Status: 06.11.2022 03:12 a.m
In the US midterm elections on Tuesday, the Democrats must fear for their majority in Congress. In order to convince undecided voters, President Biden and ex-President Obama found clear words in a joint appearance.
US President Joe Biden, together with ex-President Barack Obama, warned of the dangers to democracy in the US shortly before the midterm elections. “Democracy is literally on the ballot,” he said at a campaign rally in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Speaking to thousands of people, Biden said voters “are faced with a choice between two very different visions of America.” Biden and the Democratic candidates labeled the Republicans the party of the rich and emphasized their own support for unions, Social Security and stronger abortion protections.
Obama also emphasizes the importance of democracy
Obama made a similar statement a short time later at the same event: “Truth and facts, logic and reason and basic decency are on the ballot,” he warned of the Republican candidates. There is a lot at stake. “The midterm elections are no joke.”
Obama underscored that not only abortion rights or affordable social security are at stake, but democracy as such. “Let’s make sure on Tuesday that our country isn’t thrown back 50 years.”
Obama had recently appeared at several campaign events – now together with Biden in the state of Pennsylvania, which is particularly important for the Democrats.
At the midterms next Tuesday, all 435 seats in the US House of Representatives and about a third of the seats in the Senate will be up for grabs. There are also gubernatorial elections in many states. More than 36 million Americans have already cast their votes – by mail. This rate indicates a very high voter turnout in the midterms.
Polls predict defeat
According to current primary polls, the Democrats are in danger of losing their narrow majority in the Senate and the majority in the House of Representatives. While the party was ahead in the summer because it was able to mobilize numerous supporters after the overturned right to abortion, the Republicans can now score more with the fight against inflation and rising prices.
In Pennsylvania, there is a realistic chance that the Democrats can take a Senate seat from the Republicans. The Democrat John Fetterman competes there against the Republican and TV doctor Mehmet Oz. Fetterman, 53, had a stroke in May. After a televised duel with Oz, in which Fetterman spoke more slowly and made more mistakes, Republicans questioned Fetterman’s fitness for office.
“I had a stroke. That really knocked me out. But I got up again,” Fetterman said in Philadelphia, joking about how hard it was to speak in front of Obama of all places. Obama emphasized that the stroke did not change Fetterman’s values.