The Latest: Pelosi says elections ‘about health care’
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on Election Day (all times local):
10:50 a.m.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi says the midterm elections are basically a referendum on Republican efforts to scrap Obamacare.
The California Democrat says at a Tuesday morning press conference that the election is “about health care.”
Pelosi credits Democratic politicians and activists across the country with helping to fend off attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act following 2016 election results that left Republicans in control of Congress and the White House.
Pelosi says that after 2016 Democrats “didn’t agonize, we organized.”
She forecasts Democratic victories across the country, but with a small overall margin of victory. Pelosi says that as few as 25,000 votes nationwide could swing the results.
Pelosi has remained noncommittal amid speculation that she would step aside to make way for new leadership, regardless of the election results.
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10:25 a.m.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says he hopes the outcome of the U.S. midterm election will ease domestic tensions in the United States and enable Washington to focus on global issues.
Speaking to reporters in Madrid on Tuesday, Lavrov lamented that Russian-American ties have become “hostage to internal political squabbles in America.”
Lavrov said he is hopeful that the election will help stabilize domestic politics in the U.S. “so that Washington could concentrate on some positive steps on the international arena.”
Lavrov also reiterated Moscow’s position that it is not meddling in U.S. elections.
He said, “All the accusations that we will be meddling in today’s elections turned out to be empty statements.”
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9 a.m.
Severe weather in several Southern states could affect voter turnout on Election Day.
A line of storms moved through the Deep South overnight and early Tuesday morning, knocking down trees and power lines from Louisiana to South Carolina. There were no serious injuries but an estimated 11,000 residents were left without electricity.
A separate storm front in central Tennessee overnight killed one person, injured two others and also left thousands without power.
The National Weather Service warned of a possibility of high winds, severe thunderstorms and possible tornadoes Tuesday around Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and the Mid-Atlantic region.
Dry weather was forecast for the West and Southwest, but significant snow accumulations were expected across the northern Rockies.
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1 a.m.
A turbulent election season that has tested President Donald Trump’s slash-and-burn political style against the strength of the Democratic resistance comes to a close as Americans cast ballots in the first national election of the Trump era.
As voters head to the polls Tuesday, nothing is certain.
Anxious Republicans have privately expressed confidence in their narrow Senate majority but fear the House is slipping away.
Democrats’ very relevance in the Trump era depends on winning at least one chamber of Congress. They remain laser-focused on health care as they predict a nationwide “awakening” that will break up the GOP’s monopoly in Washington and state governments.
The first polls close at 6 p.m. EST.
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For AP’s complete coverage of the U.S. midterm elections: http://apne.ws/APPolitics
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