Trump faces key political test as Americans vote in midterms

WASHINGTON

President Donald Trump arrives at a campaign rally at the Salina Regional Airport, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, in Salina Kan. (AP Photo)

In U.S. midterm elections Democrats are gunning to win Congress and impose a first political check on President Donald Trump's unprecedented pursuit of power.

Polls show Democrats are all but certain to take the majority from Republicans in the House of Representatives in Nov. 3’s vote and have a shot at winning the Senate.

But after a decade of Trump defying political gravity and two years of a second presidency in which he has ridden roughshod over every norm, Democrats remain nervous.

"Nauseously optimistic," Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock told CNN to describe the mood.

Those jitters increased on Nov. 1 over an ugly party rift in Michigan, a key battleground where a Democratic congresswoman defected to back Republican Mike Rogers against the Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed.

The consensus among analysts, however, is that Democrats are surging.

Trump headlined the Republicans' last-ditch charge, holding rallies for candidates in Iowa and Kansas -- states where ordinarily his party should be confident of victory and not require presidential boosts.

Along with making lurid claims that Democrats will turn the country communist, Trump is dangling the promise of $5,000 payments to everyone in the country if his party wins.

"We're going to win," he told the crowd in Iowa, painting Democrats as "extreme and dangerous radicals" who will "steal your wealth" and let in migrants to "ransack, rape and plunder."

But polls show Americans have soured on Trump's wrecking-ball presidency.

An NBC News poll released on Nov. 1 showed 60 percent disapprove of Trump's performance, particularly over high prices exacerbated by his now eight-month, sputtering war against Iran.

While Nov. 3 is election day, early voting has already seen a record 54 million people cast ballots around the country, reflecting the intense political fervor.

Trump's second term has featured a relentless expansion of presidential power, aided by an ever-more docile Republican Party.

Trump has torn down part of the White House to build a ballroom, put his image on money and official buildings, disrupted the global economy with sweeping economic tariffs, and threatened to invade or annex allies like Canada and Greenland.

A big Democratic win would kick start the post-Trump era and could even begin the race to replace him in 2028.

Winning the House would put Democrats in charge of the federal budget and powerful committees set to probe allegations of mass corruption, Trump's links to infamous sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and other explosive topics.

The outcome of the contest for the Senate remains in doubt.

Only a third of the Senate's 100 seats are being contested in these midterms and few of the races were seen as favorable to Democrats. However, with surprisingly strong challenges mounted in deeply Republican states like Texas and Kansas, pollsters now say the odds of a Democratic flip are at minimum even.

A Democratic Senate would be able to shut down Trump's lifetime appointments to courts, especially the Supreme Court.