US midterms: Democrats plan final rallies before vote

Democrats planned final get-out-the-vote rallies Monday on the eve of US midterm elections that could end full Republican control of Congress and impose new political limits on President Donald Trump.

Democratic Senate candidates James Talarico in Texas and Adam Hamilton in Kansas were among those set to campaign on the final day. Trump chose a speech in Washington at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as his closing argument, telling supporters Sunday: “We're going to win.”

Polls cited in the item showed Democrats near certain to take the House of Representatives from Republicans and with a real chance of winning the Senate. Control of the House would give Democrats voting power over the federal budget and committee authority to investigate alleged corruption under Trump, the Epstein files and other issues.

The Senate remained less certain because only a third of its 100 seats are being contested and few races were initially seen as favorable to Democrats. The final New York Times/Siena poll released Sunday evening showed Democratic candidates leading in all seven seats viewed as most competitive, though five were within the margin of error.

The campaign's final stretch also exposed Democratic divisions. In Michigan, Democratic congresswoman Haley Stevens endorsed Republican Mike Rogers against left-wing progressive Abdul El-Sayed in a key Senate race after losing the Democratic primary to El-Sayed in August.

Trump and Republicans have portrayed Democrats as radicals. At an Iowa rally on Sunday, Trump said Democrats were “extreme and dangerous radicals” who would “steal your wealth” and let migrants “ransack, rape and plunder.” An NBC News poll released Sunday showed 60 percent disapproved of Trump's performance, particularly over high prices and the war against Iran.

Early voting had reached a record 54 million ballots nationwide. The midterms had seen about $11 billion spent on advertising, including nearly half a billion dollars from Elon Musk to help Republicans, according to the supplied figures.