President Joe Biden on Friday insisted Democrats will win next week’s U.S. midterm elections, but cautioned two difficult years ahead if polls showing Republican victories prove correct.
The 79-year-old, who had a multi-state push in the final days before Tuesday’s election, said he was optimistic his Democratic Party could prevail.
“Guys, I don’t think we’re in trouble,” he told an audience in Chicago. “I think we’re going to win. I really do.”
Polls show Republicans are poised for potentially big victories in Tuesday’s congressional elections in hopes of gaining control not only in the House but also in the Senate.
That would turn the last two years of Biden’s first term into a dogfight and set the stage for a tense presidential election in 2024, with questions over whether Biden, who turns 80 this month, wants to run again.
“If we lose the House of Representatives and the Senate, it’s going to be a horrible two years,” he said.
“The good news is I will have the veto pen,” he added, referring to his power to prevent bills from becoming law.
Biden has made his way just as his defeated 2020 rival has also returned to the campaign trail.
Donald Trump, who has spent much of the past two years fuming about his loss and promoting the discredited theory of voter fraud, used a rally appearance to send the strongest signal yet that he was planning a comeback bid.
At a rally Thursday in Iowa, the first state to hold its Republican presidential nomination contest, Trump said, “To make our country prosperous, safe and glorious, I will very, very, very likely do it again, okay?” Very, very, very likely.”
“Get ready. That’s all I’m telling you. Very soon. Get ready. Get ready,” he said.
Advisors are finalizing plans for an announcement on November 14, according to a report in Axios on Friday.
But that should depend on how well the right-wing candidates promoted by Trump do on Tuesday. Another factor at play is the threat Trump faces from an investigation into his hoarding of top-secret documents at his Florida golf resort — and a possible felony charge.
For now, Republicans are confident they can at least get the one state they need to take the Senate from 50-50 to their own slim majority, while expecting solid gains in the House of Representatives from 12 to 25 seats to complete the to overcome the current eighty seats of the Democrats. members benefit.
– ‘I have a plan’ –
In the final weeks of the campaign, Republicans have even looked beyond the country’s swing states to democratic bastions that once seemed unreachable.
Strategists from both parties are seeing counties in New York, Oregon and Connecticut that voted by double digits for Biden in 2020 come back into play.
Hillary Clinton campaigned in New York on Thursday to bolster Gov. Kathy Hochul’s faltering fortune, while former President Barack Obama speaks in Pennsylvania on Saturday. Biden himself was scheduled to campaign in the democratic stronghold of New York on Sunday.
Democrats have focused their message on the onslaught on democracy they say is increasing Republican abstention and the violence they say this has provoked.
Paul Pelosi was released from hospital on Friday, a week after he was attacked by a hammer-wielding man who broke into his home to search for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
David DePape, who denies the allegations against him, reportedly told police he intended to break Nancy Pelosi’s kneecaps if she didn’t confess to the Democratic Party’s “lies.”
“The Pelosi family is grateful for the wonderful outpouring of love, support and prayers from around the world,” Nancy Pelosi said in a video following her husband’s discharge from the hospital.
The White House received some good economic news, with official figures for October showing 261,000 new jobs and unemployment at low levels.
“I have a plan to cut costs, particularly on health care, energy and other everyday expenses… The Republican plan is very different,” Biden said in a statement.
“They want to increase prescription drug costs, health insurance costs, energy costs, while giving more tax breaks to big corporations and the very wealthy.”
In another glimmer of hope for Democrats, Oprah Winfrey endorsed Pennsylvania Senate nominee John Fetterman during a virtual voting event on Thursday.
It was a notable snub from Fetterman’s Republican rival, famed surgeon Mehmet Oz, best known for appearing on Winfrey’s show.
But with Republicans confident of flipping Georgia and Nevada, the Keystone State may not even be needed for a Senate takeover.
