U.S. HOUSE
Dems push to extend hold for two more years.
WASHINGTON — Republicans ousted their first incumbent Democrat but lost two seats they’d held in North Carolina as Democrats drove Tuesday toward extending their control of the House for two more years.
Freshman Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell became the first incumbent to lose on Election Day, falling to Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez in a South Florida district that President Donald Trump lost decisively in 2016. The race saw the two sides spend over $26 million, making it one of the country’s most expensive, and seemed to reflect Trump’s strength this year among Cuban voters.
Even so, Democrats as expected to capture two North Carolina seats vacated after Republican incumbents retired following a court-ordered remapping made the district more Democratic. And public anxiety over the pandemic, Trump’s alienation of suburban voters and a vast fundraising edge fueled Democratic hopes that they’d not only retain their House majority but make it larger.
In one noteworthy but unsurprising finish, Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has espoused unfounded QAnon conspiracy theories, won a vacant seat in northwest Georgia. Greene, whom Trump has called a “future Republican star,” has alleged an “Islamic invasion” of government offices and expressed other racist views. QAnon asserts that Trump is quietly waging a battle against pedophiles in the federal bureaucracy and Democratic Party. Greene has since backtracked from her embrace of QAnon.
Elsewhere, progressive star Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was reelected from her New York City district. And both parties’ No. 3 House leaders, Democrat James Clyburn of South Carolina and Republican Liz Cheney of Wyoming, won their contests easily.
At the same time, New York’s congressional delegation was also expected to welcome a number of younger progressives to its ranks, including two — Ritchie Torres, a city councilman representing the Bronx, and Mondaire Jones, a Hudson Valley lawyer — who would become the first two openly gay Black members of Congress. Torres would also be the first openly gay Afro-Latino-member of Congress.
The night’s initial returns offered few surprises, with the scores of both parties’ incumbents from safe districts easily reelected. But dozens of hotly fought races remained undecided into the evening.
Republicans were hoping to oust some of the 29 Democrats in districts Trump won in 2016, mostly freshmen, in districts ranging from upstate New York to rural New Mexico.
But nearly all Democratic incumbents in potentially vulnerable districts were outspending their GOP challengers, often by vast margins. Democrats were also aiming millions at Republicanheld seats from suburbs in Georgia, Texas and Indiana and even GOP strongholds like Little Rock, Ark., western Colorado and Alaska.
Both parties’ operatives agreed that the GOP was mostly playing defense and would be fortunate to limit Democratic gains to a modest single digits. Democrats control the House 232-197, with five open seats and one independent. It takes 218 seats to control the chamber.
Hanging over the contests were the coronavirus pandemic and the wounded economy, which voters ranked as top concerns, according to AP VoteCast, a national survey of the electorate. The virus has killed 232,000 people in the U.S. and cases are rising in nearly every state, while millions have lost jobs.
Should Democrat Joe Biden defeat Trump and Democrats win the Senate majority, the party would fully control the White House and Congress for only the second time since 1995. They last held the presidency, Senate and House in 2009 and 2010, the first two years of Barack Obama’s presidency.
A larger Democratic majority would make it easier for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to pass party priorities that include expanding health care coverage and creating jobs with new infrastructure projects.
For Republicans, a failure to move significantly toward retaking the House — let alone losing seats — would trigger a reckoning aboutwhy they remain trapped in the chamber’s minority.