WASHINGTON — As the midterm campaigns drew to a close, Democrats overcame intraparty divisions Monday to stay focused on voters’ economic frustrations, while Republicans cast their opponents as dangerous radicals. President Donald Trump, the most powerful voice in the Republican Party, seemed more interested in his plans to beautify Washington, DC.
The closing messages of the duel came as the country’s two main parties battled for control of Congress and the offices of key governors. The outcome could fundamentally reshape Trump’s final two years in the White House — and the level of power that comes with it.
In the meantime, the Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration’s request to throw out thousands of contested mail-in ballots in California, and the president separately raised the possibility of voter fraud in Alaska.
Interest in the election was high: More than 57 million ballots had already been cast in 47 states and DC as of Monday, compared to just under 44.5 million at the start of 2022 in 49 states and DC.
Overall, Democrats expressed immense optimism Tuesday about their party’s chances, thanks in large part to Trump’s fight to control rising prices and the war in Iran, which is already eight months old. The American army carried out new defensive strikes on some Iranian targets in the Strait of Hormuz, even though Trump had previously said he would not launch strikes against Iran before Tuesday’s midterms.
Trump himself has acknowledged that the midterm elections may not go well for him or his party.
“For whatever reason, the sitting president doesn’t win the midterm elections, but we took a very strong chance,” Trump said in a speech at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, where he spoke at length about new grass, rusty pipes and algae. “We have a lot of big things planned for Washington, and I could talk more about the nation, but for that you don’t have enough time.”
The speech on the National Mall marked Trump’s last scheduled public address before Tuesday. The Republican president was also scheduled to participate in nine tele-rallies for Republican candidates in the midterms and appeared on Fox News.
Meanwhile, emboldened Democrats spent election eve pushing their economic message in places like Iowa, Ohio, Kansas and Texas — red states that have become a central front in the 2026 midterms given Trump’s unpopularity. In the Midwest, however, Democrats worked to contain the consequences of a messy fight within the party a day after Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens stunned her party by endorsing the Democratic Senate candidate Abdoul El-Sayed The Republican opponent, Mike Rogers.
El-Sayed largely ignored the controversy at several events Monday, instead emphasizing that his campaign was about voters. When asked what he would say to his nervous supporters, El-Sayed had a simple message: “Go vote.”
Trump focuses on Washington renovations as voters worry about economy
Trump, in his final speech before polls opened, delivered rambling remarks Monday afternoon at the Reflecting Pool, where he repeated false claims that the project had been sabotaged by vandals. The Justice Department admitted in court that the new blue coating it installed on the pool surface had peeled and detached due to rushed repair work.
He said little about the national economy, which voters say is their top concern, only insisting that it was “great.”
“Our country is doing great. I think it’s the best we’ve ever done,” Trump said. “We had a great first term in terms of the economy. We had the best term ever. We had the most successful economy.”
Only 17% of American adults approve of the Republican president’s handling of the cost of living, according to a recent poll by Associated Press-NORC Public Affairs Research Center. Only 26% of respondents approved of Trump’s overall handling of the economy in 2017. the surveymarking a new low.
The President devoted the majority of his speech to the renovation of the Reflecting Pool, reflecting, among other things, on the challenges of removing algae and installing new turf. He also encouraged new construction projects in the Washington area, including a golf course and a “promenade” that would allow people to walk from the Lincoln Memorial to the Potomac River.
“It’s a great architectural concept, simple and beautiful, in white stone,” Trump said.
Tuesday’s election was largely an afterthought in the president’s remarks. However, he briefly described his political rivals as extremists, saying Democrats had “nominated the most extreme and dangerous slate of candidates in American history.”
The president’s message during the final days of the midterms was also detached from voters’ expectations. concerns about the high cost of living. He called affordability a “hoax” and repeatedly praised the physiques of GOP candidates.
Vice President JD Vance moved closer to the party’s message while campaigning Monday in Rome, New York. He touted Trump’s moves to end taxes on tips and overtime and secure the border, while calling Democrats “crazy people” who have contempt for American voters.
Democrats compete in Republican strongholds
Democratic candidates sought to capitalize on widespread disaffection high prices, the fallout from Trump’s war on Iran and historical trends that generally favor the fall of the ruling party in midterm elections.
Indeed, faced with major political headwinds, Republicans are playing defense in several states. Trump carried it by double digits just two years ago.
In places like Texas, where voters have not elected a Democratic senator since 1988, Democrat James Talarico received a rock star welcome in a packed outdoor amphitheater as he denounced the influence of pro-Trump billionaires like Elon Musk, who spent hundreds of millions of dollars shaping the midterm elections.
Talarico cited scripture during his speech after blaming rising food prices on “corrupt tariffs” and “a new corrupt war in the Middle East” for the rising prices of gasoline and diesel.
Around the same time, elsewhere in the state, Republican Ken Paxton sidestepped voters’ economic concerns and instead attacked his Democratic opponent in cultural terms.
“James Talarico is a vegan who hates meat,” Paxton accused, before falsely calling Talarico a democratic socialist “just like New York Mayor Mamdani.”
Ken Paxton spoke at a campaign event in Allen, Texas, and said the election would “go down to the wire.” The 2026 midterm elections are one of the biggest tests of Republican dominance in Texas — and Democrats’ best chance in decades to win a key U.S. Senate seat in the state.
Paxton acknowledged the difficult political environment Republicans face: “Texas has never been closer to walking away. »
The Democrats were also offensive Iowaa state that Trump won by nearly 14 percentage points just two years ago. Democrat Rob Sand has called on door-knocking volunteers to help him become the first elected Democratic governor in two decades.
“This is it,” said Sand, who is facing Republican Zach Lahn. “We have 30 hours, whatever, to change the direction of the state of Iowa.”
Later in the day, Republican Senate candidate Ashley Hinson and her family braved heavy rain to rally voters. She warned that Iowa values “will be on the ballot tomorrow.”
“Take an umbrella,” Hinson told those who voted Tuesday. “At least it’s not a snowstorm.”
In Michigan, Democrats face the aftermath of a dramatic split
Democrats in Michigan — a key state in their efforts to try to win back the Senate — were trying to hold together their coalition after Sunday’s shocker when Stevens announced she would support the GOP nominee instead of her party’s nominee.
Stevens did not attend Rogers’ rally Monday night in Michigan, but she received a long standing ovation from the crowd as the Republican Senate candidate spoke about his support. Attendees chanted, “Haley! Haley! Haley!”
“You know courage when you see it,” Rogers said of Stevens.
Stevens is a staunch supporter of Israel, while El-Sayed is a fierce critic of the US ally. He was also criticized for past remarks regarding an attack at a Michigan synagogue and for appearances with a controversial streamer Hasan Piker.
El-Sayed has sought to ignore the controversy, focusing instead on Trump’s policies and the state of the economy. He also mocked Trump, who called El-Sayed a “jihadist” earlier in the day.
“My name and my faith is not the reason you can’t afford gas. It’s not the reason you can’t afford groceries, nor the reason you can’t see a doctor,” El-Sayed told a crowd in Detroit. “It’s their policies that are doing this. It’s their war in Iran, an illegal, unjustifiable, unethical and immoral war that we don’t have to fight.”
“I don’t care if he knows how to pronounce my name,” he continued, “because the day after tomorrow he can just go ahead and call me senator.”
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Associated Press writers Seung Min Kim in Washington, Hannah Fingerhut in Ankeny, Iowa, Mike Householder in Ypsilanti, Michigan, Sarah Rankin in Richmond, Virginia, and Mike Catalini, Moriah Balingit and Joey Cappelletti in Washington contributed to this report.
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