While Candidates Made Final Appeals, Trump Tried to Steal the Spotlight

In the last full day of campaigning, Republican and Democratic candidates made their final appeals to voters before one of the most consequential and unpredictable midterm campaigns drew to a close.

Republican candidates stuck to their central themes of inflation, crime and immigration, tapping into mounting voter concerns over issues around daily life. Democrats also nodded to rising prices, insisting theirs was the party trying to do something about inflation, but they also cast the election as a fundamental choice over the rights of women and the fate of democracy itself.

While Tuesday’s election will shape the rest of President Biden’s term, it was former President Donald J. Trump who tried to steal the spotlight on Monday night, teasing his expected announcement of a third presidential run at an Ohio rally to support the Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance.

Here’s what else happened on Monday:

• Mr. Biden was in Columbia, Md., to support Wes Moore, the state’s Democratic nominee for governor. Mr. Moore held an edge over his Republican opponent, Dan Cox, according to recent polls.

• Lt. Gov John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, a Democrat running for Senate, held a rally in Pittsburgh that focused on turning out his base. His opponent, Dr. Mehmet Oz, campaigned on the other side of the state in Pennsburg, Pa., with Nikki Haley, a former South Carolina governor, making a pitch to swing voters.

• Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia, at an event in Macon, said Ms. Haley had used “ugly and divisive language” a day earlier when she said he should be deported at a rally with Herschel Walker, Mr. Warnock’s Republican opponent.

• Pete Buttigieg, the transportation secretary and a former Democratic presidential candidate, urged Democratic canvassers in Las Vegas to talk about abortion and the economy.

• New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and her Republican challenger, Representative Lee M. Zeldin, made last-minute appeals to voters across New York City in what has become a surprisingly competitive campaign.