Republicans expected to seize House, Senate in the balance, putting president’s agenda on the line as predecessor teases 2024 comeback bid
Republicans and Democrats traded final blows Monday ahead of midterm elections that could upend Joe Biden’s presidency, weaken Western support for Ukraine and even open the door to a comeback bid by Donald Trump.
More than 40 million ballots have been cast through early voting options, meaning the outcome was already taking shape before polls open nationwide Tuesday.
Biden acknowledged that Democrats face an uphill battle to retain control of Congress, telling supporters that “if we’re able to hold on, we’re going to be in an incredible shape.”
“I know that sounds like a very high expectation,” he acknowledged, adding that “we’re up against some of the darkest forces we’ve ever seen in our history.”
Biden, who has framed his closing argument as a warning that American democracy is on the line, was set to close out days of campaigning for Democratic candidates at a rally Monday evening near Baltimore.
Trump has used the midterms to repeatedly tease a possible 2024 White House run, even as he faces criminal probes over taking secret documents and trying to overturn the 2020 election. On Monday he was holding a rally in Ohio and the day before drew crowds in Miami.
“I will probably have to do it again,” teased the 76-year-old in Miami, sporting his iconic red hat — urging supporters to “stay tuned” for his final campaign rally of the 2022 season.
Carrying signs saying “Again!” the crowd yelled back “Four more years!”
Former US president Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the Dayton International Airport in Vandalia, Ohio, on November 7, 2022. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images/AFP)
With polls showing Republicans in line to seize the House of Representatives, the increasingly far-right party eyed snarling the rest of Biden’s first term with aggressive investigations and opposition to spending plans.
Kevin McCarthy, who would likely become speaker of the House — placing him second in line to the president — refused to rule out impeachment proceedings.
“We will never use impeachment for political purposes,” McCarthy told CNN. “That doesn’t mean if something rises to the occasion, it would not be used at any other time.”
Another key question is whether the US Senate will also flip. With Congress out of Democrats’ hands, Biden would see his legislative agenda collapse.
That would raise questions over everything from climate crisis policies, which the president will be laying out at the COP27 conference in Egypt this week, to Ukraine, where Republicans are reluctant to maintain the current rate of US financial and military support.
While insisting he supports Ukraine’s struggle, McCarthy told CNN there could be no “blank check” — a nod to the isolationist Trump wing of his party and a signal likely to send shivers through Kyiv.
