Symbolic imageDemocrats favoured as US midterms open after Michigan Senate endorsement
Americans vote on Tuesday in midterms in which polls favour the Democrats. More than 54 million early votes had been cast, according to Le Monde.
Poll averages put Democrats more than eight points ahead on the generic House ballot, about three points more than on 1 September, El País reports. No forecast it cites gives them less than an 80% chance of taking the House, where Republicans hold 218 seats to 214. A Democratic Senate majority, which seemed fanciful months ago, is now possible. Trump ended his campaign with rallies, including in Iowa and Kansas, and called the vote the most important of Americans' lives, per Le Monde. El País counts 28 rallies in two months, mostly in states that should be safe for Republicans.
Michigan Democrat backs Republican
Haley Stevens, who lost the August primary to Abdul El-Sayed, endorsed Republican Mike Rogers in a video on Sunday, 1 November, after El-Sayed told her to stay away from his campaign. The Guardian traces the feud mainly to support for Israel. In Iowa, Trump called El-Sayed, a practicing Muslim, a "jihadist lunatic"; the Guardian calls the remarks racist.
Courts reject election challenges
On Monday, the Supreme Court rejected, without giving reasons, the Trump administration's request to make California set aside ballots of about 20,000 voters it flags as likely noncitizens. Federal judge James Boasberg separately ruled that the government's lists were "erroneous", according to Le Monde.