The Albany Gazette - Democrats, Trump hold final rallies before midterm elections

Rallies -- including by star Democratic Senate candidates James Talarico in Texas and Adam Hamilton in Kansas -- were capping a campaign of breathtaking tension and bitterness.

For his closing argument, Trump chose a speech in Washington at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool -- a landmark that has become synonymous with the 80-year-old president's obsessive, controversial drive to redevelop the US capital.

"We're going to win," he said on Sunday.

Polls, however, show that Democrats are near certain to take the majority from Republicans in the House of Representatives and have a real shot at winning the currently Republican Senate.

Even winning just the House would mean Democrats have voting power over the federal budget and would lead powerful committees able to investigate alleged corruption under Trump, the Epstein files and other explosive issues.

The loss of total Republican dominance would push Trump into unfamiliar and uncomfortable territory: a lame-duck period beset with high inflation at home, the sputtering war against Iran and hostile Democratic investigations into his activities in Washington.

But a decade into the Trump era, Democrats remain wary about predictions of victory.

"Nauseously optimistic," Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock told CNN to describe the mood.

- Scorched earth -

Republicans led by Trump have fought a political scorched-earth campaign, painting Democrats as communists and openly branding Abdul El-Sayed, a Muslim candidate for senator in Michigan, as a terrorist.

Addressing a crowd in Iowa on Sunday, Trump said Democrats are "extreme and dangerous radicals" who will "steal your wealth" and let in migrants to "ransack, rape and plunder."

But polls show Americans heavily souring on Trump's wrecking-ball act.

An NBC News poll released on Sunday showed 60 percent disapprove of his performance, particularly over high prices exacerbated by his now eight-month war against Iran.

While the House seems highly likely to turn Democratic, the battle for the Senate is up in the air.

Only a third of the Senate's 100 seats are being contested in these midterms, and few of the races were seen as favorable to Democrats.

However, with surprisingly strong challenges in deeply Republican states, pollsters now say the odds of a Democratic flip are at minimum even.

The final New York Times/Siena poll released Sunday evening showed Democratic candidates leading in all seven seats viewed as most competitive, though five remained within the margin of error.

A Democratic Senate would be able to shut down Trump's lifetime appointments to courts -- especially the Supreme Court.

While Tuesday is election day, early voting has already seen a record 54 million people cast ballots around the country.

The midterms have seen about $11 billion spent on advertising, with large chunks coming from individual mega-donors.

Elon Musk, a close Trump ally who led the so-called DOGE effort in dismantling entire government departments, has given a staggering nearly half-billion dollars to help get Republicans elected.

(C.Young--TAG)