President Joe Biden said Thursday night Democrats still have hope of clinging to the House of Representatives as control is still at stake despite Republican gains.
“It’s still alive,” he told reporters as he left the White House for a major trip to Egypt and on to Asia for a series of important international summits.
“It’s still alive. But it’s like drawing an inner straight line.’
The term poker means holding four of the five cards needed to make a “straight” – a sequence of five cards in numerical order – and hoping the dealer delivers the right card.
Republicans have secured at least 211 seats in the House of Representatives — seven of the 218 needed for control, according to Edison Research projections.
An expected “red wave” failed to materialize, giving the Democrats little chance of maintaining control.
Her prospects look brighter in the Senate, where John Fetterman flipped a Republican-held seat in Pennsylvania and replaced TV doctor Dr. Oz hit.
Speaking to reporters as he left the White House Thursday night, President Joe Biden said Democrats have not given up on holding the House just yet. “But it’s like drawing an inner straight line.”
Republicans have gained ground in the House of Representatives but have not yet reached the 218 seats needed to seize control of the lower house and quash Biden’s legislative agenda
Despite this, Biden called Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy this week.
“I said if you win the majority, congratulations,” Biden told reporters.
He traveled to Egypt and the COP 27 climate summit. He then flies to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, for the Association of South East Asian Nations summit, followed by a G20 summit on the Indonesian island of Bali.
One of the key moments will be in Bali, where he will meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The two have a long history together, but this will be their first meeting as presidents.
And the good half-time results mean that both have boosted their domestic reputations.
The President had framed the election as a test of American democracy at a time when hundreds of Republican candidates were accepting Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
Biden held a rare news conference on Wednesday, hastily convened after Democrats failed to suffer the expected obliteration.
“Here’s what we do know: While the press and pundits are predicting a huge red wave, it hasn’t happened,” he said.
Control of the Senate also hangs in the balance, with Democrats also confident they can hold a slim majority, having already turned Pennsylvania over. Final results will not be known for weeks
A crippling cost of living crisis and Biden’s negative popularity numbers were expected to result in a good night for Republicans. Democratic support was stronger than expected.
This meant Biden could again say he intends to run again in 2024 and celebrate a decent string of results.
“While every seat lost is painful — some good Democrats didn’t win last night — Democrats had a strong night,” he said.
“And we’ve lost fewer House seats than in the first midterm election by a Democratic president in 40 years.”
So far, 398 of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives have been called up, with 209 Republicans versus 189 Democrats. Republicans are still expected to take the upper house, albeit with a narrower majority than hoped.
“You did it Joe! Couldn’t help it,” Harris told a crowd of noisy DNC volunteers at the Howard Theater in Washington, DC, adding her signature laugh
In the Senate, Republicans have 49 seats to Democrats’ 48. Nevada is leaning Republican while Arizona is leaning Democrat, meaning the Senate fate could end in a Dec. 6 runoff in Georgia.
Biden appeared earlier in the day with his vice president as they celebrated the results.
“You did it Joe! Couldn’t help myself,” Kamala Harris told a lively crowd of Democratic Party volunteers at the Howard Theater in Washington, DC.
So far, the Republicans have also lost two governorships and three legislatures, falling behind the opposition party’s historic trends in the midterm elections.
“All you heard from the press and opponents was that the Democrats are facing disaster,” Biden said. ‘Remember it? Well, most polls, all those polls, God loves them.