WASHINGTON — Their grip on the Senate majority slipping, Democrats aggressively courted female voters Saturday on the final weekend of a midterm campaign that will decide the balance of power in Congress in President Barack Obama’s final years in office.
At the same time, some Republicans offered a softer tone as party leaders began to outline plans for a GOP-controlled Congress even with polls suggesting more than a half-dozen Senate contests are deadlocked.
“We want to engage members from both parties in the legislative process, to get our democracy working again the way it was designed,” said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who would ascend to majority leader if he holds his seat and his party gains six more.
Plagued by poor poll numbers, Obama has avoided the most competitive elections, but he used his last radio and Internet address before Tuesday’s election to seek support from women, who are expected to play a pivotal role in races from New Hampshire to Iowa.
“When women succeed, America succeeds,” Obama said. “And we should be choosing policies that benefit women — because that benefits all of us.”
Obama made a similar pitch Saturday night in Detroit while appearing at a rally for the Democratic candidates for the Senate, Gary Peters, and governor, Mark Schauer. The rare Senate candidate who has asked Obama to campaign with him, Peters also has a comfortable lead in polls.
The election three days away will decide control of the Senate, the House and 36 governors’ seats.
Republicans appear certain of at least three new seats in the Senate — in West Virginia, Montana and South Dakota. There are nine other competitive races, including six for seats in Democratic hands.
The head of the Democratic National Committee, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, said she was optimistic despite polls showing her party struggling to maintain the status quo.
Her GOP counterpart, Reince Priebus, was campaigning with Gov. Scott Walker, R-Wis., and pointed to increasing signs that Republicans will have a good election night.
