Trump and Democrats make final midterm pitch as Michigan rift surfaces

Republicans and Democrats made their final pitches to voters on Monday, November 2, 2026, the eve of the US midterm elections. Voting is set for Tuesday, and the results will determine whether President Donald Trump's Republican Party keeps control of Congress, Reuters reported.

Trump was due to make his closing argument at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, DC. In the lead-up, he staged three rallies in three days as part of a midterm blitz, including one in Dubuque, Iowa, according to Reuters.

The most closely watched split came in Michigan. The Senate race there, between Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers, is one of the most consequential contests of the midterms, according to the Washington Post. Democratic congresswoman Haley Stevens endorsed Rogers, a move that Al Jazeera described as a surprise that rocked the race. AP reported that the Democratic fracture in Michigan risked the party's effort to retake the Senate.

Beyond the Senate, Democrats needed a net gain of four seats in the US House of Representatives, meaning four more seats won than lost, to overturn the Republican majority there. Reuters reported that figure in advance of the vote.

Voters were in a sour economic mood heading into the elections, Reuters reported on Monday. Reuters also reported that Trump's Justice Department, the federal department responsible for enforcing federal law, had shown a willingness to intervene directly in Tuesday's midterm elections. Reuters

Early voting, in which ballots are cast before election day, was underway in Virginia. In August, the White House said the Supreme Court had cleared the way for a mail-in voting order ahead of the midterms, the White House said in a release.

The Democratic National Committee, the party's national organization, said it was in the final stretch of the midterms and organizing to flip the Senate. DNC