The first polling stations in the United States, where midterm elections are held on Tuesday, closed at 23:00 GMT. Specifically in the states of Kentucky and Indiana.
The last state to close polls will be Alaska. With two time zones, election day in the country will end at 7 am on Wednesday (7 am in Spain) with the closing of polling stations in its western part.
Americans choose today 435 members of the House of Representatives, 35 out of 100 senators and 36 governors.As well as thousands of state and local offices and holding referendums on issues such as legalizing marijuana and abortion.
In some states, it may take a few days to get the results. In the 2020 presidential election, the nation’s mainstream media took four days to declare incumbent Joe Biden the winner, and for this Tuesday’s election, the White House has already warned that “an orderly ballot count will take time.” .
This midterm election is the first since a presidential election marked by baseless allegations of fraud by the Republican Party and then-President Donald Trump himself (2017-2021), who still believes he won two years ago.
Republican coup
With their votes, Americans today will decide to renew a large portion of the two houses of Congress: 435 seats in the House of Representatives (where members serve two-year terms) and 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate (where the position is for six years and the date of your election changes).
In addition, 36 state governorships and many state and local positions such as secretaries of state are at stake.
So far, Democrats have a majority in the House of Representatives, and in the Senate they have a minimum majority with half of the senators and Vice President Kamala Harris.
According to polls in recent weeks, the Republican opposition could regain power in an election besieged by the economy and Joe Biden by uncertain inflation, one of the main issues of the campaign.
With most states voting very heavily, it’s states like Nevada, Georgia, Pennsylvania or Wisconsin that have the power to tip the balance one way or the other.
With 331.5 million people of voting age, according to the latest official census, turnout figures will also be important because midterm elections typically draw fewer people than presidential ones.
In the 2020 presidential election, according to the Pew Research Center, more than 158.4 million people went to the polls, which equates to 62.8% of voting-age citizens. In the legislative elections of 2018, this percentage was 47.5%.
To reverse this low turnout, this election is being marketed as a big litmus test for Joe Biden and the start of the race toward the 2024 presidential election, which is likely to feature Donald Trump.
The return of Donald Trump
The final leg of the campaign was also marked by former US President Donald Trump (2017-2021) announcing late Monday that he will make a “big announcement” on November 15 from his Mar-a-Lago residence in St. In a veiled reference to his candidacy in the 2024 presidential election in Florida.
Although there was speculation throughout Monday that he would announce his candidacy later that day, Trump called that day to make the announcement. But he left signs of his intentions: “In 2024, we’re going to rebuild our magnificent White House,” he said during a speech at a campaign event in Ohio.
In turn, Biden’s last action took place in Maryland. A deeply Democratic state, in which he warned that the Republicans “will undo everything that was achieved during his administration” if they get a majority in Congress, stressing that the election is not a referendum on his management, but a decision time “two visions of the country.
Biden later insisted that he is optimistic about the results of the midterm elections and is confident of winning the Senate, but acknowledged that Democrats are struggling to maintain a majority in the House of Representatives.
The president is unpopular: according to FiveThirtyEight, 53.1% of citizens disapprove of his management and only 42.1% believe he is doing a good job.
This Tuesday’s election is not a referendum on his performance, but its outcome will determine the end of his term. Losing a majority in Congress would stymie any attempt to enact new regulations.
So while the results are clear in most states, the focus is on those where the margin in the Senate race is so tight that there could be surprises. Nevada, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are the ones that have the power to tip the balance one way or the other and thus determine what the final stretch of the Democratic presidency will look like.
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Source: El Diario
