Americans head to polls in midterm elections seen as referendum on Trump

Control of the Senate and House of Representatives, both currently held by the Republicans, is at stake

Americans are heading to the polls today in US midterm elections widely seen as a referendum on Donald Trump’s second presidency and a chance for opponents to rein in his untrammeled power.

Democrats and Republicans have scrambled in recent days to deliver their final pitches to voters, with control of the US Senate and House of Representatives – both currently held by the Republicans – at stake.

The campaign has been overshadowed by Trump, who has staged several dozen rallies across the country while urging his make America great again (Maga) base to vote for Republican candidates and pretend his name was on the ballot.

The party holding the White House typically loses congressional seats at midterm elections and Democrats are hoping Trump’s nose-diving popularity can be exploited to generate a “blue wave” groundswell of popular opposition that will win them the Senate and the House.

They are seeking to wrest control over both chambers of Congress to put a brake on Trump’s presidential power, which has gone largely unchecked as he has launched a fierce immigration crackdown involving mass arrests and deportations, waged war on Iran, imposed tariffs on foreign imports, and embarked on vainglorious building projects, including a White House ballroom.

Opinion surveys have suggested the Democrats are well-positioned to win the House. The party faces a tougher task to regain control of the Senate, although it has targeted several Republican-held seats including Ohio, Texas and Maine.

A final set of polls from the New York Times and Siena University, published on Sunday, put Democratic candidates ahead in five of seven key battleground contests – including Texas and Kansas, where voters have not sent a Democrat to the Senate since 1988 and 1932 respectively.

The final stretch of the campaign was not without drama for the Democrats, however. In Michigan – widely seen as a crucial pillar to either party’s ambitions of control in the Senate – the Democratic congresswoman Haley Stevens, who lost her party’s senate primary to Abdul El-Sayed, endorsed his Republican rival, Mike Rogers, on Sunday.

Stevens was widely condemned by fellow Democrats over the move, which followed a feud with the El-Sayed campaign over an outside group’s campaign ad that blamed the high cost of living on US support for Israel. Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, described her endorsement of Rogers as “a despicable betrayal”.

“Whatever they’re trying to distract you, it’s because they’re picking your pocket,” El-Sayed told hundreds of supporters in Royal Oak, Michigan on Monday.

The extraordinary rupture took places days after the party faced damaging headlines in Alaska, where it was reported that the Democratic senate candidate’s campaign was behind an effort to recruit a challenger with almost the same name as her rival, the Republican senator Dan Sullivan. (The Democratic candidate, Mary Peltola, has denied any knowledge of such a scheme on the part of her campaign.)