DAYTON, Ohio – Former president Donald Trump said he would be making a “very big announcement” next week at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, his strongest indication yet that he will mount a widely anticipated third White House bid.

“I’m going to be making a very big announcement on Tuesday, Nov 15, at Mar-a-Lago,” Mr Trump said at a rally for Republican US Senate candidate JD Vance in Dayton, Ohio.

Mr Trump declined to elaborate, saying he did not want to “detract from tomorrow’s very important, even critical election”.

On Tuesday, Americans will cast their vote in elections that could result in Republicans winning control of one or both chambers of Congress. 

Non-partisan election forecasters predict Republicans are likely to pick up roughly 25 seats in the 435-seat House of Representatives, more than enough to win a majority. Analysts say Republicans could also pick up the one seat they need to win control of the Senate. 

The suggestion from Mr Trump that he would make a second run for the White House came after a speech in which he blasted President Joe Biden and said the United States was a “nation in decline” under his leadership.

“We are a nation that is no longer respected or listened to anywhere around the world. We are a nation that, in many ways, has become a joke,” he said.

Earlier on Monday, Mr Biden warned that a Republican victory could weaken the country’s democratic institutions. 

“Today we face an inflection point. We know in our bones that our democracy’s at risk, and we know that this is your moment to defend it,” he told a crowd at Bowie State University, a historically Black college outside Washington. BLOOMBERG, REUTERS