Control of the House of Representatives remained up in the air on Saturday as vote counts continued days after the election, with Democrats expected to suffer heavy losses as midterm elections have historically favored the party’s loss of power. But Democrats held their ground and even made some progress in many key races, unsettling many Republicans. In taking back control of the Senate, they dashed any hopes of a full Republican takeover of Capitol Hill.
That’s good news for Biden, who has been staring at the possibility of a humiliating defeat as the election looms. Now, the Senate, which oversees the confirmation of executive branch personnel and federal judges, will remain in his party’s corner. A Senate majority would also give the president and his party more of a voice in legislative debates on domestic and foreign spending and other big issues.
“I feel good and I’m looking forward to the next few years,” Biden told reporters. He called Cortez Masto and Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) to congratulate them from Cambodia, where he was attending a summit of Asian nations, according to the White House.
Schumer called the result a “defense” for Democrats and their agenda, and said Republicans were letting voters down with extremism and “negativity,” including some candidates who falsely insisted the 2020 election was stolen. “America shows that we believe in our democracy,” he told reporters in New York, while praising the quality of Democratic incumbents.
As of Saturday night, most national Republicans were mum on the projected outcome, and the Laxalter campaign has yet to publicly acknowledge Cortez Masto’s projected victory.
Still, some Republicans are starting to voice their displeasure as they face a minority for at least two years. “The old party is dead. It’s time to bury it. Build something new,” the senator. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) tweeted shortly after the race.
Republican fundraiser Shiree Verdone said Saturday night that Republican donors and activists were distraught by the election results.
“We have to examine what’s wrong. There needs to be some kind of research into what’s going on in this election,” said Verdone, who ran a fundraiser for Laxalt and acknowledged that Democrats knew how to use Nevada to use the late Senate The “Reed Machine” named by Majority Leader Harry M. Reid to vote.
senator. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) had predicted in October that his party would hold 53 to 55 seats as head of the Senate Republican campaign, but as of Saturday night, he had not issued a statement.
Cortez Masto announced that she will deliver a victory speech on Sunday.
Democrat Cisco Aguilar is also expected to win Nevada’s race for secretary of state, beating Republican candidate Jim Marchant, who seeks to oversee the Nevada election while baselessly denying the 2020 election results. Former President Donald Trump backed Marchant in the campaign.
Democrats are also expected to take a Republican House seat in Washington state. Jaime Herrera Beutler voted to impeach Trump in the Republican primary. On June 6, 2021, pro-Trump thugs attacked the Capitol.
Cortez Masto’s victory in the Nevada Senate race is part of a so far flawless record for an incumbent senator seeking re-election in the midterm elections, as voters vehemently oppose disrupting the chamber’s established order. It’s part of a strong showing by Democrats in battleground areas, where Republicans have underperformed after emphasizing rising prices and concerns about crime in an era of one-party control in Washington.
Republicans start the election needing to gain a seat to control the Senate.Democrats swapped seats in Pennsylvania and retained seats in several other states deemed vulnerable, running as abortion rights protectors after election Roe v. Wade And see Republican opponents as extremists. One of those states is Arizona, Senator. Mark Kelly (D) is expected to beat Republican challenger Blake Masters on Friday night.
In Nevada, Laxalt sought to tie Cortez Masto to Biden while blaming inflation and crime on Democratic policies, noting that Cortez Masto helped pass a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill at the height of the pandemic.
Republicans predict their economic message will resonate especially in a working-class nation with the highest inflation rate in the country. But both sides have maintained that the race will be determined by razor-thin margins, with Cortez Masto claiming re-election in a state that Republicans have long viewed as their best chance.
Cortez Masto, the first Latino elected to the Senate, made abortion central to her campaign, warning her opponents could help pass a federal abortion ban, even as Nevada guaranteed access to the process through popular vote. She also touted Democrats’ efforts to reduce costs, including the price of prescription drugs.
Laxalt has said he would not support a national ban on abortion, although he supports a referendum in the state to ban abortion after 13 weeks. During the election, as Democrats attacked him on the issue, he said little about his role in stoking former President Donald Trump’s false claims about election fraud.
At a news conference earlier Saturday, Clark County registrar Joe Gloria was asked if any campaigns had expressed concerns about the counting process. “I have nothing to report there,” he said. Later, Gloria added that he had not heard anything about the fraud allegations from any campaign.
During Biden’s presidency, the Senate was evenly divided between the two parties, with Vice President Harris having the power to vote to break the tie. Fighting for a majority is the focus of the midterm race, with money pouring into key states. Trump’s promotion of inexperienced candidates has eased Democrats in some important races, sometimes stumbled, giving Democrats more room to attack.
In Pennsylvania, Lt. Gov. John Fettman (D) defeated celebrity doctor Mohammad Oz, the first-ever Republican nominee pushed by the former president. Oz’s popular TV show has come under scrutiny for promoting questionable products; his long-term residency in New Jersey; and examples of Democrats’ used to paint him as a disjointed candidate, including his use of raw vegetables called “lettuce”.
The Arizona race also featured a Trump-backed rookie in the Masters, whom Democrats labelled an extremist. They seized on his comments about privatizing Social Security and his support for abortion restrictions, including a nationwide 15-week ban.
Democrats have rejected other challenges, stifling Republican attempts to move into Colorado, Washington and New Hampshire. Republicans nominated more moderate candidates in the first two states, but in New Hampshire the GOP nominee was Don Bolduc, a far-right contender who backed Trump Most of Trump’s platform and lied about Trump winning the 2020 election.
Republicans control vacant seats in North Carolina and Ohio, and will send two new senators from those states to the upper chamber: the House of Representatives. They are Ted Budd and author JD Vance. In Wisconsin, Senator. Ron Johnson (R) narrowly wins re-election in a tight race.
In Georgia, Senator. Raphael G. Warnock (D) has a slight lead over Republican candidate Herschel Walker, a former football player. But neither candidate met the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid runoff. The two will face off again in next month’s runoff. Both sides are gearing up in purple state.
In Alaska, vote counting continues under a new ranking selection system. Republican Sen. Trump target Lisa Murkowski and former president-backed challenger Kelly Tshibaka joined the race.
Overall, Democrats have defended this year’s midterm Senate in 14 states — all of which Biden won in 2020. Republicans have defended in 21 states, including two in which Biden won. One is Pennsylvania, the only flipped seat so far.
Schumer praised the quality of Democratic incumbents and said they won in part because the GOP nominated “flawed” candidates. senator. Senate Democratic campaign chairman Gary Peters (D-Mich.) said in a statement that the victories represented “strong support for the Democrats’ majority in the Senate” and “a sense of extremism supported by Republicans.” refusal”.
The losses have drawn ire from Senate Republicans, at least six of whom have pushed to delay next week’s leadership election to challenge Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s leadership.
The Senate Leadership Fund, an outside group closely tied to McConnell (R-Ky.), spent more than $230 million this cycle supporting Republicans’ campaigns across the country. Without directly criticizing Trump, McConnell lamented before the election that the issue of “candidate quality” made it harder for Republicans to overthrow the Senate rather than the House.
With several Trump-backed Senate candidates lost, Trump and his allies have sought to shift the blame on McConnell, criticizing him for not spending more money in Arizona to support the Masters and other decisions.
Azi Paybarah contributed to this report.