“I think it was a good day for democracy. And I think it was a good day for America,” she said at a White House news conference. “The press and experts predicted a gigantic red wave, but it didn’t happen.”
For his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, it was a disappointing night. He was counting on 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.”
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. Predictably, the duel for control of the Senate was relentless. With three seats still up for grabs, he leans Democratic but could hinge on a runoff in Georgia in December.
To sanction Biden, Republicans needed just one more seat to wrest control of the Senate. But for now the only one that changed hands was for the Democrats, with John Fetterman, a great defender of progressive economic policies.
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of Trump’s main allies, was not beating around the bush, acknowledging that the election has not been “a Republican wave, that’s for sure.” 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.
Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, who was one of the optimists and even predicted 60 more seats, put a good face on bad weather. “It’s clear we’re going to take the Chamber back,” 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,” said Jon Rogowski, a political science professor at the University of Chicago. “Voters not only rejected many of Trump’s candidates, but also his policies,” says Rogowski, citing abortion, for example.
Vote
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, is striking.
“Voters spoke clearly about their concerns,” Biden said. “There are still a lot of people hurt.” “They sent a clear and unequivocal message that they want to preserve our democracy and protect the right to choose in this country,” she opined.
Biden is pleased with the outcome even though a Republican-controlled lower house, however narrowly, could derail his agenda, opening investigations, thwarting his ambitions on climate change and calling into question the billions of US dollars to help Ukraine fight Russia.
But with the ruling party routinely losing in midterm elections and Biden’s popularity ratings hitting rock bottom, pundits had predicted a drubbing. And a beating would have raised questions about whether the oldest president in US history, who turns 80 this month, should stand for re-election. This Wednesday he repeated that he intends to do it but will confirm it “early next year.”
In reality, Biden has fared much better than any of his Democratic predecessors, Barack Obama or Bill Clinton, in this election. The political divisions in the United States have been a fact since before the 2020 presidential elections, but they have worsened in a climate of extreme tension, with accusations between both camps.
Source: Ambito
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