The Democratic Party and the Republican Party are currently battling for the control of the US Congress as polls have opened in the crucial US mid-term elections that could decide the political future of both President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump who may run in the race for the White House again in 2024.
The mid-term polls will determine the makeup of the next Congress and set the tone for the remainder of President Joe Biden’s term in office.
All 435 seats in the US House of Representatives are up for grabs, along with 34 in the Senate. Governorships, state legislatures, local councils and school boards are also being contested.
The vote on Tuesday comes as Americans grapple with sky-high inflation and living costs, and the economy which have emerged as the top concern among supporters of both the Democratic and Republican parties.
With control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate up for grabs, more than 40 million people have already cast their ballots in pre-poll voting across the country.
Biden’s Democrats are facing a gargantuan struggle to hang on to Congress while Trump’s Republicans campaigned hard on kitchen-table issues like inflation and crime.
Trump – who has been heavily hinting at a new run – grabbed the election eve spotlight to flag “a big announcement” on November 15, while Biden made a final appeal to Democrats to turn out en masse at the polls.
“The power is in your hands,” Biden told a rally near the capital. “We know in our bones that our democracy is at risk and we know that this is your moment to defend it.”
With polls showing Republicans in line to seize the House of Representatives, the GOP eyed snarling the rest of Biden’s first term in aggressive investigations and opposition to spending plans.
Returning to the White House Monday night, Biden told reporters he believed Democrats would win the Senate – though conceding “it’s going to be tough” to retain the House and that his life in Washington may become “more difficult.”
If both the House and Senate flip, Biden would be left as little more than a lame duck.
