Democrats defy predictions to retain grip on Senate
Democrats held onto control of the US Senate while limiting projected losses in the House, handing a major victory to President Joe Biden and extinguishing hopes of the “red wave” that Republicans had expected leading into the midterm elections.
Democratic leaders described the outcome — sealed late Saturday with a win for the incumbent senator in Nevada — as both a vindication of their agenda and a rebuke of Republican candidates, many of whom had parroted former president Donald Trump’s false claims about widespread election fraud.
“We were on the edge of autocracy and, thank God, the American people pulled us back in this election,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said at a news conference yesterday.
The better-than-expected performance gave Biden, who struggled with low approval ratings ahead of Tuesday’s elections amid persistently high inflation, a political lift ahead of what are expected to be intense talks on a range of geopolitical issues with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping today in Indonesia.
Republicans, however, remained close to seizing control of the House of Representatives as officials continued counting ballots, with returns still flowing in for several races, including many in liberal-leaning California.
As of late on Saturday, Republicans had won 211 seats and the Democrats 205, with 218 needed for a majority. It could take several days before the outcome of enough House races is known to determine which party will control the 435-seat chamber.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 82, told ABC News and CNN that she would not make any announcements about whether she planned to remain in House leadership until after control of the chamber was decided.
There had been speculation she would resign if Democrats lost the majority, especially after her husband was attacked by an intruder at their San Francisco home last month.
House Republicans, should they prevail, have pledged to try to roll back Biden-led legislation to battle climate change and want to make permanent a series of 2017 tax cuts set to expire. They also have vowed investigations into Biden administration activities and probes of the president’s son, who has had business dealings with Ukraine and China.
Jim Banks, a Republican congressman from Indiana, said yesterday that he expected his party to win a slim majority in the House and serve as “the last line of defence to block the Biden agenda,” while launching investigations into the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the origin of Covid and pandemic lockdowns.
“That has to be a focal point of every single committee in the Congress, especially in the House under Republican control,” Banks said in an interview on Fox News Sunday.
The Democrats will control the Senate, as they have for the past two years, with 50 of its 100 seats, by virtue of Vice-President Kamala Harris holding the tie-breaking vote.
Their majority was clinched by Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, who narrowly defeated Republican Adam Laxalt.
“When the national pundits said I couldn’t win, I knew Nevada would prove them wrong,” Cortez Masto said in a victory speech yesterday morning.
For the Senate, attention will now shift to Georgia, where Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker face off in a runoff on December 6. If Warnock were to win, the Democrats’ 5149 majority would give them an additional edge in passing the few bills that are able to advance with a simple majority, instead of the 60 needed for most legislation.