GOP close to taking House
Control of the Senate may ride on runoff for seat in Georgia
WASHINGTON — Republicans were closing in Wednesday on a narrow House majority while control of the Senate hinged on a series of tight races in a midterm election that defied expectations of sweeping conservative victories driven by frustration over inflation and President Joe Biden’s leadership.
Either party could secure a Senate majority with wins in both Nevada and
Arizona — where the races were too early to call. But there was a strong possibility that, for the second time in two years, the Senate majority could come down to a runoff in Georgia next month, with
Democratic Sen.
Raphael Warnock and Republican
Herschel Walker each failing to win outright.
In the House,
Democrats kept seats in districts from Virginia to
Pennsylvania to
Kansas, while many in states like New
York and California had not been called.
But Republicans notched several important victories in their bid to get to the 218 seats needed to reclaim the House majority. In a particularly symbolic victory, the GOP toppled House Democratic campaign chief Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York.
An undecided race being watched nationally was GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert’s surprisingly tight contest against Democratic challenger Adam Frisch in Colorado’s sprawling 3rd Congressional District. Boebert, a Donald Trump loyalist and partisan flashpoint in Washington, had been favored to win a second term after redrawing the map made the mostly rural conservative district more Republican.
Control of Congress will be a key factor in determining the future of Biden’s agenda and serve as a referendum on his administration as the nation reels from record-high inflation and concerns over the direction of the country. A Republican House majority would likely trigger a spate of investigations into Biden and his family, while a GOP Senate takeover would hobble the president’s ability to
make judicial appointments.
“Regardless of what the final tally of these elections show, and there’s still some counting going on, I’m prepared to work with my Republican colleagues,” Biden said Wednesday, in his first public remarks since the polls closed. He nevertheless claimed vindication, saying Democrats had “a strong night.”
“The American people have made clear, I think, that they expect Republicans to be prepared to work with me as well.”
Even so, Biden expressed little interest in changing course on his agenda, saying: “I’m not going to change anything in any fundamental way.”
Democrats saw candidates who prioritized protecting abortion rights, after this summer’s Supreme Court decision overturning the Roe v. Wade court decision, perform well. The party won governors’ races in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania — battlegrounds critical to Biden’s 2020 win over Trump. But Republicans held on to governors’ mansions in Florida, Texas and Georgia, another battleground state Biden narrowly won two years ago.
Even if the GOP ultimately wins the House, it won’t be by a margin as large as during other midterm cycles.
Democrats gained a net of 41 House seats under Trump in 2018, President Barack Obama saw the GOP gain 63 in 2010 and Republicans gained 54 seats in 1994, during the Bill Clinton administration.
A small majority in the House would pose a great challenge for the GOP and especially California Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who is in line to be House speaker and would have little room for error in navigating a chamber of members eager to leverage their votes to advance their own agendas.
“Earning the majority is only the beginning,” McCarthy wrote Wednesday in a letter to colleagues asking for their support
to become speaker ahead of an internal party vote scheduled for next week.
“Now we will be measured by what we do with our majority,” McCarthy said. “Now the real work begins.”
In Pennsylvania, Democrats won the governorship and Senate in the battleground state. Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who had a stroke in May, flipped a Republican-controlled Senate seat, topping Dr. Mehmet Oz, a Trump-endorsed Republican.
In the governor’s race, Democratic Attorney General Josh Shapiro beat Republican Doug Mastriano, an election denier who some feared would not certify a Democratic presidential win in the state in 2024.
Both Republicans and Democratic incumbents kept key Senate seats. In Wisconsin, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson prevailed over Democratic Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, while in New Hampshire, Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan beat Don Bolduc, a retired
Army general who had initially promoted Trump’s lies about the 2020 election but tried to shift away from those views closer to Election Day.
AP VoteCast, a broad survey of the national electorate, showed that high inflation and concerns about the fragility of democracy were heavily influencing voters. Half of voters said inflation factored significantly. Slightly fewer — 44% — said the future of democracy was their main consideration.