As Republicans and Democrats were making their final pitch to voters on the eve of Election Day, President Donald Trump opted to forgo the campaign trail and instead focused on his renovations at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, drawing attention to an expensive, problem-plagued repair job in a place far away from most of the people his party wants to persuade.
It was an unusual closing argument for Republicans to keep control of Congress. But it conforms with the way the president has devoted considerable time, attention and money in his second term on beautifying his Washington surroundings.
Trump, wearing a white “USA” hat, even seemed to admit that he had spent much of his time focused on improving the capital city.
“We have a lot of great things planned for Washington, and I could get into the nation, but for that, you don’t have enough time," Trump said.
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Instead of focusing on issues voters have said they're worried about, Trump dedicated a large portion of his remarks to his D.C. makeover and the pool, announcing its official re-opening, joking that he wanted to name it after himself, and repeating his false claims that the repair work he ordered was vandalized.
After he finished his remarks on Monday, Trump stood silently as triumphant music played and held up a poster with an image of the previously algae-clogged pool. It was his last public appearance before Election Day.
Democrats, for their part, were spending the last 24 hours before Election Day making their case in areas where Republicans have long dominated, while trying to contain the fallout from a messy intraparty split in Michigan. Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed was brushing aside concerns that his prospects could be hurt after his former primary opponent threw her support behind his Republican opponent Mike Rogers.
In addition to giving the speech on Monday afternoon, Trump was also scheduled to participate in nine telerallies for Republicans, where he uses brief remarks on a mass phone call to plead for voters' support.
Vice President JD Vance, meanwhile, hit the campaign trail with more traditional stops in New York and Ohio, where Republicans were fighting for House and Senate seats.
