Divided US at mercy of midterm partisan feuds

With a week to go before the United States midterm congressional elections, the outcome of fierce partisan contests could determine the near-term path of US politics.

At stake in the Nov 8 elections will be control of the House of Representatives and the Senate, along with governor's offices in some key states.

Democrats hold a slim majority over Republicans in the House at 221-212. The parties have a 50-50 tie in the upper chamber, with Vice-President Kamala Harris holding the tie-breaking vote. All the seats in the House and about one-third of the 100 Senate seats are up for grabs this year.

In the states, 36 of the 50 governor's offices will be decided, including those in populous, high-profile states such as Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas.

The influence of former president Donald Trump will be on the ballot indirectly, as he has endorsed several candidates across the US. The results of those contests could provide a window into the 2024 lineup of presidential contenders.

Polling is pointing to gains by Republicans as President Joe Biden's Democrats grapple with many issues. The economy is proving the biggest liability for Democrats.

Inflation — up 8.2 percent in a year — is easily outranking abortion rights in voters' priorities, forcing Democrats to recast their closing message to tout legislative wins they say will save voters money.

They are also warning that Republicans want to curb entitlements, and have doubled down on highlighting the threats to democracy that they say are posed by extremist right-wingers, as well as Trump's alleged role in the 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

Republicans have zeroed in on urban violence, an issue that has helped the party make notable inroads in key swing states, portraying their colleagues across the aisle as soft on crime.

The story of the final days of the campaign has been a Republican incursion into the Democrats' backyard, with candidates eyeing opportunities for House seats that were once out of reach.

Strategists from both parties are seeing districts across New York, Oregon and Connecticut that went for Biden by double digits in 2020 coming back into play.

Democrats are a nose in front but see their margins narrowing in Pennsylvania, Arizona and New Hampshire.

Republicans have taken the lead in Nevada, the country's closest contest, and Wisconsin, while Georgia has edged back into the red column despite a tumultuous campaign by scandal-hit challenger Herschel Walker.

Cal Jillson, a political scientist and historian at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, said that going all the way back to the mid-19th century, the incumbent president's party in midterm elections has lost seats in the House 94 percent of the time and lost seats in the Senate 75 percent of the time.

"Democrats are certainly poised to lose seats in the House and perhaps also in the Senate," Jillson said.

According to Jillson, turnout in early voting is already very high and expected to remain so until Election Day.

"Democrats need to tout their policy wins and highlight their pledge to protect abortion rights, even if only to cut their losses in the House and to give their party a fighting chance to hold their majority in the Senate," he said.

More than 21 million people across 46 states have already voted, but people are being warned that patience may be required on election night, with vote counting in some states expected to take days.

Biden is set to spend the night before Election Day at a rally in deep-blue Maryland. He will travel this week to New Mexico and California, two Democratic strongholds where Republicans are threatening to make gains.

Meanwhile, a hammer attack on US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband has sparked increased fears over political violence in the country, British newspaper The Guardian reported.

The assault on Paul Pelosi by someone who reportedly entered the Democratic congressional leader's home in search of her, comes amid an alarming rise in violent rhetoric and threats targeting US lawmakers, The Guardian said in its report on Saturday, adding that many experts and observers have warned of the danger of acts of political violence during the election campaign.

Xinhua and agencies contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at hengweili@chinadailyusa.com