Trump Stays at White House for Midterm Results

President Donald Trump will spend Election Day at the White House rather than traveling to a campaign event.

The decision comes as polls suggest his party may face a difficult night. Trump had planned a heavy schedule for the final push. On Monday, he attended at least nine virtual tele-rallies to support Republican candidates. This followed a month in which he spoke at 27 in-person rallies. He concluded the ground campaign with a speech at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. In that address, he referred to Democrats as extreme and dangerous. He noted that the sitting president rarely wins midterms, saying, For whatever reason, the sitting president doesn’t win the midterms, and we gave this a very strong shot. The couple had already cast their ballots early in person in West Palm Beach, Florida, two weeks prior.

The voting window opens at 6 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday and closes at 1 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday in Alaska. A White House official said Trump will remain at the residence through the evening to watch the returns. First Lady Melania Trump will join him. The timeline is complicated by legal disputes. The Department of Justice asked a federal appeals court on Sunday to overturn a ruling that dismissed its bid to block the certification of Alaska’s U.S. Senate race. The department also petitioned the Supreme Court on Monday to set aside 20,000 mail-in ballots it claims were sent to noncitizens. Lower court judges have previously rejected these requests.

Trump has recently focused on potential voting irregularities. He claimed on Truth Social that the federal government is watching for fraud in Minnesota. He suggested his Senate candidate could only lose by playing games with the ballots. When asked if he would respect the results, Trump told reporters last Tuesday that he would if they are honest elections. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas warned on his podcast that Democrats are energized and that Republicans would lose massively if only early votes were counted.