United States Midterm Election: With the threat of a red wave fading, Republicans fought state by state to break the Democrats’ one-party stranglehold on Washington, a breathtakingly close battle for control of Congress and the future of President Joe Biden’s agenda.
On Wednesday, the Democrats’ tenuous hold on power in the House and Senate remained in jeopardy. The GOP faced a new generation of candidates, including 2020 election deniers and some extremists inspired by Donald Trump, who easily won some seats.
However, races remained competitive, and Republicans encountered stiff opposition as they marched across the country, dashed hopes for the sweeping gains they had promised, particularly in the House. Instead, they moved closer to what could be another closely divided Congress.
In a tweet, defeated Republican Rep. Mayra Flores of Texas said, “The RED WAVE did not happen.”
It was the first major national election since the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and emotions were high. The recent violent attack on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband stunned many, and federal law enforcement warned of increased threats across the country. Biden’s party worked hard to hang on by the thinnest of margins.
Even with a slim majority, Republicans could instill new urgency on Capitol Hill by promising to halt Biden’s most ambitious plans, tighten congressional oversight, and launch arduous investigations — even impeachment of the president.
House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, who is in line to become speaker if his party gains control, vowed to win the majority as he spoke to a crowd of supporters in Washington well after midnight.
“We are expanding this party,” McCarthy said, citing the victories thus far. “The American people are ready for a majority that will offer a new direction that will re-establish America.”
Republicans, on the other hand, were tense as Democrats delivered a surprising run of the map in areas Republicans expected to claim as their own.
“While many races remain too close to call,” Pelosi said in a statement. “It is clear that House Democratic members and candidates are outperforming expectations.” “As states continue to tabulate final results, every vote cast must be counted.”
All 435 House seats and one-third of the Senate were up for grabs. If Republican newcomers help the party seize control of the House and possibly the Senate, the result will pose new challenges to Congress’ ability to govern — especially if margins are narrow.
Battleground Virginia provided a snapshot of the House race. Republican state Sen. Jen Kiggans, a former Navy helicopter pilot, defeated Democratic Rep. Elaine Luria, a former Navy commander who had praised her work on the House committee looking into the Jan. 6 insurgency.
In a suburban Virginia district Republicans hoped to flip, Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger defeated Trump-backed Yesli Vega. Democrats also held Republican-held House seats in Rhode Island, Ohio, Kansas, and New Hampshire, and they flipped some, including a suburban Illinois district, from Republicans.
Nonetheless, Republicans were gradually gaining some of the five seats required to achieve a 218-seat House majority.
They won a seat long held by Democrats in the Nashville area. In a dramatic example of the difficult political environment for Democrats, the party’s House campaign chairman, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, was fighting for political survival in New York’s Hudson Valley against Republican state legislator Mike Lawler. He would be the first Democratic campaign manager to be defeated in over two decades.
The Senate races were still up in the air. Republican J.D. Vance, a venture capitalist and author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” defeated Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan in Ohio, denying Democrats the opportunity to fill the vacancy. Don Bolduc, a Trump-style Republican, failed to unseat Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan in New Hampshire.
The battleground in the Senate was focused on the hotly contested states of Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and Wisconsin. In Pennsylvania, Democrat John Fetterman successfully flipped a Republican-held Senate seat that is critical to the party’s hopes of retaining control of the chamber. Because Vice President Kamala Harris can cast a tie-breaking vote, the 50-50 Senate is now in Democratic hands.
Historically, divided government has provided the opportunity for bipartisan compromise. Republican candidates, on the other hand, ran on a platform of defeating Democrats. They promised to cut federal spending, refuse to raise the debt ceiling, and refuse to support Ukraine in its conflict with Russia. Everything pointed to potential gridlock.
McCarthy had assembled the most racially diverse class of House GOP candidates in history, with more women than ever before. It also included a new group of Trump supporters, including election skeptics and deniers, some of whom were present at the Capitol on January 6.
During this election cycle, Trump endorsed hundreds of candidates across the country, though they were not always McCarthy and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell’s first choices. According to Fox News Channel, the former president said in an interview that he supported McCarthy for speaker and called McConnell a “lousy leader.”
Pelosi canceled most public appearances in the final week of campaigning after an intruder broke into her family’s San Francisco home in the middle of the night last month, demanding “Where is Nancy?” and bludgeoning her 82-year-old husband in the head with a hammer.
The election took place amid widespread discontent. According to the AP VoteCast, a national survey of more than 90,000 voters, a majority of Americans, roughly 7 in 10, disapprove of the way Congress is handling its business. Approximately four out of ten people strongly disagree.
Several new Republicans were elected to the House in redrawn Florida districts. Maxwell Frost, a 25-year-old Democrat, will join them as the first member of Generation Z to be elected to Congress.
Incumbents were also clinging to power. In Ohio, Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur defeated Republican J.R. Majewski, who was present at the Capitol on Jan. 6. In Georgia, far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a close Trump ally, was re-elected.
Senator Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, was re-elected in New York. Republican Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida defeated Democratic opponents. Democratic Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado was also re-elected.
In many states, voting may continue past Election Day, and Georgia may face a runoff election on December 6 if no candidate receives a majority.
Democrats gained traction on the abortion issue after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade this summer, and they have been warning voters about MAGA conservatives, an acronym for Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan.
Republicans, on the other hand, focused voter attention on more local issues such as inflation-fueled high prices and crime.
