Biden, Trump rally as campaigning for midterms reach final stage

Washington, Nov 7 (IANS) US President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump have held duelling rallies to fire up voters as campaigning for Tuesday’s midterm elections is slated to end on Monday.

On Sunday, while Biden spoke at a rally in New York to support Governor Kathy Hochul, Trump made his last-minute plea to voters in Miami, reports the BBC.

Addressing voters at the Sarah Lawrence College, the President called the upcoming election “an inflection point” that will determine the next 20 years, adding that the people were choosing between two “fundamentally different visions of America”.

In his address that lasted for over an hour, Trump slammed the Democrats for leading the country towards “communism”.

“Democrats want to turn America into communist Cuba or socialist Venezuela… To every Hispanic American in Florida and across the land, we welcome you with open open open arms to our (Republican) party,” the BBC quoted the former President as saying.

He again hinted on his possible run for the White House, telling the crowd to “stay tuned” for his rally on Monday in Ohio.

Also on Monday, Biden will appear at a rally in Maryland, a state normally considered a Democratic stronghold, while First lady Jill Biden will be in Virginia to support incumbent Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton.

In Tuesday’s elections, all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate will be contested.

Thirty-nine state and territorial gubernatorial elections, as well as numerous other state and local elections, are also up for grabs.

The results will determine the 118th US Congress.

In the Senate, the Democrats and Republicans split 50:50 with Vice President Kamala Harris holding the edge for the Democrats with her tie breaking vote.

In the House, Democrats have a wafer-thin majority of 220 seats and Republicans 212, with three seats vacant.

Recent polls have suggested that Democrats are however, likely to lose their majority in the House of Representatives, while control of the Senate will probably rely on the results of extremely tight races in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Nevada, reports the BBC.

Over 40 million ballots have already been cast during the early-voting period so far.

–IANS

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International,Politics