Democrats win control of US House
Democrats won the battle for control of the US House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm elections on Tuesday, while Republicans expanded their majority in the Senate.
The result is a divided Congress that analysts say may present a profound challenge to US President Donald Trump.
Democrats needed to take 23 Republican-held seats to retake control of the House. By press time, they had taken 26, with around 20 seats still undetermined. The result will be resumption of Democratic control of the House in January for the first time since 2011. Congressional power will be split with the GOP-led Senate.
The result, widely anticipated in polls before the election, gave both parties reasons to celebrate. Trump tweeted that the election was a “tremendous success”, while the leader of House Democrats, Nancy Pelosi, pledged to exercise “checks and balances” on the Trump administration.
Kent Calder, director of the Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, said the result will have “significant political consequences”.
“Because Congress has investigative power and subpoena power, I think the level of criticism, the level of publicity about President Trump, will probably intensify,” Calder said, adding that Wednesday was just the beginning of a political battle that will culminate in 2020.
The United States will be more preoccupied with domestic political struggles in the next two years, Calder said.
Jin Canrong, a professor and associate dean at the School of International Studies, Renmin University of China, said given that the midterms often are
viewed as a referendum on the sitting administration’s politics and policies, the result of the elections will likely foreshadow the trajectory of US politics for the next two years.
He said a divided and highly polarized Congress likely would pose many obstacles for Trump, as Democrats could challenge Republicans’ domestic policies, including slowing or stopping the repeal of Obama-era healthcare programs, slowing some of Trump’s immigration policies and slowing or reversing the push against environmental regulations.
But Jin said the result is not likely to have much of an impact on US foreign policy.
On Wednesday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said that the elections are a US domestic affair and the results will not change China’s view on bilateral ties.
In light of the importance of Sino-US relations, it is the common wish of farsighted people from the US to maintain a healthy and stable development of the relationship, Hua said at a daily news briefing. That relationship benefits the peace, stability and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region as well as the world, she added.
Hua said China is ready to work with the US to handle differences properly, promote cooperation on the basis of mutual benefit and push forward the development of bilateral ties in the right direction.
According to an Associated Press report, at least 40 million US citizens voted early, either by mail or in person, breaking early voting records across 37 states. Healthcare and immigration were high on voters’ minds, the report said.