Mid-term elections America’s next test

Deeply divided Americans head to the polls this week in a vote that those across the political spectrum see as a crucial litmus test.

Facing the prospect of a Democratic “blue wave” or an endorsement of Donald Trump’s past two years in office, political parties spent the weekend jockeying for every inch of ground they could gain ahead of Tuesday’s mid-term elections.

Anxious Democrats are eager to send a rebuke to the president, and are eyeing a series of longshot victories as they seek to wrest control of the House.

“Part of what’s at stake here is our ability to send a message that this is not who we are,” said Karen Finney, a Democratic consultant who worked on Hillary Clinton’s losing 2016 campaign.

Republicans, meanwhile, are optimistic they can gain seats in the Senate and haven’t given up on holding the House.

Appearing before thousands in an overflowing aircraft hangar in Georgia, Trump declared, “There’s electricity in the air like I haven’t seen since ’16.”

“This is a very important election,” he said. “I wouldn’t say it’s as important as ’16, but it’s right up there.”

• The Republican, Rep. Martha McSally, wore a maroon-andgold Arizona State University T-shirt and jeans as she belted out the national anthem at the school’s homecoming game Saturday. The Democrat, Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, wore a canary-yellow dress and 8-inch platform shoes with cactus appliqué as she presided over the coin toss.

But the crowd of 46,000 greeted both U.S. Senate candidates the same way: with a mix of cheers and boos. It was a fitting kickoff to the final weekend before the 2018 mid-terms, a campaign that seemingly launched the day after Donald Trump was elected president two years ago that is climaxing in the shadow of a bomb plot targeting Democratic leaders and the worst anti-Semitic shooting in U.S. history. Each side is doing everything it can to mobilize voters, warning of the dire consequences of failure.

Democrats are counting on wresting control of the House from Republicans and hoping for a long-shot series of wins to take back the Senate as well.

But Republicans are optimistic they can gain seats in a Senate map heavy on red states and haven’t given up on holding the House.

Neither side wanted to leave anything on the field in the final weekend.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spent $650,000 in the final stretch on advertising on African-American radio stations to mobilize black voters.

Voters in both parties said they were paying attention.