US MIDTERM ELECTIONS Biden, Trump make final push

Joe Biden and Donald Trump headlined a frantic last day of campaigning yesterday on the eve of a midterm election that will shape the rest of the US president’s term — and could pave the way for a White House comeback by his predecessor.

Biden’s Democrats are facing a gargantuan struggle to hang on to Congress, after a race the president has cast as a “defining” moment for US democracy — though kitchen-table issues like inflation have largely dominated the campaign.

Republicans are comfortably placed to snatch a House majority today, and many Democrats fear the Senate also slipping away in a defeat that would see Biden’s foes in near total charge of legislation during his last two years in the White House.

Polls show most Americans are anxious about the economy and feel the country is on the wrong track.

With all 435 seats in the House of Representatives up for grabs alongside a third of the 100-member Senate and a slew of state posts, Democrats were putting a brave face on their prospects.

The political landscape has been tilting away from Democrats since the summer, with polls showing Republicans odds-on for a double-digit majority in the House.

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

Races in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Wisconsin, Georgia, 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.

The Republicans counter that a vote for Democrats means no end to soaraway inflation and rising violent crime, seeking to make the midterms a referendum on the president.

Forty-eight percent of likely voters said they prefer a Democratic-controlled Congress in the final national NBC News poll of the campaign, while 47 percent want Republicans in charge.