Republicans have a solid lead in elections to the House of Representatives, but speaker Pelosi still believes in full Democratic control of Congress. – Not pure wishful thinking, says the US expert.
After the Democrats secured a barely a majority in the Senate with victories in Arizona and Nevada, attention shifted to the battle for control of the House of Representatives.
– We still think we have a shot at winning this one, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) said when she was a guest on CNN’s “State of the Union” talk show Sunday.
The forecasts of CNN and ABC, on the other hand, give a predominant probability that the Republicans will obtain the majority in the House of Representatives.
Forecasts by CNN and ABC indicate that the Republicans won 211 seats out of the 218 needed to obtain a majority. The count, especially in California, could still take some time, reports NTB.
– Who would have thought two months ago that this “red wave” would end up being just a small drop, Pelosi said.
He thinks Trump has mobilized Democrats
– It’s not pure wishful thinking, says Eirik Løkke, a consultant at the Civita think tank on Pelosi’s exit to CNN.
– But then the Democrats will indeed have a stake in many of the remaining constituencies that are counted. Republicans are now likely to get a majority in the House of Representatives.
Today Democrats barely have a majority in the House of Representatives with 220 to the Republicans’ 212.
Both before and during the Nov. 8 election, Republicans were expected to take the House with relative ease, but in recent days’ counting, Democrats gained ground. On Sunday evening, 20 of the 435 seats are not yet distributed.
Løkke believes that the relatively weak results of the Republicans are related to the quality of the candidates.
– Especially in the Senate elections, but also for the House of Representatives. The fact that Trump has kept such a high profile reminded Democrats of Trump and conspiracy theories and all the crazy things he has been up to. He has mobilized more Democrats, he says.
Also refers to exit poll which shows that the abortion issue was high on the agenda during the by-election, which he says worked to the Democrats’ advantage.
Leadership game
With the majority in the House within reach, there is discussion about who will take over the role of speaker began joining the Republican Party.
It stands to reason that the current Minority Leader in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy (right), will take that job. But the Trump wing does not pretend to support him outright.
– What’s clearly happening behind the scenes here is that the Trump wing is saying “wait a minute, we’re not sure we want that kind of leadership. It’s too moderate,” says US expert and legal researcher Sofie Høgestøl.
Emphasize that the so-called “House Freedom Caucus”A wing among the representatives of the Republican Party. Generally considered the most conservative and right-wing section of Republicans in the House of Representatives. have pointed to alternative candidates other than Kevin McCarthy. They pointed to whip chief Steve Scalise and Vice President Mike Johnson, but both expressed support for McCarthy.
On Sunday’s CNN talk show, Pelosi also said she doubts McCarthy has the support he needs.
– The problem is that they have no alternative leadership candidates, he says.
Usually, the opposition party to the incumbent president tends to do well in the midterm elections. But the results tell a different story.
– Last week we thought Democrats would sit down this week and have heartbreaking internal discussions about how it went wrong. But what we see now is a Nancy Pelosi who says “we have the faith.” On the other side, there are the Republicans, where there are more plans unfolding against Trump than we’ve seen before, she says.
– What we are seeing now is an ever so small civil war in the Republican Party.
