Referendum on 'Trumpism'... Battle in 7 Republican States

Washington – Agencies: Americans are casting their ballots today in midterm elections that are being closely watched worldwide and could serve as a referendum on Trump... (See page 13). Democrats organized their final rallies yesterday in an effort to wrest control, even if partial, of Congress to constrain President Donald Trump, who decided to deliver a speech at the edge of the reflecting pool of the Lincoln Memorial, a site that has become one of the symbols embodying his controversial project aimed at reshaping the capital’s landscape. Trump appeared confident in the Republican campaign’s success, stating, “We will win,” as the 80-year-old president has spent months sowing doubts about the integrity of the election and has already spoken of the possibility of challenging the results. A New York Times poll, conducted in collaboration with Siena College, showed Democratic candidates for the Senate leading in five of the seven key states: Michigan, Texas, Kansas, Maine, and Ohio, with a slight edge in Alaska, while the two parties are effectively tied in Iowa. These results are significant given the difficulty of the task facing the Democratic Party, which needs to retain all its current seats and gain at least four from Republicans, many of them in traditionally Republican strongholds. However, polls show Democrats with a clear lead in two states that have not elected a Democratic senator in decades: Texas, where the last Democratic Senate victory dates back to 1988, and Kansas, which has not elected a Democratic senator since 1932. Nevertheless, Democrats are exercising caution, as opinion polls previously underestimated the level of mobilization in the MAGA movement, an acronym for Trump’s campaign slogan “Make America Great Again.” Midterm elections saw approximately $11 billion spent on advertising. Elon Musk, a close ally of Trump, contributed a substantial sum of nearly half a billion dollars to support the election of Republican candidates.