Millions of Americans will vote in midterm elections on Tuesday, with the balance of power in Congress at stake.
The entire US House of Representatives, nearly a third of the Senate and the governorships of key states are up for grabs.
President Joe Biden, a Democrat, and former President Donald Trump, a Republican, delivered their closing arguments at the deal rallies.
Mr. Biden’s ability to pass legislation would be stymied if Republicans take the House, as most estimates expect.
Democrats currently control the White House and both houses of Congress — by razor-thin margins.
The party in power typically loses an average of two dozen or more seats in the midterms, which fall in the middle of a president’s four-year term.
Although Mr. Biden himself is not up for re-election on Tuesday, the midterm elections are often seen as a referendum on the president’s leadership.
Despite delivering on promises to lower prescription drug prices, expand clean energy and improve US infrastructure, Mr. Biden has seen his popularity hit by the worst inflation in four decades, record illegal crossings at the US-Mexico border, And has looked at voters’ concerns about crime.
A political setback for Democrats on Tuesday could spark turmoil within the party over whether Mr. Biden, who turns 80 this month, should run for re-election in 2024.
He went to Maryland on Monday night to campaign for Wes Moore, who is expected to make history as the third black governor elected in the United States.
“Today we face an inflection point,” Mr. Biden told a cheering crowd at a historically black university outside Washington.
“We know in our bones that our democracy is at risk and we know this is your moment to defend it.”
More than half of Republican midterm candidates have expressed doubts about the integrity of the 2020 White House election, which Mr Trump has widely endorsed. Echoing baseless claims of fraud.
