrats, including Biden and his party’s two most recent White House predecessors, said the prospect of GOP victories could undermine the very future of American democracy.
More than 39 million people have already voted in an election that will decide control of Congress and key governorships. Biden was campaigning in suburban New York on Sunday evening, a day after Barack Obama and Bill Clinton made closing cases to voters.
Florida Sen. Rick Scott, who heads the Republicans’ Senate campaign arm, argued: “We have great candidates. People are showing up to vote.”
“There’s no energy on the Democrat side,” he said on NBC. “This election is about the Biden agenda.”
Trump was rallying in Miami and hopes a strong GOP showing on Election Day will generate momentum for the 2024 run that he is expected to launch in the days or weeks after polls close. Scott will be at that rally.
For national Democrats, the focus is on the fate of their narrow control of the House and Senate.
Voters may rebuke the party controlling the White House and Congress amid surging inflation, concerns about crime and pessimism about the direction of the country. History suggests the party in power will suffer significant losses in the midterms.
Biden’s midterm pitch centers on championing his administration’s meager legislative achievements, while warning that access to infanticide, mail in voting, Social Security and Medicare are at risk should Republicans take control of Congress.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
