President Biden rallies with Wes Moore at Bowie State University
BOWIE, MD - NOVEMBER 07: Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wes Moore (L) raises arms with President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden and U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) during a campaign rally at Bowie State University on November 7, 2022 in Bowie
BOWIE, Md. - Coast to coast, candidates and big-name backers made final appeals to voters Monday in the last hours of a fraught midterm election season, with Republicans excited about the prospect of winning back Congress even as President Joe Biden predicted his party would "surprise the living devil out of a lot of people."
Democrats contend Republican victories could profoundly and adversely reshape the country, eliminating abortion rights nationwide and unleashing broad threats to the very future of American democracy. Republicans say the public is tired of Biden policies amid high inflation and concerns about crime.
"We know in our bones that our democracy is at risk," Biden said during an evening rally in Maryland, where Democrats have one of their best opportunities to reclaim a Republican-held governor’s seat. "I want you to know, we’ll meet this moment."
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That event followed Biden’s late-campaign strategy of sticking largely to his party’s strongholds rather than stumping in more competitive territory, where control of Congress may ultimately be decided. Biden won Maryland with more than 65% of the vote in 2020 and appeared with Wes Moore, the 44-year-old Rhodes Scholar who could become the state’s first Black governor.
Keeping his message positive, the president said at an earlier virtual event, "Imagine what we can do in a second term if we maintain control."
Most political prognosticators don’t think the Democrats will — and predict that Tuesday’s results will have a major impact on the next two years of Biden’s presidency, shaping policy on everything from government spending to military support for Ukraine.
In the first national election since the violent Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection, the Democrats have tried to focus key races on fundamental questions about the nation’s political values.
The man at the center of most Jan. 6 debate, former President Donald Trump, was in Ohio for his final rally of the 2022 campaign — and already thinking about his own future in 2024. Ohio holds special meaning for him as he readies another run for the White House. It was one of the first places where he was able to prove his enduring power among Republican voters two years ago.
Trump’s backing of JD Vance in Ohio this year was crucial in helping the author and venture capitalist — and onetime Trump critic — secure the GOP’s nomination for a Senate seat.
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While the GOP likes its chances of flipping the House, control of the Senate could come down to a handful of crucial races. Those include Georgia, Arizona and Pennsylvania, where Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman was locked in a close race against Republican celebrity surgeon Mehmet Oz.
First lady Jill Biden appeared with her husband in Maryland but also campaigned earlier Monday for Democratic Rep. Jennifer Wexton in northern Virginia. It could be an early indicator of GOP midterm strength if Wexton’s seat flips to her Republican challenger, Hung Cao.
The first lady told about 100 people outside a home in Ashburn, about 30 miles from Washington, that the race could come down to a tiny margin of votes. And she warned that, in Congress, a "Republican majority will attack women’s rights and health care."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.