First modification:
Democrat Mark Kelly defeated his Republican rival Blake Masters to win the Senate seat from Arizona. The result in the crucial swing state leaves progressives one seat away from a majority in the upper house, following elections on November 8.
Crucial win for Democrats in the Senate. Election officials confirmed that lawmaker Mark Kelly was re-elected as a senator from the swing state of Arizona.
The former astronaut and husband of former US Representative Gabby Giffords will remain in his seat after facing Republican Blake Masters at the polls.
The conservative politician had the explicit support of former President Donald Trump, which adds a new defeat to the candidates supported by the controversial former president.
The race for Arizona was one of the few contests that Republicans targeted in their bid to take control of the Senate, which is up for a third of its seats in midterm elections.
Arizona is a former stronghold of the right, and this was yet another test of Democrats’ gains in the state once reliably dominated by the GOP.
Progressives have achieved significant positions there in the last elections. In the last presidential elections of 2020, Joe Biden won there by 0.3%.
In the midterm election campaign last Tuesday, November 8, Kelly successfully portrayed his opponent as a far-right politician, emphasizing controversial comments Masters made when he suggested that Social Security should be privatized.
In the midst of the fierce campaign, Masters was forced to remove portions of his official website, in which he advocated a total ban on abortion.
Finally, the Democrat managed to prevail and be re-elected to represent his State in the Upper House.
Mark Kelly is considered a moderate Democrat, who has pushed for lower prescription drug costs and has also at times been critical of the Biden Administration’s response to asylum seekers at the Mexican border.
How is the race for control of the Senate?
After the victory of Mark Kelly and due to the tiebreaker vote to which Democrat Kamala Harris has access, in her capacity as vice president of the country, the Democrats are one seat away from controlling the Senate.
Progressives can retain control of the upper house if they win the Nevada race or the Georgia runoff next month.
For their part, the Republicans must now win both contests to obtain a majority.
In Georgia, Raphael Warnock will head into a second round on Dec. 6 against Republican former college football star Herschel Walker, who is endorsed by Donald Trump.
Both will face each other again at the polls after neither managed to overcome the threshold of 50% necessary to win in the first round.
Walker had been plagued by a series of scandals, including allegations of domestic violence. A staunch supporter of the abortion ban, his candidacy was rocked by reports that he had paid for several former girlfriends to have abortions in the past.
Meanwhile, Warnock, who serves as a pastor at the Atlanta church once led by Martin Luther King Jr., won a surprise victory in a special election in early 2021, following the resignation of Sen. Johnny Isakson. It was that result that gave Democrats control of the US Senate, thanks to Harris’s tie-breaking vote.
Now, the results of the upper house races in Nevada or Georgia will determine which caucus will hold control of the Senate.
With Reuters and AP
#USA #Mark #Kelly #reelected #leaves #Democrats #seat #controlling #Senate