Early voting for US midterm elections begins... Trump and the Democratic Party go all out to ‘Vote’

(Washington = Yonhap News) Correspondent Lee Yu-mi = With less than a month left until the November 3 midterm elections in the United States, early voting has begun in many states, and voters' choices that will determine the majority party in the Senate and House of Representatives are in full swing.

According to US media such as USA Today on the 6th (local time), on-site early voting began in Ohio, Indiana, New Mexico, and Wyoming.

Early voting began in Minnesota, Virginia, and Illinois last month, and California, Montana, and Nebraska also began voting the day before. Early voting will expand to Arizona on the 7th, and Iowa, Georgia, Idaho, and North Carolina the following week.

With 47 states in the U.S. and Washington DC allowing early voting, voting enthusiasm is expected to heat up ahead of the general election.

As the battlegrounds between President Trump, the ruling Republican Party, and the opposition Democratic Party increased, they launched an all-out war to draw each other's supporters to the polls.

President Trump recently posted an encouraging video and article on Truth Social, saying, “Please go out and vote.”

“The Republican Party must win the midterm elections, and we must use all appropriate means,” he said. “Whether it is early voting, absentee voting, mail voting, or in-person voting, we must sweep away the radical left ‘idiot Democrats’ with overwhelming voter turnout.”

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) said through its

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of the Democratic Party appealed to rally support, saying, “The Republican Party has done nothing but raise prices and make everyday life more difficult for Americans,” and added, “Voters will deliver a clear message that the Republican Party’s chaos must end.”

The biggest point to watch in this midterm election is whether the Democratic Party can regain the majority in the Senate and House of Representatives, which are controlled by the Republican Party.

In the House of Representatives, weight is increasingly being placed on the possibility of the Democratic Party taking over.

The Cook Political Report, an election analysis agency, classified 208 Democratic-dominant regions and 205 Republican-dominant regions among the 435 seats in the House of Representatives, and selected the remaining 22 as competitive regions. Currently, there are 214 active members of the Democratic Party's House of Representatives, and they need to secure only 4 more seats to regain the majority.

The Senate is even more competitive. The Republican Party currently has 53 seats, but the Democratic Party needs a net increase of 4 seats to regain the majority.

Currently, seven Senate elections, including Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Ohio, and Texas, are considered representative battlegrounds.

Among these, six, excluding Michigan, are currently Republican seats, so it is expected that the key to reclaiming the Senate will be how many seats the Democratic Party can steal from these regions.

Variables that will influence election sentiment include high inflation and the situation with the Iran war.

Reuters reported that in Ohio, where early voting began on this day, voters were lining up even before polling places opened, and that voters here are increasingly dissatisfied with the sharp rise in oil prices and the war with Iran.

The fact that the ruling party has usually struggled in the midterm elections is also a burden for the Republican Party.

In fact, as the Republican Party's election prospects have deteriorated recently amid President Trump's low approval rating and dissatisfaction with the economic situation, the Democratic Party is expanding its reach to areas where the Republican Party is traditionally dominant.

On the other hand, the Republican Party is making last-minute efforts to rally support through President Trump's regional campaign tours along with solid financial resources. Accordingly, the voter turnout of supporters of both parties and the choices of independent voters are expected to become final variables that will determine the direction of congressional power.