ĐNA - On October 15, 2026, Germany’s Junge Welt published journalist Lars Pieck’s article “United States—Campaigning at Any Cost,” highlighting concerns within President Donald Trump’s administration over unfavorable midterm election forecasts while also addressing the harassment of Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
The US political climate is growing increasingly tense as the midterm elections approach. On November 3, all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and about one-third of the Senate’s seats will be contested. The election is seen as a test for the incumbent administration, at a time when the opposition party traditionally has an opportunity to make gains. Declining approval ratings are putting pressure on President Donald Trump. Against this backdrop, he and his allies are stepping up efforts to influence the election outcome in favor of the Republican Party.
In the latest development, federal agents searched the home of Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar on Monday. With her liberal political views and Somali background, she has long been a target of Trump’s attacks. For years, Republican politicians and public figures have spread conspiracy theories about her, including allegations that she is not a lawful US citizen. The search sparked controversy because it ran counter to the US Department of Justice’s longstanding practice of limiting overt investigations targeting candidates in the run-up to elections. On the social media platform X, Omar called it an “effort to target political opponents and weaponize federal law enforcement,” adding: “I will not be silenced.”
Also on Monday, at a Republican campaign event in Ohio, a woman wearing a T-shirt bearing the words “Release the Epstein files now” was seriously assaulted and dragged away from an area near President Trump. According to the article, the incident occurred while Trump was present at the event and was described as smirking. Amid declining approval ratings, the president is seeking to strengthen his political standing through various measures. Several taxpayer-funded campaign advertisements were recently aired, although a court ordered them suspended this week. The move attracted attention because the Republican Party continues to receive substantial political funding. Billionaire Elon Musk also remains a key figure in the party’s fundraising efforts. After disagreements with Trump early in the president’s second term, the Tesla CEO is said to have quietly returned to supporting him. With more than USD 276 million donated over the summer alone, Musk had become the largest known donor to the midterm elections by the time the article was published.
According to Sunday’s edition of The New York Times, most of Musk’s donations were directed toward efforts to help Republicans retain their Senate majority. He contributed a total of USD 158 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, the principal campaign organization supporting Republican Senate candidates. This was one of the largest political donations in US history and exceeded the total amount received by the Democratic Party’s equivalent organization from all donors during the same quarter.
Alongside its fundraising activities, the Trump administration continues to invoke discredited allegations of election fraud to justify measures restricting access to voting. However, many efforts at the federal level have encountered opposition from the courts. This month, a court ruled that the Justice Department had no legal basis to require states to provide voter registration lists, cross-check the data against immigration databases, and then request the removal of people deemed ineligible to vote. The court specifically noted clear errors in the data. Meanwhile, other restrictive measures, such as tightening mail-in voting rules and expanding voter identification requirements, have been introduced in Republican-led states.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration also refused to allow election observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to attend the midterm elections. If the decision stands, it will mark the first time in more than two decades that no OSCE observers have monitored a US election. Observers typically visit selected polling stations to assess and report on electoral procedures. They do not interfere with voting and have no enforcement powers; authority to grant access to polling places rests with individual states.
Instead, Washington plans to deploy its own observers across all 50 states. Attorney General Todd Blanche described this as standard procedure, but the plan has raised concerns even within the Republican Party. In August, Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon, a Republican, criticized the conduct of two election observers. According to Gordon, they arrived unannounced at a polling station during a primary election earlier in the year and attempted to inspect voting machines in a manner he considered overly aggressive.
Developments ahead of the midterm elections show that political competition in the United States is becoming increasingly intense, with campaign finance, law enforcement and access to voting emerging as focal points of controversy. As President Donald Trump’s approval ratings decline, efforts by the administration and its allies to preserve the Republican Party’s advantage are facing both political and legal opposition. The November 3 election is therefore not only a test for the incumbent administration, but also raises questions about transparency, fairness and public confidence in the US democratic process.
Hồ Ngọc Thắng/Source: https://www.jungewelt.de/artikel/531563.vereinigte-staaten-wahlkampf-mit-allen-mitteln.html