Politics

WASHINGTON (AP) — An election year that unfolded against a backdrop of economic turmoil, elimination of federal abortion rights and broad concerns about the future of democracy is concluding with a final full day of campaigning by leaders of both parties urgently appealing to their supporters.

President Joe Biden is holding a Monday evening rally in Maryland, where Democrats have one of their best opportunities to reclaim a Republican-held governor’s seat. The appearance is consistent with Biden’s late-campaign strategy of sticking largely to his party’s strongholds rather than stumping in more competitive territory, where control of Congress may ultimately be decided.

His predecessor, Donald Trump, is holding his final rally of the campaign in Ohio. Ohio holds special meaning for the former president as he readies another run for the White House because it was one of the first places where he was able to prove his enduring power among Republican voters two years ago. Trump’s backing of JD Vance was crucial in helping the author and venture capitalist — and onetime Trump critic — secure the GOP’s nomination for a Senate seat.

In an interview with the Rev. Al Sharpton airing Monday on Sharpton’s radio show, Biden warned that his administration’s progress on key issues including bolstering funding for historically Black colleges and universities and trying to forgive student loan debt for millions of Americans would be at risk if Republicans take Congress.

“If we don’t win, they’re going to wipe out everything we’ve done,” the president said. He also raised concerns about voter intimidation, saying, “America should feel safe going to the polls” and mentioning people outside voting stations with automatic rifles.

“It’s outrageous,” Biden said.

Elon Musk, whose purchase of Twitter has roiled the social media world, used the platform Monday to endorse the GOP, writing, “I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the Presidency is Democratic.”

That came too late for more than 41 million Americans who had already cast ballots. In fact, Monday was more about ensuring that supporters either meet early voting deadlines or make firm plans to show up at polling places in person.

The election results will have a powerful impact on the final two years of Biden’s presidency, shaping policy on everything from government spending to military support for Ukraine. In the first national election since the violent Jan. 6 insurrection, the final days of the campaign focused on fundamental questions about the nation’s political values.

Campaigning in New York for Gov. Kathy Hochul on Sunday, Biden said Republicans were willing to condone last year’s mob attack at the Capitol and that, after the recent assault of Paul Pelosi, husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, some in that party made “light of it” or were “making excuses.”

“There’s never been a time in my career where we’ve glorified violence based on a political preference,” the president said.

Meanwhile, at a Sunday Trump rally in Miami, a reference to Pelosi prompted chants of “Lock her up!” — a stark reminder of the nation’s deep divide.

Trump was campaigning for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s reelection, but also focused on his own political future. After telling a crowd in Iowa last week that he’s “very, very, very probably” going to run for president again, he again teased the possibility on Sunday and encouraged supporters to watch his Ohio rally.

“I will probably have to do it again, but stay tuned,” Trump said, teasing the Monday event. “We have a big, big rally. Stay tuned for tomorrow night.”

Not attending the Miami event was Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, who is running for reelection against Democrat Charlie Crist and is widely considered Trump’s most formidable challenger if he also were to get into the White House race.

DeSantis held his own, separate events Sunday in other parts of the state where he stuck to the centerpieces of his reelection campaign, including railing against COVID-19 vaccine mandates. The governor’s counter political programing avoided antagonizing Trump — meaning it didn’t deliver the dueling 2024 events that could be in his and Trump’s near future.

Trump said Sunday that Florida would “reelect Ron DeSantis as your governor.” But he was more confrontational during a Pennsylvania rally on Saturday, referring to Florida’s governor as “Ron DeSanctimonious.”

It’s a rivalry that’s been simmering for more than a year as DeSantis has taken increasingly bold steps to boost his national profile and build a deep fundraising network — even as Trump remains unquestionably the party’s most popular leader.

For national Democrats, meanwhile, the focus is on their narrow control of the House and Senate, which could evaporate after Tuesday.

Voters may rebuke the party controlling the White House and Congress amid surging inflation, concerns about crime and pessimism about the direction of the country. History suggests any party in power will suffer significant losses in the midterms.

First lady Jill Biden campaigned Monday for Democratic Rep. Jennifer Wexton in a part of northern Virginia that Joe Biden carried two years ago. It could be an early indicator of GOP midterm strength should Wexton’s seat flip to her Republican challenger, Hung Cao.

The first lady told about 100 people outside a home in Ashburn, about 30 miles from Washington, that, in Congress, a “Republican majority will attack women’s rights and health care.”

Trump has long falsely claimed he lost the 2020 election only because Democrats cheated and has even begun raising the possibility of election fraud this year. Federal intelligence agencies are warning of the possibility of political violence from far-right extremists.

Ronna McDaniel, the Republican National Committee chairwoman, said Democrats were “inflation deniers,” as she tried to deflect their branding of her party as anti-democracy for rejecting the results of 2020’s presidential election simply because Trump lost it.

“If we win back the House and the Senate, it’s the American people saying to Joe Biden, we want you to work on behalf of us and we want you to work across the aisle to solve the problems that we are dealing with,” McDaniel told CNN.

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Associated Press Writer Chris Megerian contributed to this report.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2022 midterm elections at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections. And learn more about the issues and factors at play in the midterms at https://apnews.com/hub/explaining-the-elections.

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American voters are fractured politically and culturally ahead of Election Day, and they are anxious about where their country is heading — on inflation, abortion, immigration, crime, and much more.

They also sense something more fundamental at stake at a time of rising mistrust of institutions and each other: the future of democracy.

Some Americans remain hopeful, but a fretful outlook emerges from interviews with more than two dozen Democratic, Republican and unaffiliated voters before Tuesday’s midterm elections — the first since followers of former President Donald Trump tried to halt the certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.

These midterm elections are also the first since the Supreme Court took away a woman’s constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy, leaving the matter to states.

“This election is hugely consequential,” said Edward Foley, a professor at Ohio State University who directs its election-law program. “It’s a question of where our democracy is and how we are doing with our collective self-governance.”

Midterms are always important because a switch in control of the House or Senate can stunt the plans of a sitting president. Control of Congress could also affect various investigations into Trump, including his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection.

Dozens of statewide candidates have said the 2020 election was stolen; some running for positions that validate elections have refused to say if they will certify the 2024 results. And there are already more than 100 legal challenges against this year’s election.

The United States has stood at the precipice before. Not long after Abraham Lincoln’s election in 1860, 11 states withdrew from the nation and the Civil War began.

Ultimately, Foley said, the election turns on a question: “Can we actually build the system and produce accurate, honest outcomes, and will enough people believe them?”

Here is a sampling of what voters had to say about democracy and other issues:

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COLLEGE STUDENT ‘MOTIVATED TO CHANGE THINGS’

Brian Montes’ Mexican-born parents told him that America is “a shining city on a hill” and urged him to take his responsibility as a U.S. citizen seriously.

Montes, 21, is majoring in political science at Portland State University, and will vote this election for the second time in his life.

Montes was appalled to see election deniers attempt to overturn President Biden’s victory. For him, democracy is on the ballot this November.

“Protecting our democracy truly is … paramount. We can’t really fix climate change, we can’t, you know, help the health care system, we can’t bring relief to students across this country until we have faith in our democracy,” he said.

Montes, who is gay, also worries that political beliefs are now such a part of personal identity that it’s almost impossible to separate politics from hate.

In the past, someone on the other side of an issue simply had “a different perspective as to why or how we can better our country,” he said. “Now it’s whether or not somebody believes you have a right to be here, whether or not somebody believes you have a right to exist. And that is deeply personal.”

But as the first person in his family to vote, Montes is also optimistic in the long-term.

“Our generation is uniquely motivated to change things, to change the systems of now — because the systems of today are the biggest reason we find ourselves in this position,” he said.

— By AP Writer Gillian Flaccus

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ELECTION IS ABOUT ‘ECONOMY, FIRST AND FOREMOST’

Tony Bergida, a 27-year-old father from the Kansas City, Kansas suburb of Olathe, said pocketbook issues carry more weight for him in this election than abortion, transgender rights or the validity of the 2020 presidential election.

Bergida, the chair of the Kansas Young Republicans, cast his ballot in advance and picked Republican Amanda Adkins over the incumbent, Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids.

Democratic ads have focused on abortion protections but the election is “really going to be the economy, first and foremost,” said Bergida, who said his grocery bill has soared over the past two years.

“The cost of living has got to be on everyone’s minds right now.”

Bergida is also opposed to transgender athletes participating in girls’ sports, an issue that’s at play in the Kansas gubernatorial race.

Republicans seeking to keep Democratic incumbent Laura Kelly from a second term have attacked Kelly for vetoing two proposals to ban transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s school and college sports.

“It’s not fair, and it’s not safe for that to happen,” said Bergida, the father of a 2-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son and a former quarterback at Grinnell College in Iowa.

“I played sports and know what a locker room is like. Um, yeah, I’ve got a big problem with that.”

— By AP Writer Heather Hollingsworth

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WORRIED ABOUT SOCIAL SECURITY, WEALTH DISPARITY

Cynthia Jones was severely injured at work more than a decade ago and has relied on Social Security disability benefits to help pay bills and hold on to the ranch-style house left by her father.

The Atlanta native sees a country split between haves and have nots. She doesn’t have health insurance that could pay for back surgery, but noted that members of Congress get access to health care and a pension. She worries that if Republicans take over Congress they will cut Social Security. (Republican Sen. Rick Scott of Florida has proposed a plan that would require Congress to adequately fund Social Security and Medicare or consider phasing them out.)

“If you’re poor, you don’t matter,” said the 64-year-old Democratic voter, who is pursuing a master’s degree to be a mental health counselor.

She was also motivated to vote this year by the false claim by Trump and other Republicans that the last presidential election was stolen. She views that lie as an attack on Black and other marginalized voters who cast ballots in large numbers in 2020.

“I feel like they’re trying to put us back on the plantation,” she said of the Republican Party.

That feeling is particularly hard for her. Her parents faced discrimination and financial hardship but were also able to save money and buy their own homes. She doesn’t want the country to backtrack on that progress.

“I don’t want to be not counted,” she said. “I don’t want to be seen as a third-class citizen. I don’t want anybody to feel that way.”

— By AP Writer Sudhin Thanawala

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PUSHING FOR LATINO TURNOUT, GOOD GOVERNANCE

Ron Flores is a Republican retiree in his 70s who lives in a surf-friendly California beach community not far from the mostly Latino city of Santa Ana, where he lived as a child.

The son of a Mexican immigrant, Flores said he always had an interest in history and politics but didn’t act on it until more recently and last year formed the group “BASTA!,” which is aimed at encouraging Latinos to vote and promoting mostly — but not solely — politically conservative candidates.

“Are you honest? Are you going to do what we want you to do?” he asked. “I support good governance candidates and sometimes it’s on the left, but most of the time, it’s on my right.”

In California, there are measures on the ballot right now about online gambling and abortion. But Flores said there are bigger issues, like how much it costs to fill his car with gas and the rising price of nearly everything.

“That impacts me, number one,” said Flores, who said he raised six children and worked in product design and consulting.

For Congress, Flores said he’s fed up with progressives’ views on social issues so he’s voting for a Republican. But he isn’t thrilled about his choice.

“I’m going to go for the best of the worst,” he said, pinching his nose.

— By AP Writer Amy Taxin

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AFTER TRAGEDY, COMBATTING CRIME IS TOP OF MIND

Mary Elledge, 80, raised four children with her high school sweetheart in suburbs of Portland, Oregon. In 1986, her life was upended when her only son, Rob, was brutally murdered in their home.

The registered Democrat has been laser-focused since then on the rights of murder victims and their loved ones.

Now, as homicides spike in Portland, Elledge is choosing the independent candidate in Oregon’s gubernatorial election. She feels Democrats have strayed too far to the left on public safety and it bothers her deeply.

“It isn’t safe to let your children outside without being able to know exactly where they are,” said Elledge, who has grandchildren and great-grandchildren. “What kind of a world are we bringing these children into?”

“I believe that being soft on crime is what’s caused a lot of this,” she said. “Anyone who wants to defund the police, I wouldn’t vote for them if they talk like that.”

Other than public safety, Elledge more neatly toes the Democratic Party line.

She believes in a woman’s right to an abortion and she’s “appalled” by former President Donald Trump.

Elledge, who has family members who are Trump supporters, said she struggled after her son’s murder to avoid descending into hatred and now sees a lesson in her own story for today’s polarized times.

“You have to agree not to agree,” Elledge said. “I think in all of this, we have to be careful that we don’t become angry with everything.”

— By AP Writer Gillian Flaccus

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TRANSGENDER DRAG PERFORMER FOCUSED ON ‘RIGHT TO EXIST’

It took Emma Scott Lavin most of her life to realize who she was, and she’s no longer willing to hide.

Lavin, a 49-year-old transgender drag performer, waded into a crowd of protesters last month outside a Drag Queen Storytime in Eugene, Oregon.

She failed in her bid to engage with protesters and the incident increased her alarm as the far-right rallies around anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and advances legislative proposals in some states that would ban transgender girls and women from playing on female sports teams, from using female locker rooms or from accessing medical care for their transition.

“My right to exist is the biggest political issue for me right now,” said Lavin, a Democrat. “It’s on the ballot.”

“There may be a lot of people who see this and say, ‘This person, this person is everything that’s wrong with America right now,’” she said, gesturing to her red lipstick, red-and-black dress, stiletto red suede boots and wig.

“But my response to that is, ’If you already know who and what I am or you think you know, then how can you possibly learn anything from me? … If you believe that your religion tells you that you know everything and you know what other people are, then your religion is preventing you from learning and growing as a person.”

Lavin believes that America’s political system can’t survive because there is no longer any middle ground.

“It’s winner take all,” she said. “There are people in the LGBT community who probably have a more Republican-leaning sense of how the economy could work, but they can’t vote Republican because it’s a question of their own existence.”

— By AP Writer Gillian Flaccus

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OPTIMIST IS AGAINST ‘DEHUMANIZING THE OTHER SIDE’

The country’s deep political divisions leave Mark Riegel, a draftsman from Boyertown, Pennsylvania, feeling disappointed.

But the 38-year-old registered Republican considers himself an optimist and believes Americans can rebuild a greater sense of shared purpose.

The key, he says, is to interact more intentionally with others who are different, even as politicians fan polarization.

“We have to realize that the other side is not the enemy,” said Riegel. “We seem to be, like, becoming like children, infantilizing the other side, or dehumanizing the other side, or kind of saying that they’re evil. Certainly, they’re not evil. We just don’t agree with them.”

As Election Day approached, Riegel said he was leaning toward Democrats on the Pennsylvania ballot.

He doesn’t believe GOP Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz really cares about his adopted state of Pennsylvania, and he described GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano as “pro-life to the extreme,” too far right for his tastes.

Disavowing a politician because of their policy stance is OK. But when it comes to neighbors, a different approach is required.

“You can just go up and talk to people, face to face, shake their hand,” he said. “Do you care whether or not your cashier at Giant is a Democrat or Republican?”

— By AP Writer Michael Rubinkam

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SOCIAL WORKER LAMENTS ‘JUST TWO PARTIES’

Abi Suddarth has always opposed abortion. When she got pregnant in college, she knew she would keep the baby.

That decision dramatically altered her life, but the social worker from Kansas City, Kansas, said that watching her son, now 7, grow up to be “as beautiful as he is, and smart, is the best thing I could have done.”

Opposition to abortion is one of the key values that drive her political views; support for creating a more inclusive society is another.

A naturalized citizen, Suddarth was born in Mexico and is outraged by Trump’s comments about immigrants. She believes he and his Republican supporters have stoked political divisions in the U.S.

“When you become a president, you’re not for one color skin,” she said, tearing up as she described how some of her social work clients complain about her accent. “You are governing everybody. Even the ones who did not vote for you, you still have a responsibility to them because they are still paying taxes.”

Suddarth – an unaffiliated voter — hasn’t decided yet how she will vote in a congressional race that pits Republican Amanda Adkins against the Democratic incumbent, Sharice Davids.

Suddarth often feels divided like this, she said.

“We need more than just two parties,” she said. “There is some elections (where) … you are like, ‘OK, so I have to make a choice and I have to vote. So which one is going to harm me the least?’” she added.

“Because it’s not even who is going to benefit me anymore.”

— By AP Writer Heather Hollingsworth

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CONCERNED ABOUT FREE SPEECH, FAIR ELECTIONS

Jennifer Quade believes it is possible that “shenanigans” during the 2020 election helped President Biden defeat Trump, and she resents being labeled an “election denier” just for saying so.

“When you have a free society where people are free to have an exchange of ideas, that is a free society, that is a Republic, that is what our country is supposed to be,” said Quade, a 52-year-old Republican voter in Queen Anne’s County, Maryland.

Federal and state election officials and Trump’s own attorney general have said there is no credible evidence the election was tainted. The former president’s allegations of fraud were also roundly rejected by courts, including by judges Trump appointed.

To Quade, a former nurse who now works in sales, it feels like big tech and media companies are working to silence, or at least marginalize, conservative voices.

Her idea for restoring everybody’s faith in America’s elections is to require a Republican and Democrat at every polling station “so they balance each other out.”

Aside from election integrity, Quade said some of the issues that matter most to her are reducing illegal immigration and the illegal drug trade.

The country, she said is “being destroyed from within.”

— By AP Writer Gary Fields

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RETIRED ENGINEER CONTRASTS U.S. AND CHINA

As a naturalized U.S. citizen, Jerry Cheng doesn’t mind the rough-and-tumble of American politics. The retired mechanical engineer cherishes his ability to participate in democracy -– and especially his freedom to criticize politicians.

Those are things Cheng didn’t have in China, where he was born and spent most of his life before settling in Philadelphia for good three years ago.

“Because of the whole one-party dictatorship in China, one-party rule, you have nothing, you have no right to say ‘no.’ Always ‘yes, yes, yes,’” said Cheng, 66. “Here .. you have more choice.”

Cheng, a registered Democrat, acknowledged that deep political divisions are roiling his adopted country. But he said that is “part of the cost of democracy.”

“To criticize the government is necessary. Because the government always has the privileges,” he said.

Cheng doesn’t just talk about democracy, he lives it. He became involved in Asian American civic engagement for the first time this election. He educates people –- many of them older and native Chinese speakers -– about voting, how government works, and issues impacting the community.

“Nothing’s perfect, including the American system,” he said. “But compared to one-party dictatorship, it’s much better. At least it gives people some chance to do business, to campaign for a political position.”

— By AP Writer Michael Rubinkam

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Fields reported from Kent County, Maryland; Flaccus from Portland, Oregon; Rubinkam from Boyertown, Pennsylvania; Hollingsworth from Olathe, Kansas; Thanawala from Atlanta; Taxin from Santa Ana, California.

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Associated Press coverage of democracy receives support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the elections at: https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections

Check out https://apnews.com/hub/explaining-the-elections to learn more about the issues and factors at play in the 2022 midterm elections.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — An election year that unfolded against a backdrop of economic turmoil and elimination of federal abortion rights is concluding with a final full day of campaigning by leaders of both parties urgently appealing to their supporters.

President Joe Biden is holding a Monday evening rally in Maryland, where Democrats have one of their best opportunities to reclaim a Republican-held governor’s seat. The appearance is consistent with Biden’s late-campaign strategy of sticking largely to his party’s strongholds rather than stumping in more competitive territory, where control of Congress may ultimately be decided.

His predecessor, Donald Trump, is holding his final rally of the campaign in Ohio. Ohio holds special meaning for the former president as he readies another run for the White House because it was one of the first places where he was able to prove his enduring power among Republican voters two years ago. Trump’s backing of JD Vance was crucial in helping the author and venture capitalist — and onetime Trump critic — secure the GOP’s nomination for a Senate seat.

Elon Musk, whose purchase of Twitter has roiled the social media world, used the platform Monday to endorse the GOP, writing, “I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the Presidency is Democratic.”

That came too late for more than 41 million Americans who had already cast ballots. In fact, Monday was more about ensuring that supporters either meet early voting deadlines or make firm plans to show up at polling places in person. The election results will have a powerful impact on the final two years of Biden’s presidency, shaping policy on everything from government spending to military support for Ukraine.

Campaigning in New York for Gov. Kathy Hochul on Sunday, Biden said Republicans were willing to condone last year’s mob attack at the Capitol.

Meanwhile, at a Sunday Trump rally in Miami, a reference to Pelosi prompted chants of “Lock her up!” — a stark reminder of the nation’s deep divide.

Trump was campaigning for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s reelection, but also focused on his own political future. After telling a crowd in Iowa last week that he’s “very, very, very probably” going to run for president again, he again teased the possibility on Sunday and encouraged supporters to watch his Ohio rally.

“I will probably have to do it again, but stay tuned,” Trump said, teasing the Monday event. “We have a big, big rally. Stay tuned for tomorrow night.”

For national Democrats, meanwhile, the focus is on their narrow control of the House and Senate, which could evaporate after Tuesday.

Voters may rebuke the party controlling the White House and Congress amid surging inflation, concerns about crime and pessimism about the direction of the country. History suggests any party in power will suffer significant losses in the midterms.

Biden has made the case that the nation’s very democracy is on the ballot, and the first lady went to Texas on Sunday to sound a similar alarm.

Ronna McDaniel, the Republican National Committee chairwoman, said Democrats were “inflation deniers,” as she tried to deflect their branding of her party as anti-democracy for questioning the results of 2020’s presidential election.

“If we win back the House and the Senate, it’s the American people saying to Joe Biden, we want you to work on behalf of us and we want you to work across the aisle to solve the problems that we are dealing with,” McDaniel told CNN.

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — More than 430 voters cast ballots in the wrong race in early Election Day voting in Nashville, a left-leaning city that Republicans carved three ways during redistricting in hopes of flipping a Democratic seat.

The amount is a stark jump from the initial number that the Davidson County Election Commission provided last week, when officials said the problem was contained to just 212 miscast ballots. Election administrator Jeff Roberts said Monday that the initial amount did not take into account the final three days of early voting, which ended last Thursday. He also provided a list of the affected voters.

The new number places yet another level of scrutiny around Nashville’s voting system, which has faced criticism after The Associated Press reported that voters were being given ballots for incorrect congressional and statehouse races. The problem involves precincts that were split during the GOP-led redistricting process, which resulted in Nashville being divided into three congressional districts.

Republicans pushed back on the idea that redistricting caused the problem. Instead, they’ve placed the blame on Nashville election officials even though similar problems have popped up elsewhere across the state.

Shortly after the AP’s report last Tuesday, Roberts said his office had worked throughout the night to fix the problem and that voters would receive the correct ballot by Election Day this Tuesday.

On Friday, however, officials reversed course, saying there was still a risk of an unknown amount of voters receiving the wrong ballot.

Under an agreement sparked by a lawsuit filed Friday, voters now may be able to enter a provisional ballot on Election Day at the county election office if they submitted an incorrect ballot during the early voting period. Those provisional ballots will only be opened if the election is contested.

Meanwhile, voters who believe they are given the wrong ballot on a voting machine on Election Day will also be given a chance to use a special paper ballot at their assigned polling places.

Voters whose districts were correctly assigned will cast their ballots on voting machines at their regular polling places.

So far, Democratic leaders have varied widely on the appropriate solutions to the ballot mix up. Tennessee Democratic Party Chair Hendrell Remus called for Roberts’ resignation, while Rep. Vincent Dixie, who serves as the House Democratic caucus chairman, said that all early voting votes should be nullified and that the election should be delayed.

“The current compromise is not representative of one person one vote,” Dixie said. “People who voted on the wrong ballot are given the chance to submit a provisional ballot. In essence, they will have two votes.”

Incorrect ballot issues have not been contained to Nashville.

Shelby County election officials confirmed 50 ballots were cast in the wrong congressional race at one polling place during early voting, calling the issue a “clerical error” that was corrected for future voters.

Meanwhile, in Benton County, several addresses were still receiving conflicting information from different government sources on which congressional races residents should vote in.

The county of fewer than 16,000 people is split between the 7th and 8th congressional districts.

Benton County elections administrator Jeff Beasley said Monday that he has fixed assignments for a handful of people he said were put into the wrong contest. He said those people he reassigned — there were fewer than 10 — have not voted yet.

A spokesperson for the secretary of state’s office, Julia Bruck, noted that the information in its GoVoteTN app comes from local election commissions.

Under the new redistricting map, longtime Nashville Democratic representative, Jim Cooper announced he wouldn’t seek reelection for the 5th Congressional District. That created an open race in a newly drawn district — now snaking through six counties — that favored Donald Trump over Joe Biden by 12 percentage points in 2020.

The 6th District is the most favorable Nashville seat for Republicans, where GOP U.S. Rep. John Rose of Cookeville is running for another term. Trump topped Biden there by 30 points. Rose faces Democrat Randal Cooper.

Democrat Odessa Kelly and Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Green are contending in the 7th District, which extends through 14 counties. Its voters favored Trump over Biden by 15 percentage points.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — After months of primaries, campaign events and fundraising pleas, the midterm elections that will determine the balance of power in Washington and state capitals are finally here.

Republicans are predicting a massive red wave as anxious Democrats defend their narrow majorities in Congress while struggling to overcome pervasive concerns about the economy, crime and President Joe Biden’s leadership. Democrats are hoping that a backlash against the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade will save them.

The political environment has led to an unusually large playing field as emboldened Republicans press into Democratic strongholds like New York, California, New Mexico and Washington state. Still, the marquee races are taking place in swing states like Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, all of which could help determine the outcome of the 2024 presidential contest.

Because of close contests and extended vote counting, it could take days or weeks before the final outcome is known in several key races.

What we’re watching on Election Day:

RED WAVE RISING?

All signs point to Republicans making significant gains on Tuesday. But whether it’s a red ripple or a tsunami remains to be seen.

Voters are overwhelmingly pessimistic about the direction of the country as inflation surges and political divisions explode. And history suggests that voters will take out their frustrations on the party in power.

The party that occupies the White House has suffered significant losses in nearly every president’s first midterm election for more than a century. Exceptions were in 1934 during the Great Depression; in 1998 during the effort to impeach Bill Clinton; and in 2002 after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Democrats were initially hopeful that the Supreme Court’s decision to eliminate abortion rights might be enough to disrupt historical trends — or at least limit their losses — but party leaders have turned increasingly concerned as Election Day approached.

Operatives in both parties expect the GOP to win the House majority, which would require a net gain of five seats. But with a big wave, the GOP could win 25 new seats or more. Sensing opportunity, Republican groups invested millions of dollars in Democratic-leaning districts in California, New York, Illinois and Pennsylvania in the election’s final days.

The fight for the Senate majority is more competitive. If Republicans pick up even one seat, they would control the Senate’s upper chamber.

Democrats are fighting to protect vulnerable incumbents in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and New Hampshire, while Republicans believe they’re within striking distance in Colorado and Washington state. The GOP chances are hampered somewhat by flawed candidates in Arizona, Georgia and New Hampshire, who have been boosted by former President Donald Trump.

Pennsylvania represents the Democrats’ best opportunity to flip a Republican-held seat, while GOP-held seats in North Carolina and Wisconsin also remain close.

At the same time, races for governor and statewide officers like secretary of state loom larger than normal. The political environment is giving Republicans confidence in gubernatorial races in blue states like Oregon and New Mexico.

Should a massive red wave materialize, Democrats may struggle everywhere.

THE ROE EFFECT

After the Supreme Court eliminated Roe v. Wade in June, Republicans, including Trump, worried aloud that the decision might trigger a backlash against GOP candidates who oppose abortion rights. And there have been signs in recent months that voters — suburban women and younger voters, in particular — were energized and ready to vote for Democrats on Nov. 8.

But more than four months after the ruling, the abortion effect may be fading.

Democratic candidates have shifted their message away from abortion in recent weeks, at least somewhat, in favor of the economy, Social Security and Medicare. And some elected officials, including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent, warned that Democrats have relied too much on abortion rights as a galvanizing issue.

The issue is especially critical in the push for suburban women, a group that swung against Trump’s GOP in 2020 and seemed to swing back after Trump left office when the GOP shifted its focus to pandemic restrictions and the economy.

DO LATINO VOTERS DRIFT FURTHER RIGHT?

Democrats sought to improve their outreach to Latinos after underperforming with the group in 2020. But there are reasons to believe that Democrats may do even worse this year among the key voting bloc, long a pillar of the party’s coalition.

Both parties have been especially focused on the Rio Grande Valley in south Texas, made up of heavily Latino communities where the Biden administration’s struggle to address problems along the U.S.-Mexico border is a central issue. The GOP believes it will win as many as three House seats in the former Democratic stronghold.

The GOP is also bullish about its standing in Florida’s Miami-Dade County, home to 1.5 million Latinos of voting age and a Democratic stronghold for the past 20 years. The GOP made significant gains there in the last presidential election.

Should Democrats lose Miami-Dade, it would virtually eliminate their path to victory in statewide contests, including presidential elections.

The Latino vote will be consequential in other states but none more so than in Arizona and Nevada, where Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto, the nation’s first Latina senator, is locked in a close race.

HOW DO TRUMP’S CANDIDATES PERFORM?

Trump remains a dominant force in the Republican Party, but Tuesday’s contests will test his strength among the broader electorate.

He is not on the ballot, of course, but dozens of Trump-endorsed candidates are. They include several controversial picks who beat out alternatives backed by the party’s establishment.

Should Trump’s higher-profile endorsees struggle, it would raise questions about his political strength as he weighs a 2024 presidential run that could be launched shortly after the midterms.

In Pennsylvania, Trump loyalist Doug Mastriano, the Republican candidate for governor, has struggled in the polls against Democrat Josh Shapiro. Trump’s pick for the Senate, Dr. Mehmet Oz, is locked in a close race with Democrat John Fetterman. In Arizona, gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and Senate contender Blake Masters, who both promoted Trump’s lies of a stolen 2020 election, are in position to win.

Other Trump loyalists to watch: Ohio Senate candidate JD Vance, North Carolina Senate contender Ted Budd, Michigan gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon and New York gubernatorial hopeful Lee Zeldin.

THE 2024 IMPACT

In ways big and small, the 2022 midterms will help shape the 2024 election.

A bad night for Democrats could undermine Biden’s rationale for a second term. And Trump would almost certainly seize on sweeping Republican victories as evidence of his political strength ahead of a third prospective White House bid.

Good-government advocates are particularly worried about dozens of election deniers running for state office across several presidential battlegrounds.

In Nevada, Republican Jim Marchant is running to become the secretary of state, the state’s chief elections official. Marchant is head of the America First Secretary of State Coalition, a collection of Trump loyalists who falsely say the 2020 election was plagued by voter fraud.

It’s the same in Arizona and Michigan, where fellow coalition members Mark Finchem and Kristina Karamo are running for secretary of state. And in Pennsylvania, Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, another vocal election denier, would have the authority, if he wins, to appoint his own chief elections official.

Election administration aside, other statewide candidates could use a strong showing on Tuesday to position themselves for the 2024 ticket.

Lake, Arizona’s Republican candidate for governor, is already thought to be a potential Trump running mate. And in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is running for reelection Tuesday, is also considering a 2024 presidential bid, whether Trump runs or not.

WHAT WILL WE KNOW BEFORE WE GO TO BED?

It’s possible — maybe even likely — that the outcome in several key contests may take days or even weeks to be finalized.

The reasons are many.

In Georgia, a candidate must earn at least 50% of the vote to win outright. Otherwise, the election goes to a Dec. 6 runoff. Strategists on both sides believe the state’s Senate race, in particular, may do just that.

In other states, the process of counting votes can be long and complicated, especially as voting by mail becomes more popular.

Under Arizona law, for example, all ballots must be returned by 7 p.m. on Election Day, but officials have 20 days to finalize their counts. In Nevada, counties have four days to count late-arriving mail ballots and give voters two more days to fix mail ballots that arrive in envelopes with errors or missing information.

In some swing states, including Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, officials are not allowed to begin validating mail ballots until Election Day. Nineteen states provide a grace period to receive mail ballots as long as they were sent by Election Day. Such ballots in California can be received up to seven days later.

This could take a while.

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Learn more about the issues and factors at play in the midterms at https://apnews.com/hub/explaining-the-elections. And follow the AP’s election coverage of the 2022 elections at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections.

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NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Summer Boismier was living her childhood dream. She grew up a bookworm, became a high school English teacher, and filled both her classroom and home with her favorite literature.

She taught her students: “Stories are what is fundamental about the human experience. We all have them.”

Boismier especially loves the fantasy genre, a passion sprouted from childhood favorite “Harry Potter.” But even in a world of fantasy, she couldn’t have dreamed that a lesson from her English class would land her in the center of a vigorous statewide political campaign and turn her into a target for candidates and voters on social media.

Over the past two years, the nine-year teaching veteran was growing alarmed with the Republican-controlled Oklahoma Legislature’s increasing efforts to restrict access to books in public schools. In her classroom, she covered some bookshelves with red butcher tape and labeled them “Books the state doesn’t want you to read.” She gave students a QR code link to the Brooklyn Public Library, which provides access to a variety of banned books.

She hoped to spark a discussion about the legislators’ book restrictions and a new law prohibiting lessons on critical race theory and other concepts about race and gender. Instead, she was summoned to a meeting with school administrators after a parent complained.

A firestorm erupted as Boismier resigned and a reporter from a local television station covered the story. The state’s Republican candidate for superintendent of public schools, Ryan Walters, wrote a letter to the State Board of Education calling for Boismier’s teaching license to be revoked.

“There is no place for a teacher with a liberal political agenda in the classroom,” Walters wrote in the letter he then tweeted and sent to reporters, even accusing Boismier of providing access to “pornographic material.” The incident gained traction on social media, and people claimed she was part of a larger movement of teachers indoctrinating students with liberal ideology.

Boismier, 34, and other teachers have found themselves at the center of a renewed conservative interest in public education as a political issue. The movement gained steam with parents opposing mask mandates and other COVID-19 measures. It has since broadened, and some supporters focus on issues they say clash with conservative values — such as teaching about social justice, gender, race and history.

For weeks, Boismier – a book-loving English teacher without any political aspirations – was the focus of an ugly and heated statewide campaign. People on social media called for her to be prosecuted, thrown in prison or even lynched.

“It was a little bit of a firehose of bigotry,” Boismier said.

Even after she resigned, the campaign against her continued, and she left home for a short time when someone emailed a threatening note that included her address. She called her mother in tears.

“That’s hard enough to read to yourself,” Boismier said. “It’s even harder, I think, to read that to your mother. I’m not going to lie. I was scared.”

As Oklahoma struggles to hire enough qualified teachers, those already in the jobs have increasingly found themselves the target of such conservative attacks and politicians. On the campaign stump and social media, Walters has relentlessly attacked public school teachers as liberal indoctrinators. Norman, one of Oklahoma’s most liberal cities, and Tulsa Public Schools, one of its largest districts, both have been singled out by conservative politicians. Similar attacks against schools and libraries also have proliferated across the country.

“I’ve seen the propaganda Democrats want in our schools. It’s sick,” Walters said in one of many online videos he’s posted during his campaign to lead the state’s public schools system. “I’m here to fix our schools and teach leftists a lesson.”

Walters also has leaned hard into his opposition to transgender students playing sports or using bathrooms that correspond to their gender identity. He recently suggested at a GOP gathering that all history teachers in Oklahoma should undergo patriotic education training from a private, conservative Christian college in Michigan.

But it’s not clear that Walters’ message, which helped him win the Republican primary, is resonating in deep-red Oklahoma. A Democrat hasn’t been elected to statewide office since 2006. Walters, a former classroom teacher who was tapped as secretary of education by Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, is in a tight race with Democrat Jena Nelson, a veteran English teacher and the state’s 2020 teacher of the year.

“We need a state superintendent who believes in our public schools, elevates our teachers, not threatens to defund schools or threatens teachers,” Nelson said in a recent televised debate.

Jamie Qualls, a special education teacher at Madill Public Schools, a rural district in far south Oklahoma, said she’s a Republican who plans to vote for Nelson because she dislikes Walters’ rhetoric.

“If we could indoctrinate children, we’d have them bring a pencil to class,” Qualls said. “If we had the power to brainwash kids, we’d have them do their homework.”

For Boismier, her story has a happy ending. She found comfort in the community that rallied around her amid the attacks — some even printed yard signs, buttons and T-shirts with the QR code she shared with students. One yard sign is prominently displayed in the front lawn that can be seen from the football stadium.

Now, she’s heading to New York for a job with the Brooklyn Public Library — her first move away from Oklahoma since a brief internship in Washington after college.

Despite the controversy and roller coaster of emotions she’s experienced over the last two months, she said she’d be willing to go through it all again — she’s proud she stood up for her students and now has the opportunity to reach more young people.

“My teaching certificate may very well be on the chopping block,” she said. “But I’d do it all again with zero hesitation.

“My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner.”

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Follow Sean Murphy at www.twitter.com/apseanmurphy

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More than one-quarter of state lawmakers whose seats are up for election across the U.S. are guaranteed to be gone from office next year — a statistic certain to grow when the votes are counted from the November general election.

A combination of retirements, term limits, redistricting changes and primary defeats — especially among Republicans facing conservative challengers — already has driven turnover in state capitols to its highest rate in more than a decade.

More incumbents will lose Tuesday, as voters decide nearly 6,300 state legislative races in 46 states.

“There are going to be a lot of new faces in legislative chambers across the country,” said Ben Williams, principal for the elections and redistricting program at the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The changing composition of state legislatures could have significant implications for public policy. Though the federal government often garners more attention, state legislatures hold the power to ban or allow abortion, set rules for future elections, raise or reduce various taxes and determine what gets taught in public schools, among other things.

This election is the first since districts were redrawn to account for population shifts noted by the 2020 census. Post-redistricting elections often see an uptick in retirements and defeats as incumbents opt against running in new areas or get matched up against each other.

But this year’s turnover rate — already above 26% — is ahead of the pace from the last post-redistricting election in 2012 and more than one-quarter higher than the average over the past decade, according to an Associated Press analysis of data from the election tracking organization Ballotpedia.

One reason is that a greater percentage of incumbents didn’t seek re-election this year. But that alone doesn’t explain it.

While the rate of Democratic primary losses declined slightly from 2012, the loss rate for Republican incumbents rose from 4.7% a decade ago to 6.2% this year. Many of those GOP lawmakers lost to challengers aligned with former President Donald Trump and portray themselves as more conservative on such issues as election integrity, transgender policies and school instruction.

Heading into the general election, Republicans held majorities in both legislative chambers in 30 states compared with 17 for Democrats. Two states — Minnesota and Virginia — had split legislative majorities. Nebraska’s Legislature is officially nonpartisan.

When including governors, Republicans had full control in 23 states and Democrats in 14, with the others divided.

History suggests this should be a good year for Republicans. That’s because the president’s party — in this case, the Democrats — typically suffers a backlash of disapproval during midterm elections, losing legislative seats. The public mood appears sour again this year. The percentage of people concerned about their financial wellbeing has risen, and just 25% say the country is headed in the right direction, according to an October poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

“The top concern for voters overwhelmingly is the economy and cost of living,” said Andrew Romeo, communications director for the Republican State Leadership Committee, which supports state legislative candidates.

But a summer U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning the national right to abortion — and leaving such decisions to states — added a twist to election-year politics and provided a new campaign angle for Democrats.

Abortion is front and center in Michigan, one of the nation’s biggest legislative battlegrounds.

Democrats hope a Michigan ballot proposal making abortion a constitutional right will drive left-leaning voters to also cast ballots in key legislative races. New state House and Senate districts, drawn for the first time by an independent citizens commission, give Democrats a greater shot than the former districts drawn by the Republican-led Legislature.

The new Senate District 35, for example, takes in parts of several previous districts, extending eastward from Midland to Saginaw Bay. Democrats have run ads asserting the Republican candidate, state Rep. Annette Glenn, “wants to ban abortion, even in cases of rape or incest.” Republican ads pair Democratic candidate Kristen McDonald Rivet with Biden while denouncing “reckless spending and out-of-control inflation.”

Which message compels more turnout than the other remains to be seen.

“I think the big question is what will the composition of the electorate look like,” said Jessica Post, president of the national Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.

Another state targeted by both Democrats and Republicans is Minnesota, where Republicans hold a slim Senate majority and Democrats a narrow House majority. Each party wants to win full control of the Legislature.

Republicans also are attempting to flip Democratic-led legislative chambers in Colorado, Maine, Nevada and Oregon.

Democrats hope the New Hampshire Legislature, which frequently flips control, could turn their way this year. Democrats also are trying to make legislative gains in Arizona and Pennsylvania, two states that are pivotal in presidential elections.

Democratic- and Republican-aligned groups have collectively poured a couple hundred million dollars into legislative races in what’s become a costly biennial battle for power. Yet both parties are downplaying their potential for sweeping victories.

“If we’re able to preserve and hold the number of chambers that Democrats have right now, that would be a good night,” Post said.

Speaking for Republicans, Romeo also described a good outcome as “keeping everything we have.” He added: “A great night would be if we are able to expand and flip a chamber in one of these Democrat-held states.”

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the 2022 elections at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections. Learn more about the issues and factors at play in the midterms at https://apnews.com/hub/explaining-the-elections

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CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — Dr. Frank Annie sees desperation in his hospital, where 30- and 40-year-olds come in with organ failure after injecting opioids with dirty needles. Joe Solomon finds it in the faces of those who line up in the church gyms and parking lots where he passes out overdose reversal drugs. Sheena Griffith encounters it on the streets she navigates with a car packed with HIV test kits and disinfectant for sanitizing syringes.

Annie is a Republican, Solomon a Democrat and Griffith an independent. All three are running for city council in the capital city of battle-scarred West Virginia, where the devastating toll of the opioid crisis transcends party politics.

“There’s so much unchecked pain, and it’s exhausting,” said Griffith, a recovery coach who’s battled substance use herself. “If we are a God-fearing state, a God-fearing country, where is God in the city of Charleston?”

More than a year after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared Charleston the scene of the country’s “most concerning HIV outbreak” due to IV drug use, the three candidates say not enough has changed. And with millions of dollars from legal settlements with opioid manufacturers and pharmacies on the way specifically for treatment and recovery, they also feel the urgency of getting things right locally, where it matters most.

But people are divided, even if not on party lines. Against CDC guidance, state and local officials voted last year to criminalize programs that give people who inject drugs clean syringes to prevent the spread of HIV and hepatitis C. A proposal for a low-barrier shelter using COVID-19 relief money that would allow residents experiencing homelessness to receive substance use disorder treatment — initially endorsed by the city’s Democratic mayor — was tabled after people complained about the potential impact on nearby schools and businesses.

Charleston, which leans more liberal than the rest of West Virginia, did invest several million dollars in COVID relief funds to support a women’s shelter, a program that helps people get access to permanent housing and a food truck run by a local soup kitchen, but most of the money has gone to economic development initiatives.

Annie said the city is more focused on trying to rebrand and rebuild after the decline of the coal industry and the pain of the opioid epidemic, and has yet to truly address the underlying issues, including the needs of people who have long been exploited.

“We’re going through a very uncomfortable transitional era in West Virginia, basically for the soul of West Virginia,” said the research scientist specializing in cardiovascular health at Charleston Area Medical Center Memorial Hospital. “This level of pain and mistrust is nothing new. The question is, what we do about it now. Do we ignore it continuously, or do we try and be proactive and trust science finally?”

Solomon, a trained social worker, co-runs the nonprofit Solutions Oriented Addiction Response. He said members of his organization felt a sense of urgency in 2020 when they began setting up tents in church parking lots and handing out sterile syringes.

Syringe access programs are CDC-recommended and scientifically proven methods to prevent disease transmission. At SOAR’s health fairs — located in the part of Charleston with the highest percentage of emergency overdose calls — they conducted HIV testing and distributed naloxone, an overdose reversal drug. They also helped connect people with recovery resources.

But some people in the city were wary. They complained about needle litter, and said the program let people who use drugs keep using. They said the health fairs were introducing new challenges, such as homelessness and mental health issues, to residential neighborhoods.

Jennifer Pharr, a fellow Democrat who is running in the same race as Solomon for one of six at-large seats, said SOAR didn’t spend enough time getting community buy-in and explaining what it was doing before it started handing out needles. It didn’t help that the majority-white-run organization also set up health fairs in the Charleston neighborhood with the highest concentration of Black residents, said Pharr, who is Black.

Pharr, who lost her brother to an overdose, said the issue is personal to a lot of people and she understands their fear.

“You really need to go and knock on the neighbors’ doors and let them know what you’re doing,” she said. “There’s always going to be a collateral circumstance that happens from any good intention.”

State lawmakers responded to the situation by passing new regulations requiring syringe providers to be licensed and needle recipients to show a state ID — something many unhoused people lack — and bring back each needle after use.

The city council followed with an ordinance making it a misdemeanor criminal offense to run an exchange program violating the restrictions, adding fines of $500 to $1,000 per offense.

SOAR shut down its syringe exchange; new HIV cases continued to be reported.

Traveling around the city for three days with a backpack, eating at soup kitchens and sleeping under bridges and in parking lots this past summer, Solomon interviewed residents about the changes they’d like to see. He said many people “just need basic dignity and basic services,” something the city has a rare opportunity to provide.

“They’ve never had more money in the history of money in this city, and you could make the case that there’s never been more stigma in the history of stigma,” said Solomon. “How bad does the pain have to get until the city says we need to have a vision for a city of mercy, for a city of solutions?”

Annie said he wishes every city official could spend time in his hospital intensive care unit.

“Sometimes it feels like they live in a very different reality than what’s really going on, or they choose not to acknowledge it,” he said.

As a Republican, he’s tried to stress the financial burden of caring for people when addiction goes unaddressed. From 2008 to 2015, Annie’s hospital lost over $13 million treating patients suffering from infective endocarditis, a life-threatening heart inflammation that’s relatively rare outside IV drug users. Many of them are uninsured and have to remain in hospital beds for weeks at a time.

He wants the city and the hospital system to join forces on a harm reduction program — something hospital leadership previously expressed interest in. He said the debate on the legislation restricting syringe exchanges was rife with “misconceptions” and “antiquated notions” about harm reduction and syringe services.

He said it frustrates him when he hears people say more data is needed on HIV and other opioid-related issues in the city, since he’s been the one collecting it.

“We’ve had the data for years,” he said. “It’s just there’s no will.”

Griffith, who works at the same hospital as Annie, sees the way people live once they leave. Driving around in her Nissan Maxima, she searches for people in tent encampments, in abandoned houses, in alleyways and offers them food, blankets and support.

“Every day I go out, and I try to help save someone, say something that’s going to change their mind and save their life and make them want to be better,” she said. “And every day that I do that, I’m drowning, because it is such a repetitive thing.”

Griffith, now in recovery after years of struggling with substance use and homelessness, said she’d probably be dead if it weren’t for a program that offered clean syringes. When she lost everything, it was a worker she’d met at the syringe exchange who helped her get treatment.

She said people who try to address the problem by criminalizing addiction simply don’t understand it.

“They don’t know about sleeping on the street and wondering where you are going to eat that night,” she said. “Let people who have lived a real life, who come from the streets, try to change things. Our city is dying of drug addiction, so let people who care about what our city is dying from fix the problem.”

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans are eyeing major gains in Tuesday’s elections and appealing to supporters over the final weekend of the 2022 campaign to punish Democrats for high inflation and crime rates that have risen in some places. President Joe Biden and his two most recent Democratic predecessors said the prospect of GOP victories could undermine the very future of American democracy.

More than 39 million people have already voted in an election that will decide control of Congress and key governorships.

Biden was set to campaign in suburban New York on Sunday after former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton made closing cases to voters on Saturday.

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, head of the Democrats’ House campaign arm, is in a tough contest for his seat north of New York City. But he insisted Sunday that Democrats are “going to do better than people think on Tuesday,” adding that his party is “not perfect” but “we are responsible adults who believe in this democracy.”

“I think this race is razor-close and I think everybody who cares about the extremism in this MAGA movement — the racism, the anti-Semitism, the violence — needs to get out and vote and that’s not just Democrats, it’s independents and fair-minded Republicans,” Maloney told NBC’s “Meet the Press,” referring to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.

Florida Sen. Rick Scott, who heads the Republicans’ Senate campaign arm, countered, “We have great candidates. People are showing up to vote.”

“There’s no energy on the Democrat side,” said Scott on NBC. “This election is about the Biden agenda.”

Former President Donald Trump, who planned a Miami rally later Sunday, hopes a strong GOP showing on Election Day will generate momentum for the 2024 run that he is expected to launch in the days or weeks after polls close.

Scott will be at that rally. Not invited, though, is Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, who is running for reelection against Democrat Charlie Crist and is widely considered Trump’s most formidable challenger if he also were to get into the White House race.

In Pennsylvania on Saturday night, Trump said he hoped the GOP would have “an historic victory” in the midterms. But DeSantis also was on his mind — he referred to the governor as “Ron DeSanctimonious.” It’s a rivalry that’s been simmering for more than a year as DeSantis has taken increasingly bold steps to boost his national profile and build a deep fundraising network.

DeSantis, who became a popular national figure among conservatives during the pandemic as he pushed back on COVID-19 restrictions, shares Trump’s pugilistic instincts. By most measures, Trump remains easily the most popular figure in the Republican Party. But many Trump supporters are eager for the prospect that DeSantis might run, seeing him as a natural successor to Trump, without Trump’s considerable political negatives.

Trump has privately groused about DeSantis for failing to say definitively that he will sit out the race.

When Joe O’Dea, the GOP candidate for Senate in Colorado, said he would prefer someone other than Trump as the 2024 nominee and cited DeSantis and others, Trump slammed O’Dea on social media: “MAGA doesn’t Vote for stupid people with big mouths,” Trump said.

Days later, DeSantis endorsed O’Dea, who had twice voted for Trump.

For national Democrats, the focus is on the fate of their narrow control of the House and Senate.

Voters may rebuke the party controlling the White House and Congress amid surging inflation, concerns about crime and pessimism about the direction of the country. History suggests the party in power will suffer significant losses in the midterms.

First lady Jill Biden attended a church service while campaigning for Democrats in Houston.

“So much is at stake in this election,” she said Sunday. “We must speak up on justice and democracy.”

Trump has long falsely claimed he lost the 2020 election only because Democrats cheated and has even begun raising the possibility of election fraud this year. Federal intelligence agencies are warning of the possibility of political violence from far-right extremists.

President Biden’s midterm pitch centers on championing his administration’s major legislative achievements, while warning that abortion rights, voting rights, Social Security and Medicare are at risk should Republicans take control of Congress.

Obama, who joined Biden in Philadelphia on Saturday, noted that generations of Americans died for democracy and said, “You can’t take it for granted.” Biden himself said: “We have to reaffirm the values that have long defined us.”

At a New York rally for Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is in a tight battle as she seeks her first, full term, Clinton said the loss of House and Senate control by Democrats would have “enormous consequences.”

Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel said Democrats were “inflation deniers,” trying to deflect the other side’s branding of her party as anti-democracy for rejecting the results of 2020’s free and fair presidential election simply because Trump lost it.

“If we win back the House and the Senate, it’s the American people saying to Joe Biden, we want you to work on behalf of us and we want you to work across the aisle to solve the problems that we are dealing with,” McDaniel told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.

Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, the nation’s largest union of public employees with 1.4 million members, has been traveling the country rallying for Democrats. He said, “It’s going to be hard, it’s going to be tough but we aren’t giving up hope.”

“Clearly people are concerned about the economy,” Saunders said. But voters also are “concerned about the freedoms being taken away from them, whether you’re talking about voting rights or whether your talking about a women’s right to choose.”

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Associated Press writers Jill Colvin and Hope Yen contributed to this report.

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Learn more about the issues and factors at play in the midterms at https://apnews.com/hub/explaining-the-elections. And follow the AP’s election coverage of the 2022 elections at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections.

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Across America, faith leaders have squeezed in some final messages about the midterm elections during their worship services this weekend. Some passionately took stands on divisive issues such as immigration and abortion; others pleaded for an easing of the political polarization fracturing their communities and their nation.

“God has no team,” Rabbi David Wolpe told the politically diverse congregation at his Los Angeles synagogue, Sinai Temple.

“The notion that one party or faction is repository of all virtue is fatuous and dangerous,” Wolpe added. “God is greater than parties. If we catch some of that spirit, perhaps we can begin to heal the deep divisions that beset our nation and our world.”

Less than 50 miles away, at the Calvary Chapel Chino Hills megachurch, Pastor Jack Hibbs was eager to take sides in what he calls a “cultural war.” He urged his evangelical congregation to oppose a ballot measure that would enshrine abortion rights in California’s Constitution.

“As a pastor and follower of Jesus, I’m called to defend those who are destined for crushing, those who have no voice for themselves,” he said. “Let a child be born. We need to tell the government to get out of the business of deciding which life is valuable and which one is not.”

The measure — Proposition 1 — is a response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June eliminating the longstanding constitutional right to abortion nationwide. While that ruling did not affect access to abortion in California, Democratic politicians nonetheless sought the extra protection of a constitutional amendment.

Opposition to abortion also has been an election-season priority for Mike Breininger, pastor of an evangelical church in Richland Center in southwest Wisconsin. Breininger doesn’t shy from discussing political issues with his theologically conservative congregation at New House Richland, urging support for candidates who agree the government’s responsibility is to protect life and religious freedom.

“I don’t believe that all political candidates are the same — some are biblically more righteous than others,” said Breininger, who often votes Republican.

Clergy didn’t confine their election messages to within the church walls. On Saturday, the Rev. Alyn Waller, senior pastor at Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church in Philadelphia, hosted a Black Bikers Vote rally. Motorcyclists gathered outside the church before riding through the city urging residents to vote.

“We think that categorically, if you’re a good citizen, a good faith person, a good Christian, you vote,” said Waller. “The very nature of Black preaching should sound as if the Bible is in one hand and newspaper in the other.”

In a left-of-center Catholic parish in Hoboken, New Jersey, the Rev. Alex Santora exhorted his parishioners to be engaged on issues such as immigration, abortion and gun control.

“As Catholics we should always focus on the common good and what is best for the majority of people,“ he said in his homily at the Church of Our Lady of Grace & St. Joseph.

“Living in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, I reject all attempts to demonize migrants and immigrants, who have built up our country,” Santora added. “We should be magnanimous, not restrictive and unchristian.”

A few miles from Hoboken, at the Community Church of New York, the Rev. Peggy Clarke, a Unitarian minister, denounced statements by some Republicans, including Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano.

As a minister with a degree in Peace Studies, Clarke has often asked people to reject impulses toward division. But “there are many times in life and in history when one side is wrong and the harm being done has to stop,” she said.

“Using propaganda to convince the public that an election was stolen is wrong,” she added. “Stopping teachers from educating students on uncomfortable truths about race in this country is wrong.”

“In Tuesday’s election, democracy itself is on the ballot,” she said.

Another New York City pastor, the Rev. Jacqui Lewis of Middle Collegiate Church, similarly stressed the urgency of the election, saying “matters of life and death are before of us.”

“Jesus was political. The church has always been political,” she said. “The question is what were the politics of Jesus, and what are ours?”

Lewis assailed Christian nationalism, saying its adherents posed a threat to LGBTQ people, to people of color, and to women’s right to have a safe abortion.

“They believe a fake Jesus is coming back to earth to save them, with an assault rifle over one shoulder, his long blond hair held back by a camo head band, his blue eyes lit with hatred for the marginalized, including his own Jewish people,” Lewis said.

The Rev. Ingrid Rasmussen, pastor at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, also evoked Christian nationalism and partisan divisions in her sermon Sunday.

“We need the communion of saints to fill in the spaces of our disbelief and doubt… to weave a fragmented people together and help us to see God’s new way,” she preached.

The Rev. Dumas A. Harshaw Jr., pastor of First Baptist Church in Raleigh, North Carolina, told his mostly Black congregation there was a crucial need to vote.

“It is our righteous privilege to engage in the process of creating a better society for us all,” he said.

A similar message was shared with predominantly African American worshippers at Masjidullah, an Islamic community center in Philadelphia.

“As Muslims, we are to be positive change agents in the world,” the resident imam, Idris Abdul-Zahir, told The Associated Press. “Voting for and working with public servants who have that interest in mind is tantamount to faith.”

Voting is a priority, but so is unity at Allison Park Church in Pittsburgh, said the lead pastor, Jeff Leake, who encouraged his congregation to head to the polls: “We have the freedom to be a part of the process and to vote. Can I get an “amen” from somebody?”

He advised worshippers to weigh candidates’ character — as well as their abilities — when deciding how to vote.

“No matter what happens on Tuesday, we believe that God is in control,” Leake said

Dan Trippie, a Southern Baptist pastor at Restoration Church in Buffalo, New York, has been urging his youthful, ethnically diverse congregation to support candidates who might seek middle ground on some important issues.

“No candidate or policy will ever achieve perfection in this world,” he said. “We cannot allow our idealized visions of society to prevent us from seeking workable solutions that care for the flourishing of all people.”

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Members of The Associated Press’ Global Religion Team — Jessie Wardarski, Deepa Bharath, Mariam Fam, Luis Andres Henao and Giovanna Dell’Orto — contributed to this report.

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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