BREAKING: #Republicans Take Over House In US #Midtermelections2022—–WITH most of the results of the United States midterm elections released yesterday, Republicans appeared to be far short of the sweeping “red wave” victory they had sought.
They, however, seemed to have made most gains predicted by some pollsters and on the path of taking over the House. But, Democrats proved themselves to be more resilient than anticipated as control of the Senate hinged on races that remained too close to call.
Thirty-five Senate seats, all 435 House seats and three dozen governorship races were on the ballot.
As at the time of going to the press, Democrats had gained 48 Senate seats to Republicans’ 49. Democrats got 176 House seats and GOP secured 204 with both parties eyeing 218 for a majority in the lower chamber.
Two Senate seats, Arizona and Nevada, are unlikely to be known for days because both states conduct elections in part by mail ballots which take longer to count. It’s too early to call key races that could determine which party controls the chambers.
Beyond Congress, dozens of governorships, secretaries of states, and attorneys general are also on the line.
Democrats tried to avoid the kind of heavy midterm defeat that often plagues sitting presidents of either party.
However, the control of the Senate hinged on three races that remained too close to call yesterday.
The Georgia U.S. Senate race between Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker will go to a Dec. 6 runoff, according to Edison Research’s projection. That means it could be weeks until control of that chamber is known, unless Democrats hold off challengers in Nevada and Arizona.
Meanwhile, a slim majority in the House of Representatives would let Republicans hem in Democratic President Joe Biden during his next two years in office, blocking legislation and launching potentially and politically damaging investigations.
What voters’ decision also meant
The results appeared to show voters punishing Biden for presiding over an economy hit by steep inflation, while also lashing out against Republican efforts to ban abortion. The primary issue that weighed on Democrats was stubbornly high annual inflation, which at 8.2%, stands at the highest rate in 40 years.
Other key votes held at the same time saw the rejection of measures aimed at denying any state constitutional right to abortion in reliably Republican Kentucky and the battleground state of Michigan.
The ballot measure came after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade and the national constitutional right to an abortion it guaranteed to women.
Despite Republican lawmakers passing some 42 new laws since 2021 to restrict the right to vote in 21 states they do not at this stage appear to have made the decisive breakthrough they had hoped for.
Poor performance by Trump’s candidates
Poor performances by some candidates backed by Donald Trump indicated exhaustion with the kind of chaos fomented by the former Republican president, raising questions about the viability of his possible run for the White House in 2024.
“I think his ego is just too big to handle,” said Yvonne Langdon, 75, as she cast her ballot for Republican candidates in Michigan on Tuesday.
Biden had framed Tuesday’s election as a test of U.S. democracy at a time when hundreds of Republican candidates embraced Trump’s false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.
A number of election deniers who backed Trump’s claims were elected to office on Tuesday, but fears of violence or other major disruptions by far-right poll watchers at voting stations did not materialise.
By midday yesterday, Republicans had flipped a net seven Democratic House seats, Edison Research projected, two more than the minimum they need to take over the chamber. That number could go up or down as more final results roll in, with 45 races still to be called.
Control of the Senate would give Republicans the power to block Biden’s nominees for judicial and administrative posts. But in a critical win for Democrats, John Fetterman flipped a Republican-held U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania, beating retired celebrity surgeon, Mehmet Oz, and bolstering his party’s chances of holding the chamber.
The White House seized on the lighter-than-expected losses. “Never underestimate how much Team Biden is underestimated,” White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain said on Twitter.
But Democrats also had their share of embarrassments, as New York Representative Sean Patrick Maloney, the chairman of the committee charged with reelecting House Democrats, conceded he had lost his own race.
If the Republicans take control of Congress, they plan to seek cost savings in the Social Security and Medicare safety-net programmes and make permanent tax cuts enacted in 2017 that are due to expire.
But, President Muhammadu Buhari and Chairman/CEO, Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, have congratulated eight Nigerian-Americans on their victory in the midterm elections.
The winners are Segun Adeyina, for Georgia State Representative in District 110; Gabe Okoye, Georgia State Representative in District 102, Solomon Adesanya Georgia State Representative, District 43; Tish Naghise, Georgia State Representative District 68; Phil Olaleye, Georgia State Representative District 59, and Carol Kazeem, Pennsylvania State Representative District 159.
Similarly, the duo of Dr. Oye Owolewa and Esther Agbaje were re-elected, while Dr. Oye Owolewa got re- elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (Shadow Representative) in Washington DC. Esther Agbaje won her seat for Minnesota State Representative in District 59B.
Buhari, who prayed for their successful tenure in office, thanked them for their invaluable support and partnerships, over the years, with groups affiliated with the ideals and objectives of Nigerians in Diaspora associations in the United States.
