“Democrats have an 83% chance of retaking the House”... Forecast puts them at up to 240 seats

With the U.S. midterm elections just two days away, both parties stepped up their final campaign efforts. Republican President Donald Trump again touted South Korea’s investment in Alaska as one of his achievements, while the Democrats sought to deflect controversy over internal divisions by putting former President Barack Obama (pictured) on the campaign trail in battlegrounds.
■ Trump touts achievements involving South Korea and Canada
According to the Associated Press and other foreign media, Trump visited Dubuque, Iowa, on the 1st (local time), urging voters to support Republican candidates and touting his accomplishments. Referring to Alaska, he claimed, “It was completely dead until I got involved.” He then highlighted a local liquefied natural gas (LNG) development project, saying, “We have a pipeline with ships carrying [LNG] going to Japan, South Korea, China and elsewhere.” In an announcement on September 30, he had unilaterally claimed that South Korea would invest in the project. On the 1st, Trump did not repeat his claim about South Korean investment in LNG, but said that foreign companies were investing more in the United States thanks to his tariff policies.
Trump gave a roughly two-hour speech in Dubuque that day; just before it, he met with reporters and brought up trade negotiations with Canada. Trump waged a trade war with Canada, imposing and facing retaliatory tariffs from March last year through August this year, but has been fostering a more conciliatory atmosphere since last month. He said a trade deal with Canada was “very close,” adding that it “would be a great thing for the United States and a good thing for Canada, too.”
After the Dubuque rally that day, Trump traveled to Salina, Kansas, where he held a midterm campaign rally for about an hour and a half. A campaign video touting Trump’s achievements shown in Salina briefly included footage of him meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at Panmunjom in June 2019 and stepping onto North Korean soil.
Trump wrapped up his 28-stop campaign tour with the event in Salina that day. On the eve of voting, he is scheduled to deliver a speech at the Reflecting Pool, the artificial pond in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
■ Democrats seek to quell infighting controversy by bringing in Obama
On the 1st, Trump discussed the Michigan Senate race on the social media platform Truth Social. That day in Michigan, Representative Haley Stevens, who had lost the Democratic primary, announced that she would support the Republican candidate instead of Abdul El-Sayed, who had been selected as the Senate candidate, fueling controversy over divisions within the Democratic Party. Trump welcomed the news on Truth Social, saying, “I hope Stevens joins the Republican Party.”
Earlier, local election forecaster Decision Desk HQ put the Democrats’ chances of retaking the House at 83% and their chances of retaking the Senate at 63%. Another local forecaster, the Cook Political Report, predicted that Democrats could win as many as 240 House seats, their largest number since 2009. The U.S. Wall Street Journal (WSJ) projected that Democrats would win 224 House seats, more than the 218 needed for a majority. In the Senate, Democratic candidates were leading in 6 of the 7 battleground states. According to a poll released by The New York Times (NYT) on the 1st, the candidates from the two parties were tied in the remaining state, Alaska. Early voting in this election reached a record 53 million people.
With the political landscape looking favorable, Democrats prominently featured Obama to defuse controversy over internal divisions and rally voters in the final stretch. Obama visited Michigan on the 1st to campaign for Democrats. After arriving in Detroit, Michigan, Obama defended El-Sayed, saying, “He disagreed with some of my policies even when I was president. The only person who agrees with everything I do is my wife, Michelle Obama.”
[email protected] Park Jong-won Reporter