Voters head to polls to judge Trump's second term
With high prices and an unpopular war weighing on sentiment, the November election will determine if Democrats can take control of Congress.
By Noor Phillips ·
President Donald Trump asked voters to treat the midterm elections as if he were running for office again, a strategy he deployed during a rally in Salina, Kansas, on Sunday evening. The president’s campaign focused on energizing the base in states that voted heavily Republican in 2024, including Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas. This effort came amid a political climate where his approval rating has dropped to 35%, according to recent polling from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Voters faced a choice between maintaining the Republican status quo or shifting power to Democrats, who pointed to high costs of living and the war with Iran as key issues. More than 57 million people had cast ballots by Monday, with early turnout in many close states already surpassing figures from four years ago. The financial scale of the campaign was immense, with Republican committees spending over $850 million on advertisements in districts where Trump won by at least 10 points in 2024.
Democrats needed a net gain of four seats in the Senate to secure a majority, a difficult target given that many competitive races were in historically red states. In the House, they required only a net gain of three seats. Republicans, who currently hold a 53-47 majority in the Senate, fought to retain control of that chamber while defending their narrow majority in the House. Key Senate battlegrounds included North Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, and Alaska, where the administration filed a lawsuit to block certification of results if the incumbent lost.
Joe Gruters, chairman of the Republican National Committee, expressed confidence that his party could defy historical trends where the president's party typically loses seats. “Everything depends on turnout. If we turn out our voters we win and that's what we've been planning for,” Gruters said on the eve of the election. He acknowledged the prevailing pessimism but insisted his party could still win.
Democrats countered that public anger over the economy was driving momentum. Rep. Suzan DelBene, chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, stated that the American people wanted change and leaders who would stand up for them. She predicted the results would send a clear message that voters had grown tired of the president's agenda. Only 25% of U.S. adults approved of Trump's handling of the economy, while about 70% said the country was heading in the wrong direction.
Beyond the federal chambers, 36 states elected governors, with Democrats aiming for a majority of statehouses for the first time in 20 years. In Ohio, a race between Republican Vivek Ramaswamy and Democrat Amy Acton drew attention after a campaign ad featuring Acton’s estranged mother sparked backlash. The outcome of these races will shape the final two years of Trump's second term, potentially opening the door for investigations and impeachments if Democrats take control of either chamber of Congress.
