Washington (United States) (AFP) - Americans will cast their votes on Tuesday in the midterm elections for Congress, in an entitlement that will be a national referendum on the second term of President Donald Trump, amid indications that the Democrats may win one or both chambers of Congress.

Published on: 03/11/2026 - 05:21

Taking control of the House of Representatives alone would give Democrats the upper hand on the issue of the federal budget, while Republicans losing the majority in one of the two chambers two years before the end of Trump's term would complicate his legislative agenda.

At a time when Americans are growing dissatisfied with the high cost of living and the repercussions of the war on Iran, popular support rates for Republicans and Trump have reached their lowest levels.

Candidates are competing for the 435 seats in the House of Representatives, 35 out of 100 seats in the Senate, in addition to the positions of governors in 36 states. Democrats need to gain only three seats in the House of Representatives and a net four in the Senate to seize control of both chambers.

Upon his return to the White House for a second presidential term, Trump pledged to reduce prices. However, inflation, customs duties, and rising fuel costs due to the conflict in the Middle East increased pressure on Americans.

In the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia, retired teacher Jane Callum (77 years old) was among the Democratic volunteers supporting Senator Jon Ossoff.

"I truly feel that it is my duty to do everything in my power to change the path our country is taking now, to return it to the path of democracy and to move it away from tyranny," she told AFP.

- Economic discontent -

Republicans assert that Trump's tax cuts and tightening immigration procedures will benefit Americans, while they portray the Democratic candidates as having extreme leftist tendencies.

But Trump only touched on the economy in passing during his last campaign appearance before the vote, as he spent the bulk of his speech speaking at length about the “reflecting pond” renovation project in Washington, which faced several problems.

"This is the last day before the midterm elections, and I believe they are the most important midterm elections in our lifetime," Trump said. In his speech, he focused on his project to restore landmarks in the American capital, ignoring issues that concerned voters such as inflation and the war against Iran.

On the other hand, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer considered this a "pathetic concluding message."

However, some Republican supporters remain confident of victory.

"We will win. In fact, we may have won," former US Army fighter Yvonne Clauser from Texas told AFP.

But although Republicans enjoyed a majority of 53 to 47 seats in the Senate, the electoral battle extended to conservative states such as Kansas, Texas, Iowa, Ohio, and Alaska.

To win a majority in the Senate, Democrats are counting on the victory of Tallarico in Texas and Hamilton in Kansas.

On the other hand, Democrats must defend close seats, including in Michigan, where Democratic Representative Haley Stevens announced on Sunday her support for Republican candidate Mike Rogers against Abdul Sayed, who defeated her in the Democratic Party primaries, in a move welcomed by Trump.

Decision Desk HQ, which specializes in electoral forecasts, expects that the Democratic Party will win the majority in the Senate (52 seats compared to 48 for the Republicans), and that it will also control the House of Representatives with a comfortable majority of 241 seats compared to 194.

Republicans hope that their supporters will turn out en masse at the polls on Election Day, as opinion polls may sometimes underestimate the amount of actual support for one of the two parties.

About 57 million people cast their votes before Election Day, a record number.

The election campaign attracted spending exceeding $11 billion on political ads, while billionaire Elon Musk, a close ally of Trump, pumped hundreds of millions of dollars to support the political efforts of Republicans.

As polls close, questions are growing about whether Republicans will accept the results.

Trump, who sought to overturn the results of the 2020 elections after losing them, continued to repeat allegations of widespread fraud, and accused Democrats, without providing evidence, of electoral fraud.

The Department of Justice, run by a close associate of Trump, had filed a lawsuit that could lead to disrupting the certification of the results of the Senate elections in Alaska if the current Republican Senator Dan Sullivan lost by a narrow margin, but a court rejected this effort on the eve of the elections.

On Monday, the US Supreme Court rejected an urgent request to force the state of California to cancel the postal ballots of more than 20,000 people on the grounds that they may not be American citizens.

Trump suggested he could challenge the Democrats even if Republicans lost control of Congress.

"I think we'll do great, but if we don't win, I'll veto everything," he told a New York Post podcast. "And then they'll come to us, and we'll probably make deals."

© 2026 AFP

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