A very balanced by-election is about to end. The Senate is decided, now the House of Representatives remains.
After nearly a week of counting, the American media named Democrats as the winners of the Senate election in Nevada.
Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto narrowly beat Republican Adam Laxalt in Nevada.
Masto received 48.7% of the vote, while Laxalt received 48.2%.
Thus, President Joe Biden’s party retains control of at least one house of Congress.
– I’m not surprised how it went. I’m incredibly satisfied, says Joe Biden, according to CNN.
The president says he is looking forward to the next two years.
For President Joe Biden it is important that his party continues to have control of the Senate. This makes it easier for him to gain traction for his policies.
The Senate is a part of Congress, and it is still uncertain who will win the House of Representatives. But here the Republicans currently have the most seats.
The race for the midterm elections
Democrats also recently won Senate elections in Arizona. There, Mark Kelly received the most votes and secured another seat in the Senate.
With this victory, the Democrats were left with nothing but to conquer another state, as they have now.
Now it remains to get new results from Georgia, where by-elections will be held on December 6. Since none of the candidates received more than 50% of the vote, a new election must be called.
Even if the Republicans were to win Georgia, the Democrats would still have a majority in the Senate thanks to Vice President Kamala Harris.
If it’s completely tied with 50 seats for each party, it’s Harris who has the final say.
No “red wave”
Going into the midterms, it was expected that Republicans would make a very good choice. They imagined a “red wave”.
As the votes rolled, it turned out that the Democrats were doing better than expected. Nothing ever came from the red wave.
It may still appear that Republicans could win the House of Representatives, which is one side of Congress.
Historic by-elections
This year’s by-election was historic for several states:
- Maryland has elected its first black governor, Democrat Wes Moore.
- In Massachusetts, Maura Healey (D) becomes the first female governor and the first openly gay governor in America, writes the New York Times.
- New York State gets its first female governor with Democrat Kathy Hochul, writes the New York Times.
- Arkansas also had a woman governor for the first time, Republican Sarah Huckabee Sanders, writes the AP.
- The United States also elected one of the youngest in history to the House of Representatives. 25-year-old Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D) campaigns for tougher gun laws, right to abortionclimate and health services for all.
