US Business

More than 42 million Americans have cast early ballots ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections, surpassing the numbers from 2018, the US Elections Project said Monday.

Americans will go to the polls on Tuesday to elect 435 members of the House of Representatives, one-third of the Senate and a host of state and local posts.

Most of the 50 US states allow voters to cast ballots early, either in-person or by mail, a practice which became widespread during the 2020 presidential election, which was held at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the US Elections Project, as of Monday there have been more than 19.3 early votes cast in-person and 22.7 million by mail for a total of 42.03 million.

It said 39.1 million people had voted by the same point in the 2018 midterms.

Republican lawmakers have lodged technical objections to early voting in several states where elections could be close.

In Pennsylvania, for example, the state supreme court has ruled that mail-in votes cannot be counted if they do not bear a written date on the envelope — a decision that could potentially affect thousands of ballots.

In Wisconsin, absentee votes can be thrown out if the address of the witness — whom the state requires watch a ballot envelope being sealed — is incomplete.

Former Republican president Donald Trump alleged last week that “unverified” ballots had been mailed to voters in the key state of Pennsylvania, a claim which was debunked by state elections officials.

After losing the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden, Trump also made false claims of election fraud, which have been echoed by many members of his Republican Party.

Late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel will host the Oscars for a third time, organizers said Monday, as Hollywood’s biggest award show tries to leave behind the controversy still swirling around its most recent edition.

Kimmel is seen by the industry as a safe pair of hands for the 95th Academy Awards, after the last Oscars in March this year featured a shocking moment in which Will Smith slapped Chris Rock live on stage.

“Being invited to host the Oscars for a third time is either a great honor or a trap,” said Kimmel in a statement.

“Either way, I am grateful to the Academy for asking me so quickly after everyone good said ‘no,'” joked the host, best known for ABC’s long-running late-night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

Kimmel previously hosted the Oscars in 2017 and 2018. On the first of those occasions, “La La Land” was accidentally announced as the best picture winner, before “Moonlight” was awarded the night’s final prize.

He also drew near-universal praise for his hosting of television’s Emmys in 2020, when organizers scrambled to produce a socially distanced show from a near-empty Los Angeles theater early in the pandemic. 

Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner, producers of the next Oscars, said Kimmel “will be funny and ready for anything!”

Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang said Kimmel would be the “perfect host” for the ceremony, noting his “live TV expertise.”

ABC Entertainment president Craig Erwich said Kimmel “can handle anything with both heart and humor.”

Oscars television ratings have markedly declined in recent years — like nearly all award shows — although they rebounded to 16.6 million last year, from a record-low 9.9 million for the previous edition.

The moment when Smith struck comedian Rock for quipping about his wife’s hair-loss condition drew enormous attention, but was criticized for overshadowing the night’s winners.

In a September meeting with Academy members, Kramer set out plans to “reinvigorate” the Oscars “to a position of power, honorability, and importance,” including a renewed focus on “love and reverence for film.”

While recent Oscars have been largely dominated by smaller, more arthouse-oriented films, many analysts predict crowd-pleasers such as “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” could feature prominently next time.

The Oscars will be held on March 12, 2023, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes denied Monday in his sedition trial that his organization planned the January  6, 2021 assault on the US Capitol, calling those who entered the building “stupid.”

Rhodes, on trial with four others for conspiracy to mount an “armed rebellion” against the US government, distanced himself from those in the Oath Keepers who took part in the attack by supporters of then-president Donald Trump.

The eyepatch-wearing Yale law graduate and former soldier told the court that about 100 members of his militia-like group were in Washington on January 6 to provide security to rallies and rally speakers.

While he hoped to convince Trump to invoke the US insurrection act to halt the transfer of power to election winner Joe Biden, there was no plan to stop the Congress’s certification of Biden as the next president, Rhodes said.

“It was not part of our mission for that day to enter the Capitol for any reason,” he said. “I expected Congress to go ahead and certify this unconstitutional election.”

When he realized that hundreds of people had stormed into the building housing the US legislature, he said he tried to contact fellow Oath Keepers to stop them from taking part.

“I’m wondering where my people are. I didn’t want them getting wrapped up with all the nonsense with Trump supporters.”

He said that co-defendant Kelly Meggs, the head of the large Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers, was “an idiot” for taking his people into the Capitol.

“I think it was stupid to go into the Capitol. It opened the door for the political persecution of us. And that’s where we are,” he told the court.

The Justice Department says that Rhodes and the Oath Keepers planned for violence when they came to Washington on January 6.

It has shown videos the violent assault by dozens of group members dressed in military-style combat gear, and records of Rhodes buying thousands of dollars worth of arms and other equipment ahead of arriving in Washington.

Justice Department attorney Jeffrey Nestler said when the trial opened on October 3 that Rhodes and the Oath Keepers “concocted a plan for an armed rebellion… plotting to oppose by force the government of the United States.”

Rhodes said though that while being the founder of the Oath Keepers, he mostly delegated responsibilities to those below him and did not know well at least two of his co-defendants before January 6.

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More than 40 million Americans have cast early ballots ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections, surpassing the numbers from two years ago, the US Elections Project said Monday.

Americans will go to the polls on Tuesday to elect 435 members of the House of Representatives, one-third of the Senate and a host of state and local posts.

Most of the 50 US states allow voters to cast ballots early, either in-person or by mail, a practice which became widespread during the 2020 presidential election, which was held at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the US Elections Project, as of Monday there have been more than 18.5 early votes cast in-person and 22.3 million by mail for a total of 40.8 million.

It said 39.1 million people had voted by the same point in the 2018 midterms.

Republican lawmakers have lodged technical objections to early voting in several states where elections could be close.

In Pennsylvania, for example, the state supreme court has ruled that mail-in votes cannot be counted if they do not bear a written date on the envelope — a decision that could potentially affect thousands of ballots.

In Wisconsin, absentee votes can be thrown out if the address of the witness — who the state requires watch a ballot envelope sealed — is incomplete.

Former Republican president Donald Trump alleged last week that “unverified” ballots had been mailed to voters in the key state of Pennsylvania, a claim which was debunked by state elections officials.

After losing the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden, Trump also made false claims of election fraud, which have been echoed by many members of his Republican Party.

Republicans and Democrats traded final blows Monday ahead of midterm elections that could upend Joe Biden’s presidency, weaken Western support for Ukraine and even open the door to a comeback bid by Donald Trump.

More than 40 million ballots have been cast through early voting options, meaning the outcome was already taking shape with hours to go before polls open nationwide Tuesday.

In a typically attention-grabbing move, Elon Musk used his newly purchased Twitter social media site to endorse a Republican takeover of Congress.

“Shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties,” the world’s richest person tweeted to his 114 million followers. “Therefore I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the Presidency is Democratic.”

Adding to tensions — and a reminder of Moscow’s murky role throughout Trump-era US politics — Kremlin-connected oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin boasted that Russia was trying to tilt the outcome.

“We interfered, we are interfering and we will interfere… carefully, precisely, surgically and the way we do it, the way we can,” said Prigozhin, a pivotal figure in the Ukraine invasion where his Wagner military contractor group is on the front lines.

Biden, who has framed his closing argument as a warning that American democracy is on the line, was set to close out days of frantic campaigning for Democratic candidates at a rally Monday evening near Baltimore.

Trump — using the midterms to repeatedly tease a possible 2024 White House run, even as he faces criminal probes over taking secret documents and trying to overturn the 2020 election — was holding a rally in Ohio.

With polls showing Republicans in line to seize the House of Representatives, the increasingly far-right party eyed snarling the rest of Biden’s first term in aggressive investigations and opposition to spending plans.

Kevin McCarthy, who would likely become speaker of the House — placing him second in line to the president — also refused to rule out impeachment proceedings.

“We will never use impeachment for political purposes,” McCarthy told CNN. “That doesn’t mean if something rises to the occasion, it would not be used at any other time.”

One key question remained whether the US Senate would also flip, leaving Biden as little more than a lame duck.

With Congress out of Democrats’ hands, Biden would see his legislative agenda collapse. 

That would raise questions over everything from climate crisis policies, which the president will be laying out at the COP27 conference in Egypt this week, to Ukraine, where Republicans are reluctant to maintain the current rate of US financial and military support.

While insisting he supports Ukraine’s struggle, McCarthy told CNN there could be no “blank check” — a nod to the isolationist, far-right Trump wing of his party and a signal likely sending shivers through Kyiv.

Just how bad Tuesday goes will also likely determine whether Biden, who turns 80 this month and is the oldest president ever, will seek a second term or step aside, plunging his party into fresh uncertainty.

– ‘Wake-up call’ –

Up for grabs are all 435 House seats, a third of the 100 Senate seats, and a slew of state-level posts.

Popular former president Barack Obama and other Democratic stars have been racing from campaign to campaign in hopes of seeing off the predicted Republican “red wave.”

But the political landscape has been tilting away from Democrats since the summer, as Republican messaging about high inflation, crime and illegal immigration overwhelmed the incumbents.

“This is going to be a wake-up call to President Biden,” was the bullish weekend prediction of Glenn Youngkin, Virginia’s Republican governor and a rising star being touted as a possible party alternative to Trump in 2024.

The Senate is more of a toss-up but Democratic hopes of keeping the upper chamber, which they currently only barely control thanks to the tiebreaking vote from Vice President Kamala Harris, hang in the balance.

Dave Wasserman of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report told MSNBC there could be a  Republican gain of 15-25 House seats, while “Republicans might gain the one seat they need to win control of the Senate.”

Races in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin, New Hampshire and Ohio have narrowed to projected photo finishes, and any one of them could swing the balance of power.

Democrats have focused their closing arguments on voting rights, protecting abortion access and welfare — and on the threat posed by growing support among Trump Republicans for political conspiracy theories.

Republicans counter that a vote for Democrats means more soaring inflation and crime. 

Democrats and Republicans traded final blows Monday ahead of midterm elections that could upend Joe Biden’s presidency, weaken Western support for Ukraine and even open the door to a comeback attempt by Donald Trump.

More than 40 million ballots have been cast through early voting options, meaning the fate of the world’s biggest economy was already in play, with hours to go before polls open nationwide Tuesday.

Adding to tensions — and a reminder of the international stakes — Kremlin-connected oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin boasted that Russia was trying to tilt the outcome.

“We interfered, we are interfering and we will interfere… carefully, precisely, surgically and the way we do it, the way we can,” said Prigozhin, a pivotal figure in the Ukraine invasion where his Wagner military contractor group is on the front lines.

Biden, who has framed his closing argument as a warning that American democracy is on the line, was set to close out days of frantic campaigning for Democratic candidates at a rally Monday evening near Baltimore. 

Trump, who is using the midterms to repeatedly tease a possible 2024 White House run, was holding a rally in Ohio.

With polls showing Republicans in line to seize the House of Representatives, the increasingly far-right party eyed snarling the rest of Biden’s first term in aggressive investigations and opposition to spending plans.

Kevin McCarthy, who would likely become speaker of the House — placing him second in line to the president — also refused to rule out impeachment proceedings.

“We will never use impeachment for political purposes,” McCarthy told CNN. “That doesn’t mean if something rises to the occasion, it would not be used at any other time.”

One key question remained whether the US Senate would also flip, leaving Biden as little more than a lame duck.

With Congress out of Democrats’ hands, Biden would see his legislative agenda collapse. 

That would raise questions over everything from climate crisis policies, which the president will be laying out at the Cop27 conference in Egypt this week, to Ukraine, where Republicans are reluctant to maintain the current rate of US financial and military support.

While insisting he supports Ukraine’s struggle, McCarthy told CNN that there could be no “blank check” — a nod to the isolationist, far-right Trump wing of his party and a signal likely sending shivers through Kyiv.

Just how bad Tuesday goes will also likely determine whether Biden, who turns 80 this month and is the oldest president ever, will seek a second term or step aside, plunging his party into fresh uncertainty.

– ‘Wake-up call’ –

Up for grabs are all 435 House seats, a third of the 100 Senate seats, and a slew of state-level posts.

Popular former president Barack Obama and other Democratic stars have been racing from campaign to campaign in hopes of seeing off the predicted Republican “red wave.”

But the political landscape has been tilting away from Democrats since the summer, as Republican messaging about high inflation, crime and illegal immigration overwhelmed the incumbents.

“This is going to be a wake-up call to President Biden,” was the bullish weekend prediction of Glenn Youngkin, Virginia’s Republican governor and a rising star being touted as a possible party alternative to Trump in 2024.

The Senate is more of a toss-up but Democratic hopes of keeping the upper chamber, which they currently only barely control thanks to the tiebreaking vote from Vice President Kamala Harris, hang in the balance.

Dave Wasserman of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report said Republican candidates have “a little more upside” with late-deciders.

Wasserman told MSNBC there could be a  Republican gain of 15-25 House seats, while “Republicans might gain the one seat they need to win control of the Senate.”

Races in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, Wisconsin, New Hampshire and Ohio have narrowed to projected photo finishes, and any one of them could swing the balance of power.

Democrats have focused their closing arguments on voting rights, protecting abortion access and welfare — and on the threat posed by growing support among Trump Republicans for political conspiracy theories.

The Republicans counter that a vote for Democrats means more soaring inflation and rising violent crime, seeking to make the midterms a referendum on the president. 

With his own approval rating marooned around 42 percent, Biden has largely avoided campaigning in the most contentious states.