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WASHINGTON: The election stirred the seats in the House and Senate, but ultimately left Congress as it began, deeply divided as voters resisted big changes despite the heated race to the top of the list for the White House .
It’s an outcome that dampens Democratic demands for a bold new agenda, emboldens Republicans, and nearly ensures a party stalemate regardless of who wins the presidency. Or perhaps, as some say, it provides a rare opportunity for modest cooperation across the hall.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was on her way to maintaining control of the Democratic House, but saw her majority shrink and her leadership questioned. Control of the Senate tipped the way for Republicans as they fended off an onslaught of energetic challengers, though some elections remained undecided Wednesday.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday that he is confident that “no matter who ends up running the government,” they will be “trying to get through all of that and get results.”
One certainty is that the reversed projections will force a rethink of polls, fundraising, and the very messages that parties use to reach voters in the Trump era and beyond.
In the evening, Pelosi had practically declared Democrat Joe Biden the winner, saying House Democrats “will now have a chance to make extraordinary progress” on the party’s priorities: reducing health care costs, providing jobs through new infrastructure and others.
But the sad result for Democrats in Congress called into question the ambitious plans for legislative reform pushed by the party, eager for a sweep of the Washington government.
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Even if the Democrats capture the White House and a narrowly divided Senate, Pelosi’s influence to force negotiation of her terms will be diminished by the House losses.
If Donald Trump wins another term, his Republican allies, particularly in the Senate, will likely feel more comfortable with him after escaping an electoral defeat, although they have yet to outline a Republican agenda.
Scott Jennings, a Republican strategist close to McConnell, said winning or losing Trump “reorganized the political parties,” turning Republicans, not Democrats, into America’s “working class” party.
“Democrats have a lot to think about when it comes to those voters,” Jennings said. “And Republicans have a lot to think about implementing policies relevant to those voters.”
Democrats responded that with Biden on the brink of victory, the mandate for solutions to the coronavirus crisis, the faltering economy and other big problems was as strong as ever.
“We’re going to get back to governing,” said Zac Petkanas, a Democratic strategist. “Republicans are going to have a choice, whether they are helpful or get in the way.”
More immediately, a COVID-19 relief bill remains within reach as the pandemic spreads through the states. McConnell said he would also like to negotiate a large spending bill to keep the government running past the mid-December deadline.
House Republicans have won five seats so far, deflating Pelosi’s plans to reach deep into Trump’s country by making rare strides with minority women and candidates.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrives to speak to reporters about the Election Day results of the House races at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington on November 3, 2020 ( Photo: AP / J Scott Applewhite).
Republicans defeated several first-year Democratic first-year students who won a House majority in 2018 in a backlash against Trump, linking them to their more liberal members, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and incorrectly labeling them “socialists.”
“We expanded this party that reflects America, which looks like America,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said in a conference call with reporters.
A handful of new progressives will come to Washington to join House Democrats, while Republicans will see new members on the right flank, including Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has championed unfounded QAnon conspiracy theories and won a vacant Northwest seat. from Georgia. Trump has called Greene a “future Republican star.”
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While Democrats won essential Senate seats in Colorado and Arizona, they suffered a setback in Alabama, and Republicans held firm in one race after another: in South Carolina, Maine, Iowa, Texas, Kansas and Montana, which drastically limited the Democrats. hopes of making progress.
“I know people are anxious,” Democratic Senator Chris Murphy told supporters in a live Twitter video. “We need to count the votes.”
Democrats stopped Republican pressure for John James, a black businessman trying to overthrow Democratic Senator Gary Peters, who won re-election Wednesday night.
The races attracted an unprecedented flood of small donations of dollars for American Democrats who apparently voted out of their pockets to fuel far-reaching Senate campaigns.
“You wasted a lot of money,” said White House ally Senator Lindsey Graham in Columbia, South Carolina, after defeating Jaime Harrison, despite the Democrat’s staggering $ 100 million for his upstart campaign.
Still, Republican strategist Steven Law, chairman of the Senate Leadership Fund, which supports Republican senators, said future candidates will have to step up their own fundraising.
McConnell also warned of the continuing problems Republicans face in the Trump era as voters move away from the Republican Party.
“We need to get the suburbs back,” McConnell said. “We had a better choice than most people thought we would have, but we have improvements that we need to make.”
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Republicans believe the Democrats were wrong to focus almost exclusively on the COVID crisis and health care risks for Americans as Trump and the Republican Party try to unravel the Obama-era Affordable Care Act.
Voters care almost as much about the economy, they said.
According to the AP VoteCast, a national poll of the electorate, voters ranked the pandemic and the economy as top concerns.
“It’s time for a different approach,” said Democrat John Hickenlooper, the former governor who ousted Republican Senator Cory Gardner in Colorado.
Yet voters, for the most part, stayed true to the status quo.
Securing a majority in the Senate will be vital to the winner of the presidency. Senators confirm the administration’s candidates, including for cabinet, and they can push or stop the White House agenda.
With Republicans now controlling the chamber, 53-47, three or four seats will determine control of the party, depending on who wins the presidency because the vice president can break a tie in the Senate.
The final collapse awaited the outcome of the races in Alaska, Georgia and North Carolina, where Republican Senator Thom Tillis has fought Democrat Cal Cunningham, despite the sexting scandal of the challenger married to a public relations strategist.
In Georgia, two seats were being contested with at least one heading for a runoff after no candidate reached the 50 percent threshold to win.
Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler will face Democrat Raphael Warnock, a black pastor at the church where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr preached, in the January 5 runoff.
In the other Georgia race, Republican Senator David Perdue, the former business executive Trump calls his favorite senator, tried to scare off Democrat Jon Ossoff. It could also go to a second round.
