US: Democrats led by President Joe Biden kept control of the US Senate on Saturday, defying expectations that the Republicans would take control of both chambers of Congress.
The party in power is typically defeated in midterm elections, and with inflation skyrocketing and Joe Biden’s popularity in free fall, Republicans had been hoping to ride a massive “red wave” and win the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The Democratic incumbent Catherine Cortez Masto won the crucial Senate contest in Nevada on Saturday, giving her party the 50 seats, it needs for an actual majority. However, the wave never advanced much further than a ripple.
As Vice President Kamala Harris can deliver the tie-breaking vote in the event of a 50-50 deadlock in the upper chamber, the victory secures Democratic control of the Senate.
At a gathering of Southeast Asian leaders on Sunday in Phnom Penh, Biden said of the outcome, “I feel good and I’m looking forward to the next couple years.”
There is still one Senate election that could go to a runoff on December 6 in Georgia, where the Democrats could increase their majority.
Although Republicans are marginally favoured to win control, it would be with a much smaller majority than they had anticipated heading into Tuesday’s election. The outcome in the House of Representatives is still up in the air.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer tweeted that the outcome was a “vindication” of Democrats’ accomplishments as soon as his party had won.
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“Come together” call
Minutes after the results were predicted, he said the outcome demonstrated that Americans “soundly rejected the anti-democratic, authoritarian, nasty and divisive direction the MAGA Republicans wanted to take our country.” He was referring to the “Make America Great Again” movement of former president Donald Trump.
Trump was omnipresent on the campaign trail, meddling in crucial Republican primaries and conducting rallies across the country where he repeated his flimsy allegations of election theft in 2020.
According to US media forecasts, more than 100 Republican candidates who contested the results of the 2020 presidential election won their campaigns; but, some of Trump’s hand-picked candidates underperformed, and the Republicans’ poor performance as a whole was a significant political blow.
On Tuesday, Trump is scheduled to announce his run for the presidency in 2024. He had planned this announcement as a triumphant response to the anticipated overwhelming election victory of the party he currently controls.
Biden and the Democrats will still have significant influence in legislative discussions, particularly when it comes to domestic and foreign spending policy, if the Democrats maintain control of the Senate.
A important topic in the midterm elections, Schumer emphasised that the Democrats’ victory would guarantee a “firewall” against Republican attempts in Congress to further restrict abortion rights. However, he also urged members of both parties to “try to come together.”
We can differ on a lot of things, and that’s okay, but let’s avoid dividing negativity like this.
After Democrat Mark Kelly was predicted to win a close Senate election in Arizona on Friday night, the two parties were tied at 49 senators apiece.
The former astronaut defeated rival Blake Masters, who was endorsed by Trump and has not yet admitted defeat.
In response to the outcome in Arizona, Trump increased his baseless accusations of vote-rigging by writing on his Truth Social platform that the Democrat triumph was a “scam” and the consequence of “voter fraud.”
Republicans’ disappointing election results have sparked a round of internal finger-pointing that has targeted Trump, the party’s leaders, and the campaign’s rhetoric.
Letter requesting for the postponement of the party leadership elections was distributed
Three Republican senators distributed a letter on Saturday requesting for the postponement of the party leadership elections, which are currently set for the middle of next week, according to US media.
The letter stated, “We are all disappointed that a Red Wave failed to materialize, and there are multiple reasons it did not.”
It further added, “We need to have serious discussions within our conference as to why and what we can do to improve our chances in 2024.”
Josh Hawley, a Republican senator from Missouri, urged the party to”build something new” in a tweet after the projected Senate results were announced.
“The old party is dead. Time to bury it.”
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