Midterms 2018: Early voting sees record-breaking turnout as Oprah heads on campaign trail for Stacey Abrams
The major elections are less than a week away
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The US is just four days away from the 2018 midterm elections on 6 November and races around the country are heating up.
Democrats are attempting to gain control of the US House and Senate in the wake of a contentious, partisan battle over the newly-confirmed Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
There are several state and local races of importance, too, as the parties square off for control of state legislatures and local city councils.
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A new poll has bad news for Republicans with less than 30 days to the midterms.
The latest CNN poll shows two-thirds of likely female voters say they are going to support Democrats across the country, with 63 per cent of respondents saying they will vote Democratic compared to 33 per cent who said they will support Republicans.
The poll arrives after a contentious confirmation battle for Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused by at least two women of sexual misconduct.
Donald Trump mocked critics who have called for the president’s impeachment, as well as his embattled Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh, during an Iowa rally last night.
He encouraged his supporters to vote for Republicans in the upcoming crucial midterm elections, saying Tuesday night, “The Democrats are even talking about doing really bad things now to Justice Kavanaugh … Last week, they were saying, ‘We’ll impeach.’ I have to go first, right? Don’t I?”
“Even though we’ve done nothing wrong other than create one of the greatest economies in the history of the world,” he added.
Michael Bloomberg has re-registered as a member of the Democratic Party, as the New York billionaire mulls over a 2020 presidential campaign.
The former mayor — who was elected in his home state as a Republican, and was also previously registered as an independent — wrote in an early Wednesday announcement, “We need Democrats to provide the checks and balance our nation so badly needs”.
“At key points in US history on of the two parties has served as a bulwark against those who threaten our Constitution,” Mr Bloomberg wrote in his Instagram post. “Two years ago at the Democratic Convention, I warned of those threats”.
Donald Trump has stayed consistent with at least one message throughout the 2018 midterm elections: a vote for a Republican is a vote for the president himself.
At a massive rally in Southhaven, Mississippi, Mr Trump said, “I’m not on the ballot … But in a certain way, I’m on the ballot. So, please go out and vote.”
It appears as though Rod Rosenstein’s troubles with Donald Trump may have subsided — at least until after the 2018 midterm elections.
The deputy attorney general has avoided a firing after the New York Times reported he had discussed wearing a wire to secretly record the president and the possibility of invoking the 25th Amendment before the crucial midterms.
Meanwhile, a meeting he was scheduled to have with House investigators regarding the matter had reportedly been scrapped by Wednesday.
It appears the Republican Party wasn’t the only demographic of American voters to have become energised by the historic Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court confirmation battle.
A new poll showed 46 per cent of respondents said the US Senate “made the wrong decision” in confirming Mr Kavanaugh to become the latest justice, as the Democrats become more fuelled by the controversial appointment with less than 30 days until the crucial elections.
Here’s video of Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech at last night’s American Music Awards, in which the typically apolitical celebrity encouraged young people to register to vote.
Donald Trump criticised the Democratic Party in an op-ed with just four weeks before the midterms, claiming, “The truth is that the centrist Democratic Party is dead.”
“The new Democrats are radical socialists who want to model America’s economy after Venezuela,” he wrote.
Democrats and progressive groups have denounced Donald Trump’s op-ed about the minority party’s stances on issues like medicare and immigration.
The National Rifle Association has greatly reduced its spending in the upcoming midterm elections compared to prior election cycles.
Whereas the NRA spent nearly $25m in the 2014 midterms, the group spent just $4.9m this year so far, with less than 30 days until the crucial elections.
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