An important choice for US Republicans
Donald Trump did not stand for office in Tuesday’s US midterm elections but he dominated the campaign. The former president was using the contests as a platform for an expected announcement next week that he will run for another term in the White House. However, things have not quite gone to plan.
Expectations that the Republicans would easily win control of both Houses of Congress were confounded when the Democrats put up a fight to retain a majority in the Senate, a result that still hangs in the balance.
For President Biden, the likely loss of the House means his last two years in the Oval Office will be largely ineffectual given the difficulties of securing any meaningful reform. Worse for Mr Trump, however, was that the states in which he staged rallies, and where the Republicans were represented by candidates he endorsed, appeared to reject his populist appeal.
By contrast, his likely rival for the Republican presidential nomination, Ron Desantis, pulled off a remarkable victory in Florida, where he was returned as governor with a substantially increased vote. While his margin over the Democrats was 20 points, Mr Trump’s was just 3 per cent over Joe Biden in the presidential election two years ago. Mr Desantis, 44, has turned the state from a swing marginal into a Republican stronghold.
The former president evidently sees the threat from his younger adversary, threatening to expose “things about him that won’t be very flattering”, and giving him the nickname “Desanctimonious”.
Mr Trump’s biggest stumble came in Pennsylvania, where the candidate he endorsed for the Senate, celebrity TV doctor Mehmet Oz, lost the seat to the Democrats. His pick for state governor also lost by a wide margin.
While it is still anticipated that Mr Trump will announce his presidential candidacy next week, the midterm results might yet give him pause for thought. When he first sought the nomination back in 2015 he was the political newcomer able to wrongfoot his rivals, but this time he is a former incumbent with a track record that will come under intense scrutiny, not least his unwillingness to accept the result of the last election.
The Republicans may yet decide that Mr Desantis is a far better bet to wrest back the White House, but he may have to fight tooth and nail against the most ruthless of opponents for the opportunity.