Democrats retained control of the US Senate on Saturday, beating off Republican efforts to retake the chamber and making it harder for them to thwart President Joe Biden’s agenda. The fate of the House was still uncertain as the GOP struggled to muster a slim majority there.
Senator Catherine Cortez Masto’s victory in Nevada gave Democrats the 50 seats they needed to retain the Senate. Her victory reflects the surprising strength of the US Democrats this election year. Seeking re-election in an economically troubled state that has some of the highest gas prices in the country, Cortez Masto was seen as the most vulnerable member of the Senate, adding to the frustration of Republicans confident she could be defeated.
“We’ve accomplished a lot and we will do a lot more for the American people,” said Chuck Schumer, Senate Majority Leader, on Saturday night. “The American people have rejected – firmly rejected – the anti-democratic, authoritarian, evil and divisive direction that MAGA Republicans wanted to take for our country.”
With the results now decided in Nevada, Georgia is the only US state where both parties are still fighting for a seat in the Senate. Incumbent Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock will face GOP challenger Herschel Walker in a runoff vote Dec. 6. Alaska’s Senate nomination has advanced to the nominated list, though the seat will remain in Republican hands.
Democratic control of the Senate ensures a smoother process for Biden’s cabinet appointments and judge selections, including those for potential Supreme Court openings. The party will also retain control of committees and have the power to investigate or oversee the Biden administration, and will be able to reject legislation passed by the House of Representatives if the GOP wins that chamber.
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In Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Biden told the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit on the election results: “I feel good. I look forward to the years to come.”
He said winning a 51st seat from the Georgia runoff would be important and would allow Democrats to boost their standing on Senate committees.
“It’s just better,” Biden said. “The bigger the number, the better.”
U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, left, reacts next to Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak during an election night party hosted by the Nevada Democratic Party November 8, 2022 in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Biden, who called to congratulate Cortez Masto, said he still hopes Democrats can hold the House.
“It’s a stretch,” he admitted. “Everything must fall in our direction.”
If Democrats manage to secure a victory in the House of Representatives, it would mean full control of Congress for Democrats — and another chance to advance Biden’s priorities, which he has said about codifying abortion rights. The party still lacks the 60 votes in the Senate needed to push many important legislative changes forward.
The fight in the Senate had started from a handful of hard-fought seats. Both parties spent tens of millions of dollars in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada and Georgia, the key battlegrounds where Democrats had hoped Republicans’ decision to nominate untested candidates — many backed by former US President Donald Trump — would hurt them would help weather national headwinds.
The Democrats scored a major victory in Pennsylvania, where Lt. gov. John Fetterman the famous heart surgeon Dr. Defeated Mehmet Oz, who was backed by Trump, to take a seat currently held by a Republican. Arizona Senator Mark Kelly won re-election by about 5 percentage points.
Nevada, a tightly divided swing state, is one of the most racially diverse in the country, a working-class state whose residents have been particularly hard hit by inflation and other economic turmoil. According to AP VoteCast, a poll of 2,100 state voters, about three-quarters of Nevada voters said the country was going in the wrong direction, and about half named the economy the country’s top concern.
Heading into the midterms, Republicans have remained relentlessly focused on the economy, a top concern for many voters amid persistent inflation and high gas and food prices. The GOP also hit Democrats over crime, a message that sometimes exaggerated the threat but still inspired fear, particularly among suburban voters who turned away from the party in 2018 and 2020. And they highlighted illegal border crossings and accused Biden and other Democrats of failing to protect the country.
But Democrats were buoyed by voters furious at the US Supreme Court’s June decision repealing the constitutional right to abortion. They also portrayed Republicans as too extreme and a threat to democracy after the January 6, 2021 riot in the US Capitol and Trump’s false claims – repeated by many GOP candidates – that the 2020 election had been stolen from him .
U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer speaks to supporters after winning re-election during the election night party for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul November 8, 2022 in New York. (AP/Maria Altaffer)
Schumer said the Democratic candidates’ pledges to defend abortion rights resonated with voters. He said the election results gave him a good feeling about the country and its commitment to democracy.
“We knew that the negativity, the malice, the condoning of Donald Trump’s big lie — and saying that the election was rigged when there was absolutely no evidence of it — would hurt Republicans, not help them,” Schumer said. “But too many of them and their candidates have fallen into these traps.”
Citing Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan, Schumer said voters rejected “extremist MAGA Republicans.”
Nationally, VoteCast showed that 7 out of 10 voters said the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade was a major factor in their halftime decisions. It also showed that the reversal was largely unpopular. And about 6 in 10 say they support legislation that would guarantee access to legal abortion nationwide.
Half of voters said inflation had a significant impact on their vote, while 44 percent said the future of democracy was their most important consideration.
Beyond Congress, Democrats won key gubernatorial races in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania — battlegrounds vital to Biden’s 2020 win over Trump. Republicans, however, held gubernatorial mansions in Florida, Texas and Georgia — another battleground state Biden narrowly won two years ago.
Though the midterm elections didn’t deliver a Republican romp, Trump remains a major factor in the national party and plans to announce his third run for the presidency on Tuesday at his Mar-a-Lago, Florida estate — and with it a possible rematch for the White House prepare Biden.
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