President Donald Trump predicted a stronger-than-expected result for Republicans on Tuesday as Americans voted in midterm elections that will decide control of Congress for the final two years of his second term.
Speaking on Election Day, Trump said Republicans would perform "better than you think" in the contests. He declared that "inflation is solved" and "everything's going good," even as voters continued to voice concern about the cost of groceries, fuel and healthcare. Inflation is running at about 3.7 percent a year, up from 3 percent when Trump began his second term.
What is at stake
All 435 seats in the House of Representatives, 35 of the 100 Senate seats, and governorships in 36 states are on the ballot, with about 210 million people registered to vote. More than 57 million Americans had already voted early before Tuesday.
Trump's Republican Party currently controls both chambers of Congress. Democrats need only a net gain of three House seats and four Senate seats to take both chambers — a shift that would let them stall the president's legislative agenda and launch sweeping investigations of his administration.
Polls opened from just after 6 a.m. Eastern time in states including New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Kentucky, Vermont, New Hampshire, Indiana and Connecticut. Trump was expected to watch the results at the White House on Tuesday night.
Supreme Court rejects California ballot bid
On the eve of the election, the US Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration's push for California to set aside thousands of disputed mail-in ballots. The administration had argued that up to 20,000 ballots came from people it said were likely noncitizens, but the court declined to intervene.
Israel aid to end by year-end, Trump says
In a separate Election Day interview on Fox and Friends, Trump said the United States will end about $4 billion in annual aid to Israel by the end of the year, saying he had reached an agreement with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"Israel's our number one (recipient), we give them more than anybody else. And they no longer need it," Trump said. "We've been doing it for years. Israel is a very thriving country. They don't need it." He added that the US would still help Israel if it needed it. Neither Netanyahu's office nor Israel's foreign ministry had immediately confirmed the move, and the money is appropriated by Congress, so the president cannot end it unilaterally.
Iran: "no rush" on military decision
Trump also said he was in no hurry to decide whether to resume military operations against Iran, claiming Tehran wants a negotiated settlement "more than they ever wanted." Qatari mediators have prepared a draft agreement aimed at restarting direct negotiations, and a Qatari mediator travelled to Tehran on Monday to continue discussions.
Separately, a federal judge on Monday complicated the timeline for Trump's planned memorial arch in Washington, setting strict notification deadlines before any construction can begin. The administration had said construction could start as early as November 5, pending approval by the National Capital Planning Commission.
Sources: The Hindu, USA Today, Al Jazeera, Associated Press via The Week, Agence France-Presse.
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