• The final hours of this midterm campaign revealed the polarized electoral environment,.
• The threat of political violence and the possibility of disputed races.
• The stakes are high in the first nationwide vote.

Tuesday’s election is likely to divide a population worn down by crises and economic worries.

Elections typically refresh the nation by letting people freely choose their leaders and leaders accept the results.

But the final hours of this midterm campaign revealed the polarized electoral environment, the threat of political violence, and the possibility of disputed races, raising the stakes of the first nationwide vote since former President Donald Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election and predicting an acrimonious two years.

Republicans expect to take the House on Tuesday, which would allow them to stifle President Joe Biden’s domestic program and investigate his White House.

Meanwhile, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, and Pennsylvania races could decide the Senate majority.

The cost of living crisis dominated the midterm campaign, with polls showing voters still waiting for Biden’s 2020 promise of normalcy after a once-in-a-century pandemic.

Just before voting opened, a flood of job losses, notably in the computer industry, raised concerns about a slowdown that might threaten the Biden economy’s historically low unemployment. Americans are already battling with increasing food and gas expenses, and now the Federal Reserve is raising interest rates, which will make credit card debt, buying a home, and renting more expensive and possibly cause a recession.

The economy might lead to a classic midterm election rebuke for a first-term president, which would be a good sign for democracy. Elections have always allowed the public to voice disapproval of the nation’s course.

Democrats must accept defeat on Tuesday, recover, and try again in two years to convince the nation that their policies will solve crises. If Republicans win congressional majorities, they can claim voters gave them a mandate to address Biden’s failures. After consecutive elections in which unhappy voters punished the party in power, the GOP may fare well in two years.

While that continuum is democracy, the run-up to these elections has also shown the nation’s self-estrangement in a political period in which both sides seem to think victory for the other means losing their country.

In recent days, it’s been impossible to overlook a weaker administration, fierce political discussion, and the threat to free and fair elections posed by scores of Republican candidates running on Trump’s 2020 election lies.

Biden may struggle on Tuesday. The president did not spend the campaign’s final hours trying to win over swing state Democrats. Instead, he was in liberal Maryland, where his low approval ratings won’t affect Democratic candidates. He stumped for Pennsylvania Senate nominee John Fetterman over the weekend, but the venue of his final event reflected his political energy as he considers a 2024 reelection campaign.

“It’ll be tough,” Biden told reporters. “I think we’ll win the Senate and I think the House is tougher,” he added, adding that a GOP-controlled Congress would make his life “more difficult”.

Trump focused on himself on the eve of an election in which he wasn’t running, even though he stated he didn’t want to overshadow Republican contenders.

Trump delivered a dismal, self-indulgent address packed with demagoguery, exaggerated assertions that America was in terminal decline, and plain lies about the 2020 election at a rally for GOP Senate nominee J.D. Vance in Ohio. He also prepared to allege totalitarian state-style persecution if indicted in various criminal examinations investigating his activities.

Violence looms

Since Trump incited the Capitol rebellion, American policy have been tainted by violence. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recounted the pain of being told by police that her husband Paul had been hammered. She also criticised Republicans for laughing about it in a CNN appearance.

“In our democracy, one party doubts the election results, feeds that flame, and mocks any violence. “Stop that,” Pelosi urged.

In his Ohio rally, Trump called Pelosi “an animal,” stoking political outrage.

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