The Republicans, who expected a “red wave”, will have to settle for reaching a narrow majority in the lower house of Congress, something that they have not yet achieved but that could happen. On the sidewalk in front Joe Biden’s Democrats exceeded expectations in a highly polarized country.
It was a disappointing night for Donald Trumpwho had a spectacular result that would boost a possible candidacy to reconquer the White House in 2024, after promising that on November 15 “he will make a big announcement.”
Not only that, but he witnessed the tremendous triumph of Ron DeSantis, the big winner of these elections, who will continue to be governor of Florida but could become the main rival for the presidential nomination of the Republican Party.
DeSantis, 44, who has criticized restrictions imposed to curb Covid-19 and transgender rights, won by nearly 20 points in what used to be a swing state. “I’ve only just begun to fight,” he warned, to cheers.
In these mid-term elections, which often slap the ruling party in the face, the entire House of Representatives and a third of the Senate seats are renewed, in addition to numerous governorships and local positions.
As expected, the duel for control of the Senate is relentless. With three seats still up for grabs leans Democratic but could hinge on a December runoff in Georgiasince none of the candidates exceeded 50% of the votes in this southern state.
To sanction Biden, Republicans needed just one more seat to wrest control of the evenly divided Senate.
But for now the only one that changed hands was for the Democrats, with John Fetterman, a great defender of progressive economic policies, who prevailed in Pennsylvania over the mediatic doctor Mehmet Oz, backed by Trump.
Senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, one of Trump’s main allies, did not beat around the bush and acknowledged that the elections have not been “a Republican wave, that’s for sure.”
The lower house, with a red majority?
But the lower house is another story. Although the Republicans had a red wave, with a difference of 10, 25 or even 35 seats, and have had to content themselves with a handful, they seem on track to regain a majority in this 435-member chamber for the first time since 2018.
The Republican leader Kevin McCarty, who was one of the optimists and came to predict 60 more seats, put a good face on bad weather. “It is clear that we are going to take back the Chamber,” he said.
In a tense electoral morning, more than 100 Republicans who propagate, without evidence, that the 2020 presidential elections, which Biden won, were a robbery, won some of the positions at stake.
But some candidates Trump backed clearly had a bitter night “and cost the party the opportunity to win seats they should have won,” Jon Rogowski, a political science professor at the University of Chicago, told AFP.
“Voters not only rejected many of Trump’s candidates, but also his policies,” says Rogowski, citing abortion, for example.
In referendums held in five states, voters supported abortion rights, rejecting a ruling by the conservative-dominated Supreme Court that left it up to local authorities to decide whether or not to allow it. The case of Kentucky, very conservative and largely Republican, draws attention.
Joe Biden
Courtesy: @WhiteHouse
The Democrats with the most air
The Democratic field is elated. “Never underestimate, how much the Biden team is underestimated,” White House chief of staff Ronald Klain tweeted.
And that a Republican-controlled lower house, however narrowly, could derail Biden’s agenda, opening investigations, thwarting his ambitions on climate change and calling into question the billions of US dollars to help Ukraine fight back. against Russia.
But given that the ruling party routinely loses in midterm elections, considered a referendum, and that Biden’s popularity ratings hit rock bottom, pundits had predicted a drubbing. Especially with the aggressive campaign of the Republicans who blame high inflation and crime.
And a beating would have raised questions about whether the oldest president in US history, who turns 80 this month, should run for re-election, as he says he intends to do.
The reality is another. Biden has fared much better than any of his Democratic predecessors, Barack Obama or Bill Clinton, in this election.
Two seats are enough for him to maintain control of the Senate, the same seats that Republicans need to tilt this chamber, with great power, in their favor.
The political divisions in the United States have been a fact since before the 2020 presidential elections but have worsened since then in a climate of extreme tension, with accusations between both camps.
Election day has not been spared from this rarefied climate.
Trump, under investigation for his handling of secret White House documents and for trying to nullify the 2020 election, has spread accusations of fraud.
He stated that there were irregularities in Arizona, due to problems with the voting machines. Maricopa officials acknowledged that about 20% of the 223 polling places experienced difficulties, but say no one was denied the right to vote.
Source: Ambito
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