Election Eve: A Michigan Rift, an Alaska Setback and Trump’s Final Pitch at the Reflecting Pool

The final day before the vote

Americans vote on Tuesday, November 3, in midterm elections that will decide control of Congress for President Donald Trump’s final two years in office. On Monday, the last full day of campaigning, both parties were making their closing arguments — and in Michigan, Democrats were spending part of that final day managing a rift inside their own party. The Senate is the tightest prize. Republicans hold the chamber 53-47, so Democrats need a net gain of four seats to win control, while holding every seat they already have. The Cook Political Report rates seven Senate races as toss-ups: Alaska, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Ohio and Texas. Polling averages have pointed to a difficult environment for the president’s party: one polling average cited on Monday put Trump’s approval at about 36 percent, with about 60 percent disapproving, and the generic congressional ballot at roughly 52 percent for Democrats and 43 percent for Republicans.

A Democrat endorses the Republican in Michigan

The day’s most surprising development came in Michigan, where Representative Haley Stevens, who lost the Democratic Senate primary to Abdul El-Sayed, publicly endorsed the Republican candidate, Mike Rogers, and appeared with him at a Detroit church. Stevens had been scheduled to appear with El-Sayed in a show of party unity. Instead, the event unravelled after Stevens called on El-Sayed to condemn an outside group’s advertisement that she said blames Israel for high grocery prices. “That ad was very painful,” Stevens told CNN on Sunday night, adding that many Democrats who want to vote for the party’s nominee were being told “this is a party you don’t belong in.” In a video posted to social media, Stevens said: “I don’t belong in Abdul’s campaign.” El-Sayed’s campaign had recently asked Stevens to skip his events through Election Day so as not to distract from the campaign’s central issues, according to a person familiar with the matter cited by Reuters. Republicans moved quickly to capitalise. Rogers said that when part of a party veers “into the virulent hate that they have been spewing toward a group of people, it gets dangerous.” Some Democratic leaders called the endorsement a “distraction,” while a number of Stevens’ congressional staff resigned over the move, according to reports from CNN and The Hill. El-Sayed, an Egyptian-American Muslim born in Michigan, has been targeted by Trump and other Republicans who have repeatedly questioned his loyalty to the United States — attacks he has called “shameful” and which Reuters described as baseless. His campaign said it raised $1.2 million in the four hours after Stevens’ endorsement, its second-best fundraising day since the August primary. A New York Times/Siena poll released and partly conducted on Sunday showed El-Sayed leading Rogers 53 percent to 42 percent.

Alaska: the Justice Department’s lawsuit is dismissed

Also on Sunday, the Trump administration’s attempt to intervene in Alaska’s Senate race faltered when a federal judge dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit seeking to block certification of the results if Republican incumbent Senator Dan S. Sullivan narrowly loses. The department had argued that voters could be confused by a challenger named Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. on the same ballot. The issue has roiled the race since the New York Times reported that Democrat Mary Peltola’s campaign was involved in recruiting Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. into the race as a spoiler. Peltola has denied involvement, and Sullivan Jr. has denied coordinating with her campaign. The senator said on Sunday he would accept Tuesday’s results even as the administration presses a criminal investigation into the matter.

Trump’s closing pitch — and what to watch Tuesday

Trump will deliver his final midterm speech on Monday afternoon at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, at 2 p.m. Eastern, according to the White House’s public daily guidance. The choice of venue drew attention in its own right: the pool’s renovation, which Trump said in April he wanted completed within days for about $1.5 million, ultimately finished months behind schedule at more than ten times the initial estimate, and later developed algae problems. The guidance also lists a series of closed-press tele-rallies through Monday evening. Trump spent the weekend campaigning in Iowa and Kansas, where he had earlier cancelled in-person rallies in favour of phone events before reinstating appearances.

What to watch next

Polls close across five time zones on Tuesday, with Alaska’s polls closing at 8 p.m. local time — midnight Eastern for most of the state. The first question on election night will be whether the late shifts in the forecasts hold: whether Democrats flip the four net Senate seats they need, and by how much they expand or narrow their expected House gains. The second question is how quickly the closest races are called — and whether any of them, Alaska included, become the subject of further legal fights after the votes are counted.

Sources: Reuters, November 2, 2026; USA Today election live updates, November 2, 2026; Cook Political Report Senate ratings; New York Times/Siena poll, November 2026.