By Daniel Hordon and Daniel Rahman, Past Senior Editors
President Donald Trump has declared the results of this year’s midterms a ‘tremendous success’ as Republicans maintained control of the Senate despite the Democrats making enough gains to claim to the House of Representatives.
President Donald Trump has declared the results of this year’s midterms a ‘tremendous success’ as Republicans maintained control of the Senate despite the Democrats making enough gains to claim to the House of Representatives.
What are midterms?
With US elections for the House of Representatives and a third of the Senate held every two years, midterm elections fall two years into each presidential term meaning they are often seen as a referendum on presidency so far. These elections can have a major impact on the final two years of the presidency and ability of the President to pass legislation without losing all control of policy. Midterms usually see the President’s party lose ground as voters try to clinch back some power from the President.
What were the results?
The most notable change in federal government is the new democratic majority in the House of Representatives; previously the Republican party controlled all three elements of government meaning they could pass almost any legislation however following this week's vote the Democrats now control 223 of 435 seats in the House. This gives them a comfortable majority in the chamber allowing them to implement their agenda.
However, the election was not a “blue wave” as many Democrats hoped for as they did not succeed in many Senate and governor races across the country. As of now, the Republicans control 51 seats in the Senate similar to their 52 seats they gained in 2016. Also, it looks likely the Republicans will gain at least 1 of the remaining 3 seats in the Senate improving their majority here. Usually in midterm elections, the controlling party does lose seats so for the Republicans to maintain their control over the Senate means they have done considerably well. Nevertheless, it must be considered that many of the senator seats up for re-election were in states Donald Trump was favourable in aiding the Republican bid.
The Democrats failed to turn Texas blue for the first time in over 20 years; Beto O’Rourke failed to remove Ted Cruz from his position of Senator for Texas as Cruz secured 50.9%. O'Rourke, the up and coming star of the Democratic party, ran a grassroots campaign in the traditionally conservative state leading to significant increases in turnout in young voters and Latino communities. The campaign was not enough to unseat the strong supporter of Trump, Cruz, who ran his campaign based upon immigration and loyalty to the president.
O’Rourke was optimistic in his concession speech in his hometown of El Paso and even in defeat has reinvigorated a dormant Democratic party in what is now a contested state going into 2020.
Other key results were seen in Florida where Ron DeSantis won the governor race against the progressive candidate Andrew Gillum. The left leaning candidate was endorsed by Bernie Sanders but only received 49.1% of votes cast. DeSantis aligned himself closely to Trump and the two campaigned together in the state that Trump won back in 2016. After repeated victories from the Republican party in the swing state, Florida is now looking more red than ever before. However, the narrow victory gives some hope for Democrats looking to flip the state in 2020.
Democrats did see other positives in key elections in rust belt states. Democrats gained seats in the House in Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan and Pennsylvania. These were key states where Trump won in 2016 and leads Democrats to believe they have a chance to win votes here in 2020.
As well as this, the 2018 midterms signalled a historic mark for equality; Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar became the first Muslim women to ever be elected to Congress while Deb Haaland and Sharice Davids became the first Native American women elected to congress.
Jared Polis became the first openly gay governor in his state of Colorado. The election was a huge victory for women as the number of women in congress has rose to a record 114. This is following the #MeToo movement that called for an end to gender inequality and sexual harassment. One of these successful women was Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a fast rising progressive Democrat who has made a name for herself as she is the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. On the whole the night saw great strides towards diversity in Congress and that can only be a good thing.
In a chaotic press conference yesterday President Trump said, “the Republican Party defied history to expand our Senate Majority while significantly beating expectations in the House for the midterm year”. Trump had previously tweeted, branding the election results a “tremendous success” despite losing the House.
President Trump continued his attack on the press as he called CNN the “enemy of the people” for publishing “fake news”. The 45th President also launched an attack on CNN reporter Jim Acosta who he called a “rude, terrible person” after a White House intern attempted to snatch the microphone from Acosta. Acosta has since had his White House press pass revoked and was not allowed into the White House on Wednesday night.
What does this mean for the country?
With the Republicans having lost control of the House, Trump’s ability to pass new legislation will be massively restricted. Previously the Republicans held Congress however the new structure means that it will be harder for a bill initiated by the President to be passed in Congress as a 50% vote is needed in both the House and Senate to pass legislation. This may open the door for Trump to issue more executive orders allowing him to bypass Congress and continue to deliver his policy.
Democrats seizing control of the House may even make way for impeachment proceedings with it now possible for the process to be started. The leader of the Democrats in the House, Nancy Pelosi, however, has spoken out against impeachment telling PBS, “For those who want impeachment, that’s not what our caucus is about”.
Following the election, Wall Street saw marginal gains across the board. This is likely due to the removal of questions of political uncertainty. With there being a divided government after the Democrats took control of the House, it is now very unlikely any major new law would be passed, ultimately improving business confidence leading to an upturn in the markets.
Yesterday the US Attorney General Jeff Sessions resigned just hours after the majority of the results were declared. Political analysts have suggested that Trump’s self-proclaimed success could pave the way for more senior resignations and savings.
READ MORE LIKE THIS...
READ MORE BY...