Trump escalates legally in anticipation of losing midterm congressional elections
Amman5 min read
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US President Donald Trump has escalated legal efforts that could help his fellow Republicans challenge the results of the midterm congressional elections scheduled for next week. He also made urgent adjustments on Friday to his schedule for the final days of the campaign, including rescheduling rallies he had canceled just a day earlier.
The number of voters who cast their ballots early has exceeded the total number of voters in 2022. In fact, Pope Leo, who was born in the United States, cast his vote by mail in the November 3rd elections, in which independent analysts believe Republicans are likely to lose their current majority in the House of Representatives, while the competition for control of the Senate is expected to be fierce.
The Trump administration has moved forward with legal actions in Alaska, which is witnessing a race for a Senate seat that could play a pivotal role in determining the majority, and in California, which historically takes longer than most other states to count votes.
The Department of Justice filed an amended lawsuit in Alaska yesterday, Thursday, seeking to prevent the certification of results in the event of a narrow Republican loss, citing a report published by The New York Times stating that Democratic activists pushed a candidate to run with the aim of splitting the vote, bearing a name almost identical to that of the current Republican candidate.
In California, the Department of Justice is escalating a pressure campaign against state election officials, issuing subpoenas as part of a criminal investigation into allegations regarding voting by non-citizens.
A look at these steps combined reveals an extraordinary federal intervention in elections that are managed at the state level and, under the US Constitution, are subject to local administration. Election officials across the United States said they are bracing for more legal challenges from Washington.
The dispute in Alaska, which is seeing one of about a dozen heated Senate races, could leave control of the chamber unclear for weeks. Democrats need a net gain of four seats to regain the majority from the Republicans.
If Democrats take one or both chambers of Congress, they could open investigations into the Trump administration and increase pressure on the President to end the war on Iran.
Election rallies return after being canceled
Trump will campaign on Friday in Florida, hoping to rally his supporters in a state he won easily in 2024, but early voting there has leaned in favor of the Democrats.
This will be his last stop in a state Republicans usually expect to win, following his campaign events held earlier this week in Mississippi and South Carolina.
A White House official said the US President plans to hold campaign rallies over the weekend in Kansas and Iowa, less than 24 hours after canceling them, in addition to "nearly 20" virtual campaign appearances online before Tuesday.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who was defeated by Trump in the 2024 election, will hold a campaign rally for Democrats in Atlanta today.
"The last year and a half has been heavy. And now we are at a point where we can achieve a lot," she told a crowd yesterday, Thursday, at an event held in Macon, Georgia.
The University of Florida's Election Lab indicated that more than 46 million Americans had cast their ballots early as of Friday morning, surpassing the total recorded in the 2022 midterm elections.
Among them was Pope Leo, born in Chicago, who became the first Pope to cast a vote in a US election, according to a statement from the Vatican press office today, Friday. This comes following Leo's criticism of Trump's war on Iran and his description of his administration's treatment of immigrants as a deviation from the teachings of Christ.
Alaska dispute
In an amended lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice in Alaska yesterday, Thursday, the department stated that members of Democratic candidate Mary Peltola's campaign organized a "sham campaign aimed at misleading voters."
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that activists in the Democratic candidate's campaign convinced a retired teacher living in a remote fishing village named "Daniel J. Sullivan Jr." to run in the election alongside the current Republican candidate "Dan S. Sullivan."
Peltola's campaign asked the judge to dismiss the updated lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice.
Peltola's lawyers wrote in their legal brief, "Nothing in these new allegations changes the fact that the Department of Justice lacks any legal basis, any legal authority to bring this case, or any entitlement to the claims it seeks."
Peltola's campaign had previously announced that it "has no connection to either of the campaigns of the two candidates who bear the name Sullivan."
Daniel J. Sullivan, listed on the ballot as having no party affiliation, had previously denied that his goal was to cause confusion or divert votes from Dan S. Sullivan, the Republican Party candidate.
