World awaits ‘the most critical midterms in modern US history’ - and Trump’s reaction

There is only one show in town – or more accurately, on the other side of the Atlantic – as US voters head to the polls for the midterm elections.

The contests, in what is still the most powerful country on Earth, will set the stage not only for the next two years of politics in the United States, but also internationally.

A blue wave of Democratic Party victories – as widely predicted – would make life difficult domestically for US president Donald Trump and could see him focus – even more so – on foreign policy, where he would have greater freedom over his last two years in office.

There could be turbulent times ahead.

As our Washington Correspondent Keith Duggan reports in our lead story, today’s elections have been termed the most critical midterm cycle in modern history.

The polls are signalling Republican Senate defeats in strongholds such as Kansas and Texas and a return to Democratic control of both chambers of Congress.

Duggan’s coverage includes a report from Texas where the Senate-seat battle between Democrat James Talarico and Republican Ken Paxton is set to become the most expensive non-presidential political race in US history.

Fuel and living costs, pushed skywards by tariffs and the Iran war, are chief points of public unhappiness and there are broader signs that the Maga movement may be in the early stages of disintegration.

Trump, meanwhile, closed his campaigning by standing at the symbolic Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington and saying: “I’ve kept every single promise I made, except far more.”

He argued: “This is the golden age of United States. We have never done anything like it: when you hear $25 trillion created in two years.”

On the Opinion pages, Fintan O’Toole argues that Trump’s voters made a deal with the devil but he has handed them a get-out clause.

Meanwhile. historian Daniel Geary details five things to look out for in the US midterms, from whether Trump will seek to discredit the results to how the elections set the scene for the presidential primaries.

For the political obsessives among us who will stay up all night to watch the polls close and the results start to trickle in, Hugh Linehan has a rundown of when Irish viewers can expect the key calls.

Meanwhile back at the ranch ...

On home turf, more than 300,000 public sector workers are set to strike for a second time on November 12th and step up their ongoing work-to-rule.

That is the day world leaders are due in Dublin for the meeting of the European Political Community on the eve of a summit being held as part of Ireland’s presidency of the Council of the European Union.

The unions’ chief negotiator, Kevin Callinan, has denied that moving the strike from Wednesday to Thursday of next week was specifically intended to target these events.

Regardless, it ratchets up pressure on the Government.

Emmet Malone and Martin Wall report that the planned strike comes after unions endorsed a decision by negotiators to reject a pay offer worth 7.75 per cent over 2½ years.

At a meeting of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions’ Public Sector Services Committee on Monday, officials from the 15 unions not directly involved in the talks heard detail of the Government’s offer on pay.

Callinan told the media afterwards that the offer fell far short of union expectations.

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Jack Chambers later said it was “extremely regrettable” that the unions had chosen to escalate the dispute, adding that another day of strike action was likely to cause “significant disruption”.

Best Reads

Fine Gael minister Patrick O’Donovan is to temporarily step down from his portfolio but remain at Cabinet as he recovers from a seizure he suffered last month. Jack Horgan-Jones reports.

Fianna Fáil TD Malcolm Byrne, who is accused of drink driving over the summer, has appeared in court and has had a hearing date set. Tom Tuite’s report is here.

Carla Lockhart, a Democratic Unionist Party MP, has quit the party “with immediate effect” over the party’s response to the Drumcree parades dispute. Seanín Graham has the story.

Olivia Kelly reports that the award of a 10-year lease for the operation of the controversial Merrion Square tea rooms has been suspended as concerns mount over the cost of the cafe’s development, which ranges from €6.6 million to €7.5 million.

Playbook

The Cabinet meets this morning. A tee-up story by Jack Horgan-Jones, including how increased sanctions concerning the welfare of dogs in puppy farms are to be a key priority in a new animal welfare strategy, can be found here.

Dáil proceedings begin at 1pm with an opportunity for TDs to raise Topical Issues.

Leaders’ Questions is at 2pm.

Government Business later in the afternoon will feature statements on the Our Rural Future strategy.

A Sinn Féin motion on hospital overcrowding will be debated from 6.14pm.

Minister for Defence Helen McEntee is due to take Parliamentary Questions from 8.14pm.

Legislation on industrial development and broadcasting will be before the Seanad from 3.45pm.

The Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement will hear from Joe McVeigh, the Commissioner for Victims and Survivors in Northern Ireland from 11.15am.

The Committee on Fisheries and Maritime Affairs will conduct pre-legislative scrutiny of the Maritime Area Planning Bill at 11.45am. It will hear from the Seafood Ireland Alliance among others.

The Committee on Housing will be discussing discrepancies in figures relating to home completion data at 3pm. The Central Statistics Office, academic Lorcan Sirr and developers Cairn Homes will be among those in attendance.

The Committee on Budgetary Oversight will look at Budget 2027 and get views from employers group Ibec, the Disability Federation of Ireland and a number of charities.

The full Dáil, Seanad and Committee schedules can be found here.