{"id":672594,"date":"2026-11-02T11:16:08","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T11:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/672594\/"},"modified":"2026-11-02T11:16:08","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T11:16:08","slug":"surge-in-early-voting-as-candidates-make-final-push-in-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/672594\/","title":{"rendered":"Surge in early voting as candidates make final push in US"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Candidates across the United States are making their final campaign push today ahead of tomorrow&#8217;s midterm elections.<\/p>\n<p>Both parties are seeking to mobilise supporters and secure votes in a contest that will determine control of Congress.<\/p>\n<p>There has been a surge in early voting for the US midterm elections, with more than 54 million people having cast a ballot.<\/p>\n<p>Republicans are fighting to defend their control of Congress at a time when affordability is a major concern for voters.<\/p>\n<p>Polling suggests Democrats are in a strong position to win a majority in the House of Representatives, but the battle for control of the Senate remains a toss-up.<\/p>\n<p>For his closing argument, US President Donald Trump chose a speech in Washington at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool &#8211; a landmark that has become synonymous with the 80-year-old&#8217;s obsessive, controversial drive to redevelop the US capital.<\/p>\n<p>Michigan Democrat&#8217;s endorsement of Republican ruffles critical US Senate race<\/p>\n<p>In Michigan, a prominent Democrat endorsed Republican Mike Rogers, giving the party an unexpected boost in a critical US Senate race ahead of midterm elections.<\/p>\n<p>US \u2060Representative Haley Stevens, who lost the Michigan Democrats&#8217; Senate primary to Abdul El-Sayed in a bitterly contested race, publicly backed Mr Rogers and appeared with him at a Detroit church, threatening to worsen divisions in a state viewed as crucial to Democratic hopes of retaking the US Senate.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t belong in Abdul&#8217;s campaign,&#8221; Ms Stevens said in a video posted to social media.<\/p>\n<p>Hours later at a political rally in Iowa, Mr Trump invited Ms Stevens to join the Republican Party.<\/p>\n<p>He told reporters beforehand that he would reach out to her to thank her for the endorsement, which he called &#8220;a smart thing to do because El-Sayed would destroy our country&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\">I am endorsing Mike Rogers for the United States Senate today. https:\/\/t.co\/pQgfSBuhOJ<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Haley Stevens (@HaleyforMI) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/HaleyforMI\/status\/2116945962706862397\" rel=\"nofollow\">November 1, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Thirty-five Senate seats and all 435 House of Representatives seats are on the ballot tomorrow.<\/p>\n<p>Republicans hold narrow majorities in both chambers. Polls show Democrats are favored to win a majority of the House and are locked in a tight battle for control of the Senate, where the outcome likely will rest with a handful of states, including Michigan and Alaska.<\/p>\n<p>If Democrats take control of the House or Senate, they could block Mr Trump&#8217;s legislative agenda for his final two years in office and launch investigations of an administration that has so far faced largely compliant Republican majorities.<\/p>\n<p>The White House has been preparing to implement portions of Mr Trump&#8217;s agenda without the aid of \u200cCongress.<\/p>\n<p>Alaska intervention falters<\/p>\n<p>Separately, the Trump administration&#8217;s attempt to intervene in Alaska&#8217;s Senate race faltered when a federal judge dismissed the US Justice Department&#8217;s lawsuit seeking to block certification of the \u2060results if Republican incumbent Senator Dan S. Sullivan narrowly loses.<\/p>\n<p>The Justice Department argued voters may be confused by the presence of a challenger named Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. on the same ballot.<\/p>\n<p>The issue has roiled the campaign over the last several \u2060days after the New York Times reported that Democrat Mary Peltola&#8217;s campaign was involved in recruiting Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. into the race as a spoiler.<\/p>\n<p>The senator said he would accept the results of Tuesday&#8217;s election even as the Trump administration presses a criminal investigation into the issue.<\/p>\n<p>But Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy, a Republican, has suggested he may not certify a victory by Ms Peltola, and the incumbent Sullivan declined to say whether he would support efforts to refuse certification.<\/p>\n<p>Read more:<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rte.ie\/news\/2026\/1031\/1597420-us-midterms-analysis\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Who is going to be haunted by the US midterms?<\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rte.ie\/news\/us\/2026\/1101\/1597508-us-midterm-elections\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">US midterm campaign enters final weekend as Alaska, California ballot fights heat up<\/a><\/p>\n<p>He joined his party colleagues in accusing the other Sullivan of trying to confuse voters with his similar name.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They got the decoy guy on the ballot,&#8221; the senator told CNN&#8217;s &#8220;State of the Union&#8221; program. &#8220;I&#8217;m sure I&#8217;m going to lose a lot of votes to that trickery. So what I say to Alaskans is, &#8216;Don&#8217;t let them get away with the tricks.'&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ms Peltola has denied involvement, and Mr Sullivan Jr. has denied coordinating with Ms Peltola&#8217;s campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Additional reporting AFP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Candidates across the United States are making their final campaign push today ahead of tomorrow&#8217;s midterm elections. Both&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":672595,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-672594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/672595"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}