President Trump is scheduled to spend Election Day at the White House, awaiting results as polls suggest a potentially challenging night for his party. This follows a period of intense campaigning, including a final speech at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Monday, where he highlighted his administration's achievements and criticized Democrats.
Trump told supporters at the event, "For whatever reason, the sitting president doesn’t win the midterms, and we gave this a very strong shot." He also participated in at least nine virtual tele-rallies on Monday and spoke at 27 campaign rallies throughout October.
On Tuesday, Trump and the First Lady will remain at the White House as results are tabulated across the country. Polls are expected to remain open until 1 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday in Alaska, the last state to close its polls. The Trumps cast their ballots early in person in West Palm Beach, Florida, two weeks prior to Election Day.
Republicans are hoping to defy predictions, with Trump encouraging his supporters to vote as if his name were on the ballot. Recent polling, including a New York Times/Siena poll released Monday, indicated Democratic leads in several key Senate battlegrounds such as Michigan, Texas, Ohio, and Kansas. Republican Senator Ted Cruz expressed concern on his podcast, noting that Democrats appear energized and that early vote counts, if finalized, would result in significant Republican losses.
Concerns have also been raised regarding potential delays in election results due to ongoing investigations by the Department of Justice into election administration. The department's recent requests to a federal appeals court to overturn a ruling that dismissed its bid to block the certification of Alaska's U.S. Senate election and to the Supreme Court to set aside mail-in ballots provided to noncitizens have been rejected by lower federal courts.
For months, Trump has alluded to the possibility of voter fraud if Republicans do not perform well in the midterms, despite the rarity of such occurrences. He previously posted on Truth Social about federal monitoring of voter fraud in Minnesota, suggesting that any loss for the Republican Senate candidate would be due to "playing games with the [B]allots." When asked last week if he would respect the midterm election results, Trump stated he would, provided the elections are "honest."