STATESIDE STORIES: Democrats Keep Majority in Senate and Fall Behind in House

Warnock campaigning last August: Following the runoff,  he finally
gave the Democrats strong control of the US Senate
Warnock cap0–

The Democrats portrayed their performance as vindication of their agenda.  And the Republicans did
not get out the vote as much as they had hoped in spite of the high inflation, crime and a faltering
economy they promised to fix. Now is the time for bipartisanship in the Senate and House.

by Mary Foran

Update
6 December 2022
Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock will keep his seat after Trump-backed GOP challenger, Herschel Walker, lost the runoff in Georgia. Three-and-a-half hours after polls closed, Associated Press called the race for Warnock. So did other major news networks. President Biden’s party will now have strong control of the Senate.

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After a much-anticipated red wave failed to materialize as a result of the recent mid-term elections in the United States, the Democrats kept a majority of seats in the Senate. Red denotes Republicans and Blue denotes Democrats in the modern American media.

Map of 2022 House races with GOP winning a popular vote margin of 2.9% or nine seats. Light red: Republican hold. Dark red:  Republican win. Light blue: Democratic hold. Dark blue: Democratic win.

At the time of writing, with all of the 435 seats in Congress up for the midterm elections already called, the Republicans have won 222 (218 seats are needed to have a majority) compared to 213 for the Democrats.

Senate elections. Seats contested: 35 of 100. Net seat change: none of Democratic +1. Blue: Democratic hold. Dark blue: Democratic gain. Pink: GOP hold. Lavender: Pending runoff. Grey: no election.

The Democrats portrayed their performance as vindication of their agenda and a rebuke of Republican efforts to undermine the validity of election results.

The Republican victory in the House has set the stage for two years of divided government, giving Biden’s opponents the power to limit his political agenda and launch potentially damaging probes into his administration and his family business.

After the major news networks projected a Republican win, the Democratic Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, announced that she would not seek reelection to her party’s leadership in the next Congress but will remain a member of Congress and serve out the term to which she was just elected. House Democrats picked Haakem Jeffries to succeed Pelosi, making him the first black lawmaker to lead a party in Congress.

Haakem Jeffries, as Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, with President Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference last March. Jeffries will be the first black to lead a party in Congress.

The Republicans held their own in various Governor’s races and actually made gains there. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was re-elected for the Republicans.

But in the end, the Republicans did not get out the vote as much as they had hoped in spite of high inflation, crime and a faltering economy, all items they promised to fix.

And the Democrats, counting on votes from young people entrenched in the Democratic Party, and the new migrant votes and a solid Democratic base, breezed through the mid-terms with ease.

Now is the time for bipartisanship in the Senate and House.

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Images
Featured image/John Ramspott, CC BY-ND2.0 via Flickr
Quote mark/Oakus53 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA4.0
House election map/Ketrit, CC BY-SA4.0 via Wikipedia
Senate election map/No author or source information. PD via Wikipedia
Biden, Pelosi, Jeffries/White House Official Photo by Adam Schultz, PD via Wikimedia Commons