Republicans took control of the US Senate late Tuesday after flipping Democratic seats, capturing GOP incumbents and snatching the majority for the first time in four years.
The unexpected battleground state of Nebraska pushed Republicans over the top. Incumbent GOP Sen. Deb Fischer rejected a surprisingly strong challenge from independent newcomer Dan Osborne.
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Democrats saw their efforts to save their slim majority seem out of reach as the numbers on the map shifted in favor of Republicans.
Earlier in the night, Republicans flipped a seat in West Virginia with the election of Jim Justice, who easily replaced retiring Sen. Joe Manchin.
Democratic efforts to oust firebrand Republicans Ted Cruz of Texas and Rick Scott of Florida failed.
While Texas hasn’t elected a Democrat statewide in nearly 30 years, Dallas-area congressman and former NFL linebacker Colin Allred established himself as a libertarian and made his case for reproductive rights amid Texas’ abortion ban. Leaned into support, which is one of the strictest in the country.
Mr Cruz’s victory comes after Democratic efforts to save their Senate majority came after Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio lost his reelection to Republican Bernie Moreno, a wealthy Trump-era newcomer.
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Mr. Brown’s defeat to Mr. Moreno, an immigrant from Bogota, Colombia, who made a fortune as a luxury car dealer and blockchain entrepreneur, puts Democrats on the verge of losing Senate control. As a three-term senator, he is the first incumbent to lose re-election.
The Ohio race between Mr. Brown and Mr. Moreno, who was endorsed by Donald Trump, is the most expensive race this cycle, with nearly $400 million.
With control of Congress at stake, contests for the House and Senate will determine which party has the majority and the power to promote or block the president’s agenda, or whether the White House faces a divided Capitol Hill. Does matter.
The focus now turns to the Democratic “blue-wall” states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, where Democrats are fighting to protect the remaining seats in addition to their slim hold on the Senate.
Ultimately, just a handful of seats, or even a small number of seats, can throw off the balance in any room. With a 50-50 Senate, the party in the White House determines the majority, as the vice president is a tie-breaker.
Already several states will send history-makers to the Senate.
Voters elected two Black women to the Senate for the historic first time, Democrat Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and Democrat Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland.
Blunt Rochester won the open seat in her state while Alsobrooks defeated popular former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan. Only three black women have served in the Senate, and never before had two served at the same time.
And in New Jersey, Andy Kim became the first Korean American elected to the Senate, defeating Republican businessman Curtis Bashaw. The seat opened when Bob Menendez resigned this year following his federal conviction on bribery charges.
Elsewhere, House candidate Sarah McBride, a Democratic state lawmaker from Delaware who is close to the Biden family, won her race, becoming the first openly transgender person elected to Congress.
Key contests are also underway in unexpected corners of the country following the first presidential election since the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, as well as one of the most chaotic congressional sessions in modern times.
Voters said the economy and immigration were the top issues facing the country, but the future of democracy was also a major motivator for many Americans voting in the presidential election.
ap votecastThe sweeping survey of more than 110,000 voters nationwide found the country is steeped in negativity and desperate for change as Americans faced a stark choice between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Congress plays a role in maintaining the American tradition of peacefully transferring presidential power. Four years ago, Trump sent a mob of his supporters to the Capitol to “fight like hell,” and many Republicans in Congress voted to block the election of President Joe Biden. Congress will reconvene to certify the results of the presidential election in 2025.
Billions of dollars have been spent by parties and outside groups on the narrow battleground states for both the 435-member House and 100-member Senate.
The top House races are concentrated in New York and California, where Democrats are trying to capture some of the 10 or so seats where Republicans have made surprise gains in recent years with star lawmakers who have kept the party in power. Helped to bring.
Other House races are scattered across the country, a sign of how narrow the field has become. Only a few dozen seats are being seriously challenged, some of the most controversial in Maine, the “blue dot” around Omaha, Nebraska, and Alaska.
In some races, vote counting could last longer than Tuesday.
“We’re a long way from taking back the House,” said House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is in line to make history as the first Black speaker if his party takes control. The Associated Press During a recent expedition in Southern California.
But House Speaker Mike Johnson, coming close to Trump, predicts Republicans will keep and grow the majority. He took over after Kevin McCarthy was ousted from the Speaker’s office.
One of the most watched Senate races in Montana may be one of the last to be decided. Democrat Jon Tester, a popular three-term senator and “dirt farmer” is in the fight of his political career against Trump-backed Tim Sheehy, a wealthy former Navy SEAL who has spoken about Native Americans, a key constituency of Westerners. Had made derogatory comments. State.
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Outgoing Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has focused his career on seizing and maintaining majority power, but other opportunities for Republicans are drying up in the long run.
In the southwestern states, firebrand Republican Kari Lake of Arizona faces off against Democrat Ruben Gallego for the seat opened by the retirement of Senator Kristen Sinema. In Nevada, Democratic Senator Jacky Rosen is running against newcomer Sam Brown.
Democrats have stepped up their challenges to a pair of Republican senators — Cruz of Texas and Scott of Florida — in states that focused on reproductive rights following the Supreme Court’s decision to roll back abortion access. Is. Mr Scott defeated Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a former member of Congress.
What began as a lackluster race for control of Congress quickly changed when Harris stepped in for Mr. Biden at the top of the ticket, energizing Democrats with massive fundraising and volunteers that lawmakers Said it reminded him of the Obama-era euphoria of 2008.
The result of redistricting, when states redraw their maps for congressional districts, is also changing the balance of power within the House, with Republicans set to gain several seats from Democrats in North Carolina and another in Republican-heavy North Carolina. -Getting majority seats. Alabama.
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Lawmakers in the House face voters every two years, while senators serve terms longer than six years.
If both houses actually flip party control, as is possible, it would be rare.
Records show that if Democrats take the House and Republicans take the Senate, it would be the first time that both chambers of Congress have swung in favor of opposing political parties.
published – November 06, 2024 11:03 am IST