Washington (United States) (AFP) – Donald Trump delivers a final speech on Monday in front of the pool of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, whose failed renovation has become a symbol of his turbulent presidency, on the eve of decisive mid-term elections where Republicans fear a Democratic wave.

Published on: 02/11/2026 - 19:53

The American president, who has held numerous meetings in recent weeks, chose to speak one last time before the vote in front of one of his most emblematic projects of his contested desire to remodel the capital to his taste and his image.

According to the White House, the Republican's speech "will draw a clear contrast between the Republicans' common-sense agenda of putting 'America first' and the Democrats' radical agenda of putting 'America last'."

For their part, the Democrats are also throwing their last forces into the battle to regain control of Congress from the Republicans on Tuesday.

To win the Senate, they are hoping in particular for the victory of James Talarico in Texas and Adam Hamilton in Kansas, who are organizing rallies on Monday in these traditionally conservative states, the culmination of a tense campaign.

“We are going to win,” insisted Donald Trump on Sunday, who has been seeking for months to sow doubt about the integrity of the vote and has mentioned in advance a possible challenge to the results.

Historically, the party that occupies the White House loses ground in Congress during the midterms, often seen as a referendum on the president.

“Outrageously optimistic”

The Democrats are thus favored to regain the majority in the House of Representatives, all of whose seats are renewed.

The battle for the Senate, where 35 of the 100 seats are at stake, remains uncertain. A Sunday poll from Siena College for The New York Times, however, shows the Democratic candidates now favored in most of the most hotly contested states, including Texas and Maine.

Control of the House would give Democrats the ability to launch parliamentary investigations into alleged corruption under the Trump administration, the Epstein dossier and other explosive topics.

A Democratic-majority Senate could block nominations by the president, particularly in the event of a Supreme Court vacancy.

The Democrats nevertheless remain cautious, as polls have in the past underestimated the mobilization of the Trumpist base.

The fact remains that a majority of Americans have been disenchanted with Donald Trump since his return to power.

An NBC News poll on Sunday shows that 60% of them disapprove of his action, in particular because of the explosion in the cost of living. A situation made worse by the war against Iran, itself very unpopular.

Scorched earth

Faced with this contested record, the Republicans seemed to recently abandon any mention of Donald Trump in their electoral advertisements, according to an analysis carried out by AFP of 212,000 of these spots broadcast on Meta platforms (Facebook, Instagram, etc.).

In January, a third of Republican ad spending went for spots mentioning the president. In early October, that figure collapsed to just over 2%.

The campaign on the right was also marked by scorched earth politics, often presenting Democrats as dangerous “communists.”

At a rally in Iowa on Sunday, Donald Trump said the opposition was made up of "radical extremists" who will let in migrants to "sack, rape and pillage."

In recent months, the American president had already described Democrat Abdul El-Sayed as a "terrorist", who would become the first Muslim senator if he were elected in Michigan.

In this northern industrial state, the campaign experienced an upheaval on Sunday with the rallying of Democrat Haley Stevens - defeated by Abdul El-Sayed in the primaries - to Republican candidate Mike Rogers. To the great satisfaction of Donald Trump and the dismay of the Democrats.

A sign of the stakes on Tuesday, a record number of 54 million people, including a majority of voters registered as Democrats, have already voted early.

This election saw approximately $11 billion spent on advertising campaigns, a large portion of which came from private megadonors, such as Elon Musk, who contributed nearly half a billion dollars alone.

© 2026 AFP

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