In the end, there will be 51 Democrats in the Senate. Joe Biden’s party consolidated its majority on Tuesday with candidate Raphael Warnock winning a poll in Georgia. The American president, who was predicted to suffer a bitter defeat in the midterm elections, is strengthened by this election sequence.
His party’s candidate, Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock, faced off against Donald Trump’s protégé, Republican Herschel Walker, for the final act of these “midterms.” The two men faced each other back in November and a second round had to be organized to decide between them. The American President had shown himself to be extremely confident just a few minutes before the results were announced. “We’re going to win, we’re going to win in Georgia,” he told reporters.
Congress divided
This victory does not change the balance of power in the US Congress: The Democrats had already ensured that they retained control of the Senate after the first round of the parliamentary elections in November. The Republicans have now taken over the House of Representatives, albeit with a much shorter majority than expected. But this new seat gives more freedom to the party of Joe Biden, who has governed by an extremely narrow majority for the past two years: 50 out of 100 seats.
Among other things, they will be able to exercise greater influence in important parliamentary committees. And will severely limit the influence of a moderate Democratic senator, Joe Manchin, gravedigger of several major Biden administration projects.
A $400 million ballot
With this seat, Republicans hoped for broader blocking powers over Joe Biden’s policies. With 700 days to go before the next election, the opposition is keen to break the president’s momentum, bolstered by these good results in the midterms.
The defeat of Donald Trump’s nominee is new evidence that the former president’s promised Republican “wave” in the midterm elections has not materialized. This did not prevent the Republican, who was embroiled in various scandals and legal disputes, from declaring himself the candidate for the presidential election.
Signs of importance and interest for this last duel in Georgia: almost 400 million dollars went into the ballot box, the most expensive of the midterm elections. The few polls showed the candidates level.