Republicans have managed to secure control of the Senate after wresting several crucial seats from Democrats and reaching the 51 votes needed for a majority, according to Associated Press projections. The victory in the upper house, which previous polls already predicted, comes with a Donald Trump who caresses the White House and who, with control of the Senate, would have a much more peaceful second term.
The early victory of West Virginia’s Republican governor, Jim Justice, cemented the path to the upper chamber, which is crucial for the certification of election results and the appointment of the Senate. As expected, Justice has taken the seat from Joe Manchin, an independent who joined the Democrats. The second seat, that of Ohio, has been taken by Republican Benie Moreno.
In addition to the seats lost in West Virginia and Ohio, Republicans also aspire to snatch Democratic seats in Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada or Wisconsin, states where the count is progressing at this time.
In contrast, the million-dollar efforts by Democrats to unseat Ted Cruz in Texas have failed. In Florida, where polls also favored the Democrats, Senator Rick Scott has managed to hold on. The change of color in the upper house was a reality that the polls already predicted. The Democrats started at a disadvantage, since they defended 23 seats, while the Republicans only 11.
In the midst of the defeat, one of the many things that Democrats in the Senate point to is that Bernie Sanders has secured his fourth term in the Senate for the state of Vermont.
In the House of Representatives, the prospects are also not encouraging for Democrats, where the Associated Press only projects 163 seats of the 218 needed to have a majority. The Republicans, who for the last four years had held the majority in the lower house, continue to hold on to it with 187 seats secured. There are still 85 to be distributed.
With the Senate lost and the White House about to fall under Trump’s control, the House of Representatives as the last bastion from which to contain the advance of the conservative policies of the Republican party. Likewise, if the Republicans manage to regain the majority in the lower house, the Democrats will find themselves in one of the worst scenarios they had imagined in the previous weeks.
Faced with the possible future of a Congress with a conservative majority in both chambers, Democrat Sarah McBride has made history by becoming the first trans person to win a seat in the House of Representatives. The 34-year-old congresswoman, in 2020, already managed to be the first trans person to get a seat in the Senate for the state of Delaware.
Apart from the presidential and legislative ones, several states have voted on relative initiatives such as protecting the right to abortion. In Florida, citizens have scuttled the measure, which has not reached the minimum 60% of support necessary to pass. In Arizona, where a proposal to include an amendment to the Constitution that would protect the right to abortion was also being voted on, the measure already has 62% of support with 50% of the vote counted, according to AP projections.
#Republicans #control #Senate
