Dems take House control; GOP will keep U.S. Senate
Democratic challengers unseated Republicans in 23 House races with wins in suburban districts in New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia, and its candidates are leading in several others, moving the party to its long-sought goal of recapturing control of the House.
Republicans, however, will retain control of the U.S. Senate — and may even increase their majority, after winning closely fought races in Indiana, North Dakota, Tennessee and Texas.
In Florida, Rep. Ron DeSantis — a back-bench Republican House member who had based his campaign around his loyalty to President Donald Trump — defeated Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, a Democrat, in the race for governor. Most recent polls had shown Gillum ahead. In his concession speech, Gillum said, “I sincerely regret that I couldn’t bring it home for you, but I can guarantee you this: I’m not going anywhere,” according to media reports. In
Kansas, by contrast, Republican Kris Kobach — an advocate for tighter immigration laws who also tied himself to Trump — was defeated by Democrat Laura Kelly.
Democrats won races in several Republican-held House districts, in states from Florida to Kansas. That moved them closer to taking the House majority for the first time since 2011, when the Tea Party wave swamped Democrats in President Barack Obama’s first midterm elections.
In victory, Democrats re- gained some of the confidence — although less of the power — they lost in 2016, when Trump won a surprise victory over Hillary Clinton.
In this election, they sought to energize groups that Clinton did not: young voters, Latinos, African-Americans and infrequent voters.
They were helped by an inadvertent spokesman: Trump himself. The first two chaotic years of his administration — marked by staff turnover, a torrent of falsehoods and insults toward immigrants, U.S. allies and the news media — unified a Democratic Party that had fractured between center and left. The result was a huge increase in turnout, in part from voters who had never voted before.
By winning the House, Democrats will gain a powerful new pedestal to investigate Trump’s administration, his personal finances and the hotels, golf courses and other businesses he owns.
They also are likely to press for details about the 2016 election, asking whether Trump or his campaign colluded with the Russian government’s efforts to sow misinformation and proTrump messages.
But even in victory Democrats saw the limits of their coalition — as Republicans snuffed out Democrats’ hopes of winning the Senate. Indeed, the GOP seemed likely to increase its majority by holding on to key seats in Texas and Tennessee and winning Democrat-held seats in North Dakota and Indiana.
So Democrats got the House but did not get what they’d hoped for: a full rejection of Trump, who has governed with an unusual, chaotic style.
At about 10 p.m. Eastern time, Democrats had won Republican-held seats in Florida, Virginia, Kansas, Pennsylvania, Colorado, New York and Minnesota.
In the races for the Senate, Republicans have taken a key seat in Indiana held by Sen. Joe Donnelly, a Republican. They also kept a seat in Texas, as Sen. Ted Cruz defeated challenger Beto O’Rourke, and held onto the seat in Tennessee held by retiring Sen. Bob Corker.