Key facts
- Democrats need to win both chambers to curb Trump's presidential power, which the report describes as largely unchecked.
- Trump staged several dozen rallies for Republican candidates and urged his base to vote as if his name were on the ballot.
- A New York Times and Siena University poll published on Sunday put Democrats ahead in five of seven battleground contests.
- Trump's approval ratings fell to between 33% and 37%, according to opinion polls cited in the report.
- The Justice Department planned to deploy a record 1,000 election monitors, a move critics called voter intimidation.
- Disclosures to the US Office of Government Ethics showed Trump earned about $2.2 billion since returning to the White House.
US voters went to the polls on November 3 in midterm elections that decide control of the Senate and House of Representatives, both held by Republicans, in what the report describes as a referendum on Donald Trump's second presidency.
Democrats and Republicans spent the final days delivering closing pitches. Trump staged several dozen rallies and urged his base to vote for Republican candidates and to pretend his name was on the ballot. The party holding the White House typically loses congressional seats at midterms, and Democrats sought to win both chambers to put a brake on presidential power the report describes as largely unchecked.
Opinion surveys suggested Democrats were well-positioned to win the House but faced a tougher task in the Senate, where they targeted Republican-held seats including Ohio, Texas and Maine. A New York Times and Siena University poll published on Sunday put Democratic candidates ahead in five of seven key battleground contests, including Texas and Kansas.
In Michigan, Democratic congresswoman Haley Stevens, who lost her party's Senate primary to Abdul El-Sayed, endorsed his Republican rival Mike Rogers on Sunday. Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer called the endorsement a despicable betrayal. El-Sayed told supporters in Royal Oak on Monday that opponents were picking their pocket.
In Alaska, it was reported that the Democratic Senate candidate's campaign was behind an effort to recruit a challenger with almost the same name as Republican senator Dan Sullivan. The candidate, Mary Peltola, denied any knowledge of such a scheme by her campaign. The Justice Department had sued to block certification of Alaska's Senate results in the event of a Republican defeat, citing potential voter confusion over two Dan Sullivans on the ballot; a judge dismissed the suit.
The Justice Department, led by attorney general Todd Blanche, planned to deploy a record 1,000 election monitors, a move critics called voter intimidation. The report said the elections take place under uncertainty over whether Trump would accept results that did not favor Republicans.