Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1483500
15 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 6 NOVEMBER 2022 NEWS AMERICANS will be heading to the polls on November 8, and MaltaToday will be there to cov- er the action as it plays out. MaltaToday will be travelling from Arizona to North Caroli- na to cover this year's midterm elections, which will see Amer- icans electing members of Con- gress in the Senate and House of Representatives. We are already in the States to catch up on the key issues dominating the election, and we will be here until November 10 to cover the election-day action and give a post-election analysis. MaltaToday will be speaking with American academics, pol- iticians and voters to get a feel for the factors impacting this election. These range from im- migration policy in the southern states, to abortion in a post-'Roe v Wade' America. Phoenix is the first port of call on our trip. Arizona is a "swing" state, leaning neither towards the Republican or Democratic party. While it voted Republi- can in almost all presidential elections since 1948, it has more recently contributed to Biden's presidential victory in 2020. Ari- zona went on to vote for a Dem- ocratic senator in the 2020 elec- tion. Incumbent senator Mark Kelly is vying to retain his seat, while Republican Blake Masters and Libertarian Marc Victor have their eyes set on either of the two Arizona Senate seats. There are a further nine seats up for grabs in the House appor- tioned to Arizona. After Phoenix we will move to North Carolina to experience election day fever on the Eastern coast. Like Arizona, North Car- olina spent years voting Republi- can until it became a purple state in 1984. Former president Oba- ma beat John McCain in 2008 by a narrow 14,000 votes, marking the second-closest contest in that year's presidential election. The 2012 election was a similar situation, with Obama losing to Mitt Romney by just 2%. There are 13 House seats to be filled in North Carolina, while only one of the state's two Senate seats are open for election. What are the midterm elec- tions? Midterm elections take place two years into the president's term. In fact, they are often dubbed a 'referendum' on the president's performance mid- way through their term. But the election outcome isn't without consequence for the sitting pres- ident. In the midterm elections, the American public can vote for several local and state officials, including Congressional mem- bers. The United States Congress is bicameral, composed of a House of Representatives and a Senate. All seats in the House are up for grabs, while one-third of the 100 Senate seats are at stake. Congress is America's main legislative body, while the Pres- ident serves as the executive branch of government. As things stand, the Democrats hold a majority in Congress, making it easier for President Biden to continue his political agenda and pass the laws needed to do so. If the Republican Party secures a majority in Congress in these elections – which is not an un- likely outcome – Biden will have a more difficult time trying to align his agenda with that of a Republican-controlled Con- gress. This year's midterm elections are particularly interesting to look out for given the political backdrop it's set against. This is the first election since the January 6 Capitol riots and the overruling of Roe v Wade which established abortion as a human right in America. Immigration and border control issues are as dominant as they were when Trump was first elected into of- fice. nmeilak@mediatoday.com.mt MaltaToday in the USA The midterms explained Republican candidate for senate in Arizona, Blake Masters, and incumbent Mark Kelly (right) people – or "mules" – are paid to flood drop boxes across the country with fraudulent bal- lots, and naturally dispute the 2020 election result, claiming a coordinated effort by 2,000 mules to stuff the ballot box, which now they seek to "pre- vent". Election advertising is par- ticularly intense here. There are no journalists on bill- boards (indeed, there are few billboards along highways to begin with), but advertise- ments on television and social media are dominated by cam- paign spots. "Blake Masters (Republican candidate for Arizona) wants a ban on abortion, even in cases of rape and incest!" – one ad- vert for incumbent Mark Kelly exclaims in a bid to stoke mild pro-choice sentiment among viewers. Another advert by a conservative political action committee (or PAC) kicks off with something along the lines of: "You worked hard for your share of the American dream, but Joe Biden is chipping it away." Politics happens in the me- dia space as much as it hap- pens on the ground. It's in TV spots, YouTube advertising, pieces of cardboard along the roadside. You don't see pol- iticians knocking on doors, but you see them speaking to crowds at rallies. Sybill Francis, President and CEO of the Centre for the Future of Arizona, hinted at this slightly during her brief- ing. "Elections have a certain 'incentive structure'," she ex- plained. While candidates will speak out on topics that mat- ter to their voter base, these topics might not be the same issues that the general public cares about. Most issues on candidates' agendas are polit- ically controversial and inter- esting to only a small group of people. "We're not nearly as polarised as some of our politicians are," she says, even though it becomes more natu- ral for people to pay attention to the more dramatic issues, making them seem more im- portant than they actually are. Later in the evening, I switch on the TV in my hotel room to find that Barack Obama had been at a campaign rally in Phoenix a day earlier. In his speech, he said Republicans wanted an economy that's good for the people on top, not necessarily for ordinary people. "Like you, Obama!" a heckler shouts back at him. Eventually removed from the rally, he called out Katie Hobbs, who's running for gov- ernor in Arizona, for "discrim- inating against black people". It's an intensification of po- litical rhetoric in America that doesn't feel like a sudden deg- radation in the American way of doing politics. But it does feel like the logical conclusion to politics through spectacle. Nicole Meilak was invited to the United States on a mid- terms elections tour for jour- nalists by the Embassy of the United States to Malta It's an intensification of political rhetoric in America that doesn't feel like a sudden degradation in the American way of doing politics. But it does feel like the logical conclusion to politics through spectacle