Campaigning for control of Congress entered its final weekend Saturday, with all 435 House seats and 35 Senate seats on the ballot and more than 49 million Americans already having voted by mail or in person.
The early-voting total, compiled by the University of Florida’s Election Lab, is higher than the nearly 46 million ballots cast before Election Day in the 2022 midterms. Voters will choose lawmakers on Tuesday, Nov. 3, in an election that will determine whether Republicans retain control of Congress during the final two years of President Donald Trump’s term.
Legal fight in Alaska
The Justice Department has become involved in one of the closest Senate contests, in Alaska. The department accelerated a criminal investigation Friday after reports that aides to Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola recruited a retired schoolteacher from a remote fishing village to appear on the ballot because he shared the name of Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan.
The nonpartisan candidate is listed as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. The Justice Department’s top prosecutor in Alaska, U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman, discussed the investigation at a Friday news conference. A prosecutor has alleged that the candidate was a “sham candidate.”
The department also filed additional motions in a civil lawsuit seeking to prevent Alaska from certifying the Senate results if Sullivan loses a close race. President Donald Trump said he initiated the lawsuit. The legal action concerns the presence of the two candidates with similar names on the ballot and the possible certification of the election result.
Control of Congress at stake
The Alaska contest is one of the Senate races that could determine whether Democrats can take the chamber from Republicans. The Senate has 100 seats, and Republicans currently hold the congressional majorities that have allowed the Trump administration to operate with support from lawmakers in its party.
A Democratic victory in either chamber would create the possibility of congressional investigations into the Trump administration. The election also will shape the legislative environment for the president’s policies during the remaining two years of his term.
- More than 49 million Americans have already cast early ballots, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab.
- All 435 House seats and 35 Senate seats are being contested.
- Alaska’s Senate race includes Republican Dan S. Sullivan and nonpartisan candidate Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., whose names are similar.
Trump has campaigned in several states during the final month of the election. He is scheduled to return to the campaign trail Sunday in Kansas and Iowa after not traveling Saturday. The final weekend coincides with Halloween and college football games across the country.
