The Democrats could keep control of the Senate, although they would lose the House of Representatives
MADRID, 9 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The dispute between Democrats and Republicans for control of the United States Congress has led to an even race after the mid-term elections held on November 8, especially in the case of the Senate, where four states appear as key to uneven the balance to favor of one of the two parties.
According to the current situation of the count, the Democrats have 48 seats in the Senate –36 that they already controlled and twelve obtained in the ‘midterm’–, the same ones that the Republicans have in their hands –29 18–, with five yet to be determined.
A party must win 51 seats to achieve a majority in the Senate, which has one hundred seats, although a 50-50 split would leave control in the hands of the Democrats, since they would have the tie-breaking vote of the US vice president and president of the Upper House, Kamala Harris.
In this context, the situation in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and Winsconsin appears as crucial to determine the final result, although the Democrats count on maintaining control in the Senate, although they could lose their majority in the House of Representatives, currently headed by by Nancy Pelosi.
In the case of Arizona, Democrat Mark Kelly hopes to stay in office against Republican Blake Masters, while in Georgia, Republican Herschel Walker hopes to take over from Democrat Raphael Warnock.
This case is particularly different, since in this state it would be necessary to repeat the vote if none of the candidates obtains 50 percent of the votes, a situation in which the recount is currently.
On the other hand, Republican Ron Johnson hopes to keep his seat against Democrat Mandela Barnes, on a night in which the Democratic Party considers that it has stopped the “republican surge” that the Republican Party hoped to obtain in the face of the president’s falling popularity, Joe Biden.
In this sense, the Republican senator Lindsey Graham has recognized that the polls have not resulted “in a Republican wave.” “That’s for sure,” he has said, although he has expressed his hope that the party will win 51 or 52 seats in the Senate.
Graham has stated before the questions of the NBC television network about whether these results, worse than expected by the Republicans, have been due to the “Donald Trump effect”, in reference to a possible negative impact of the former president in several campaigns.
“Not really,” argued the senator, who has described the ‘midterms’ as “a referendum on Biden.” “If we manage to recover the House of Representatives and obtain a majority in the Senate, it would be a very good night. A wave would have been to take over New Hampshire and Colorado,” he settled.
Along these lines, the current leader of the Republican minority in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, has assured that the Republican Party has won enough seats to control the body and has stressed that “it is clear” that “they are going to recover the House “.
“When they wake up tomorrow, we will be in the majority and Nancy Pelosi will be in the minority,” he said, according to the US television network Fox News, despite the fact that many seats have not yet been assigned and the race in several of them is not decided.
Despite the fact that the polls predicted a comfortable majority of Republicans in both chambers due to the drop in Biden’s popularity and the fact that the night began with a landslide victory for Ron DeSantis in Florida, the Democrats have achieved better results than the expected.
DeSantis’s victory, which could serve as a platform for a possible candidacy for the White House in the 2024 elections -in which Trump could participate, if he finally chooses to announce his candidacy-, was followed hours later by a victory for Democrat John Fetterman in Pennsylvania, where he has snatched the seat from Mehmet Oz, who was running as a candidate due to the withdrawal of Pat Toomey.
Steven Law, president of the Republican super PAC in the Senate, had previously recognized the importance of Pennsylvania, according to the US television network CNN. “It’s a must-win race. We think if we win Pennsylvania, we’ve got the majority,” he explained.
The setback suffered by the Republicans in Pennsylvania has not prevented, however, the party from taking the lead in the count in the House of Representatives, where it currently has 198 seats –by the 178 of the Democrats and 60 seats yet to be assigned–. The majority limit is set at 218 representatives.
By contrast, the results of the ‘midterm’ represent the best results for a party in the White House since 2002 –during the presidency of George W. Bush–, according to The Hispanic Council, which has highlighted that the Democratic Party is “enforced at the federal and state levels.”
“Traditionally, the ‘midterms’ have had a negative impact on the administration in office. It has not been the case in these elections,” he said, before noting that “since the 2002 midterm elections with George W. Bush in the White House, the opposition party has emerged stronger from the midterms”.
Separately, several states have held votes throughout the day that have resulted, among other things, in victories for abortion rights in Michigan, California and Vermont, the first to make an abortion ban permanently unenforceable since the repeal of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court.
Thus, the Democrat Gretchen Whitmer, who has focused her campaign on her efforts to block the application of a 1931 law against abortion in almost all cases, has prevailed over the Republican Tudor Nixon in the state of Michigan.
For their part, voters in California and Vermont have approved referendums enshrining the right to abortion in their state constitutions.
In another order of things, the state of Maryland has legalized the use of marijuana for recreational purposes by people 21 years of age or older, a measure that will take effect on July 1, 2023. In addition, the voters of Missouri have approved a constitutional amendment to end marijuana use in the state, according to CNN.
By contrast, voters in Arkansas, North Dakota, and South Dakota have rejected proposals and constitutional amendments to legalize cannabis possession and recreational use. In the case of South Dakota, consumption was legalized in 2020, although the governor, Kristi Noem, led efforts to nullify the legislation, arguing that it violated the Constitution.
