The Republican Party has signalled it will prioritise measures to secure the US southern border if it regains control of the House of Representatives in elections on Tuesday.
Republicans in the House also appear likely to put in place investigations into how the Biden administration handled issues such as the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, as well as to seek spending cutbacks if they secure a majority.
President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump were on Monday night making final speeches to supporters in Maryland and Ohio respectively on the eve of the midterm elections.
Polls suggest that Republicans will win back control of the House of Representatives, although the fate of the Senate remains in the balance, with contests in several states effectively deadlocked.
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Final predictions from several political forecasters suggested that the Republicans could make gains in the House ranging from one seat to 35 seats. Republicans need a net increase of five seats to take control.
Democrat strategists hope the large numbers of people availing of early voting arrangements – about 40 million have already cast their ballot – could help their candidates. Republicans need a gain of one seat to take control of the Senate.
As polling day approached, there have been arguments and legal battles over the status of postal ballots in some states which Republican activists have sought to disqualify on procedural grounds.
In Pennsylvania, where Democrats and Republicans are neck-and-neck for the Senate seat, the state supreme court has agreed with the Republican National Committee that election officials should not count ballots on which the voter did not put a date on the outer envelope – even in cases when the ballots arrived before election day.
Separately, Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Monday that he had interfered in US elections and would continue doing so in future.
The remarks represented the first such admission from a figure implicated by Washington in efforts to influence American politics.
In comments posted by the press service of his Concord catering firm on Russia’s Facebook equivalent VKontakte, Mr Prigozhin said: “We have interfered [in US elections], we are interfering and we will continue to interfere. Carefully, accurately, surgically and in our own way, as we know how to do.”
The remark by the close ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin was posted on the eve of the US midterm elections in response to a request for comment from a Russian news site. “During our pinpoint operations, we will remove both kidneys and the liver at once,” Mr Prigozhin said. He did not elaborate on the cryptic comment.
Mr Prigozhin has been formerly accused of sponsoring Russian-based “troll farms” that seek to influence US politics.
In an interview with CNN on Monday the minority leader in the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy – who is tipped to become speaker if the Republicans win – said his party wanted to secure the southern border, cut back on government spending and carry out oversight and investigations into the Biden administration.
An initiative on border security is likely to come in advance of any new immigration reforms.
“The first thing you’ll see is a Bill to control the border first. You’ve got to get control over the border. You’ve had almost two million people just this year alone coming across.”
Republicans will also likely seek to crack down on the synthetic opioid fentanyl being smuggled into the US. Republicans in the election campaign contended that the drug was being smuggled across the border from Mexico.
Mr McCarthy told CNN that if in power Republicans would want to “first do a very frontal attack on China to stop the poison from coming”, and then “provide the resources that the border agents need” and “make sure that fentanyl anytime anybody who wants to move it, you can prosecute him for the death penalty”.
However, legislation passed by the House of Representatives would also need to be supported in the Senate and could potentially be vetoed by the president.
Mr McCarthy also indicated that Republicans, if they secured a majority in the House, would seek spending cuts in return for any deal on raising the US government’s debt ceiling.
