Republicans made a modest gain in the US midterm elections, while Democrats performed better than expected.
The Georgia Senate election between Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker will go to the runoff on Dec. 6, Edison Research predicts. Unless a challenger in Arizona is thwarted, it could be weeks before control of that House becomes clear.
Edison Research predicts that Republicans will win at least seven seats in the US House of Representatives. That’s two more than would be needed to wrest control of the House from the Democrats, but with 45 races yet to open, the Republican margin could go up or down.
Even with a majority in the House, Democratic President Joe Biden could endorse Republicans during his next two-year term, block legislation, and launch potentially politically damaging investigations. there is.
But it seemed far from the crushing “red wave” victory they were looking for. It’s a crushing midterm election loss that often haunts incumbent presidents of either party.
Guests cheer for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy at an election night party at the Westin Washington Hotel in Washington, D.C. credit: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Imag
The results appeared to show voters punishing Mr. Biden for presiding over a hyperinflation-hit economy while vehemently opposing Republican efforts to ban abortion.
The poor performance of some of the candidates endorsed by Donald Trump, including Walker, shows that they are tired of the kind of chaos fomented by the former Republican president, and in 2024 the White House questioning the possibility of running for
Yvonne Langdon, 75, said Tuesday when she voted for the Republican nominee in Michigan, “I think his ego is too big to handle.
Biden framed Tuesday’s election as a test of American democracy when hundreds of Republican candidates accepted Trump’s false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.
A number of election deniers who backed Trump’s claims were elected president on Tuesday, but fears of violence and other major disruptions by far-right pollsters at polling stations did not materialize.
Democrats win Pennsylvania
Control of the Senate gives Republicans the power to block Biden’s judicial and executive appointments. But in a key Democratic victory, John Fetterman stripped the Republican-held Pennsylvania Senate seat, defeated former celebrity surgeon Mehmet Oz, and thwarted his party’s chances of retaining the Senate. heightened.
The White House has picked up a lighter-than-expected loss. White House Chief of Staff Ron Klein tweeted, “Don’t underestimate how underrated Team Biden is.
But even Democrats were embarrassed when New York Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, chairman of the committee charged with re-election for House Democrats, admitted that he had lost his district. .
If Republicans take control of Congress, they will seek cost cuts in the Social Security and Medicare safety net programs and will have permanent tax cuts enacted in 2017.
But in a key victory for Democrats, John Fetterman (pictured) overturned the US Senate seat held by Republicans in Pennsylvania. sauce: Getty, AFP / Angela Weiss
Republicans can also orchestrate a showdown over the debt ceiling to extract significant spending cuts and cut aid to Ukraine.
Only 26 of the 53 most competitive races had been decided as of Wednesday morning, based on a Reuters analysis of leading independent forecasters, and the final outcome may be unknown for some time. won 20 of 26 elections.
The party that occupies the White House most often loses seats in elections midway through the president’s first four-year term, and Mr. Biden has suffered from low public support.
Rob Jesmer, former head of the Republican Party’s Senate Campaign Division, said, “In a situation like this, we should have done better.
A complicated day for Trump
Trump’s active role in the Republican nomination for Congress has had mixed results.
He won Ohio, and JD Vance, author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” won the Senate seat in the hands of the Republican Party. But Oz lost the Pennsylvania Senate race, and another Trump supporter, Doug Mastriano, easily lost the gubernatorial race.
Trump supporters have also struggled in the Senate elections in Arizona, Georgia and Nevada.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump’s active role in recruiting Republican candidates for Congress has had mixed results. sauce: Getty / Washington Post
Meanwhile, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, who could challenge Trump in 2024, won re-election by nearly 20 percent, Edison predicted.
35 Senate seats, all 435 House seats, and 30 gubernatorial elections were put to the ballot.
The main problem weighing on Democrats has been annual inflation of 8.2%, the highest in 40 years.
Voters in California, Michigan and Vermont approved referendums to enshrine abortion rights in their constitutions. The deeply conservative state of Kentucky seemed poised to reject a constitutional amendment declaring there was no right to abortion.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/republicans-red-wave-hopes-fizzle-but-no-smooth-sailing-for-democrats-as-vote-counting-continues/aaduv87dm US midterm elections: Republican ‘red wave’ hopes to fail