Musk urges followers to vote Republican
Elon Musk has urged Americans to vote for a Republican-controlled Congress as they headed to the polls for the midterm elections today. Mr Musk, chief executive of Twitter, said “independent-minded” voters would deliver a check on Joe Biden’s mandate. “Shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties; therefore, I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the presidency is Democratic,” Mr Musk told his 114million Twitter followers.
REPUBLICANS have a 55 per cent chance of winning control of the Senate, says an exhaustive final analysis.
The polling website Fivethirtyeight ran 40,000 simulations of the election, based on polls and expert opinion.
A sample of 100 outcomes showed Republicans would win 55 times and Democrats 45 times.
The average number of seats in the 100-seat chamber was 51 for Republicans and 49 for Democrats, which would give Republicans control.
The statistical analysis showed the Senate was expected to be decided by three key races in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Nevada.
Georgia was rated the closest with John Fetterman, the Democrat candidate who is recovering from a stroke, having a 54 per cent chance of beating Republican TV doctor Mehmet Oz.
In Nevada, local Republican politician Adam Laxalt had a 57 per cent chance of winning against sitting Democrat senator Catherine Cortez Masto.
In Georgia, Republican former American football star Herschel Walker, endorsed by Donald Trump, had a 58 per cent chance of defeating the sitting Democrat senator Raphael Warnock.
The analysis showed Democrats had an edge in other close Senate races in New Hampshire and Arizona.
Republicans were expected to prevail in several other tight contests in Wisconsin, Ohio and North Carolina. In
September, the Fivethirtyeight simulations gave Democrats a 71 per cent chance of keeping control of the Senate. But, for the first time on Nov 1, the analysis showed Republicans more likely than Democrats to win.
The upward trajectory for Republicans, and slide for Democrats, continued in the final week of the campaign. A similar analysis for the House of Representatives gave Republicans an 84 per cent chance of winning.
More than 42 million Americans had voted early ahead of election day. Nineteen million of those were cast in person and 23 million by post.
Republicans have lodged objections to early voting in several states.
The Justice Department said it will send monitors to 24 states in an effort to ensure compliance with voting laws.
Meanwhile, a separate projection of the outcome, based on an average of all polls, showed Republicans would win the Senate with a clear majority.
The Realclearpolitics forecast showed Republicans ending up with 53 seats and Democrats 47.
According to the poll, Republicans would win all three key seats in Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania. They would also pick up a Senate seat in Arizona where the senator, former astronaut Mark Kelly, is being challenged by Republican Blake Masters.
Mr Masters has been endorsed by Mr Trump, and heavily funded by the billionaire entrepreneur Peter Thiel.