Senate elections in six even-numbered states can be decisive for the exercise of power in the United States.
A handful of Senate elections will be the most important on Tuesday.
Democrats and Republicans are tied in the Senate, with 50 seats each, but Democrats have the majority thanks to the vote of Vice President Kamala Harris.
BACKGROUND: Therefore, the mid-term elections are a fateful choice for Biden and Trump
The Pennsylvania election is one of the few hopes Democrats have of winning a seat in the Republican Senate this year. Senator Pat Toomey resigns after twelve years in office and the Democrats join popular lieutenant governor John Fetterman.
He is an unconventional candidate of over two meters who often wears hoodies. The Republican candidate is former TV doctor Mehmet Oz.
The election campaign was not a good one and both current and former presidents were involved. In the last few days before the election, Donald Trump was a speaker at the election meetings in Oz, while Joe Biden and Barack Obama campaigned for Fetterman. The fight also took place on social media, with sharp blows from both sides.
Relocation and health problems
Fetterman points out that Oz lived in New Jersey until recently, only moving to Pennsylvania recently to run for office.
– I have green bananas that have been in Pennsylvania longer than Dr. Oz, Fetterman wrote in a Twitter message.
In addition, the TV doctor is portrayed as rich and without contact with the ground. Oz points out in return Fetterman’s health, in connection with his stroke in May, and that he too comes from a wealthy background.
– If John Fetterman had eaten a vegetable in his life, he may not have had a severe stroke, a campaign statement from Oz said.
There are real differences in the duo’s politics as well. Oz receives sharp criticism for his opposition to abortion, while Fetterman is described as lenient towards crime.
The old football player is hanging on the ropes
In the southern state of Georgia, it is the Democrats who are on the defensive. Since Pastor Raphael Warnock was elected to the Senate in a special election in 2020, he is running for re-election as early as this year. There he fights a tough battle against veteran football player Herschel Walker, who enjoys hero status in the state for his achievements on the Georgia college team.
In the state, which has tended to vote Republican in recent decades, Walker should have initially had a very good chance of winning the election.
But in a bitter election campaign, Walker’s message about abortion bans and dissatisfaction with the economy was overshadowed by other things. He accuses him of partner rape, forged CVs, illegitimate children, and of paying women for two abortions. At the same time, Warnock’s election campaign focused on abortion rights, lowering drug prices and fighting climate change is not gaining much ground.
Democrats are losing ground among Latin Americans
Things are worse for the Democrats in Nevada. There, incumbent Senator Catherine Cortez Masto is fighting a tough battle against Republican Adam Laxalt, who has a narrow lead in the polls. Here the Democrats are mainly fighting against the low turnout among voters of Latin American origin, despite Cortez Masto being the first woman of Latin American origin in the Senate.
The Democrats have the same problem in Arizona, one of the most exciting states in the entire election. Here Senator Mark Kelly is likely to win re-election, but he’s worse off in major elections for positions like governor. The election campaign here is about the economy, abortion, issues of value and immigration across the border with Mexico.
This creates problems for Democratic candidate Katie Hobbs, who is almost consistently a few percentage points behind Republican Kari Lake. Trump-backed Lake believes the 2020 election was characterized by fraud and Joe Biden was not legally elected. This means that the elections could potentially influence the 2024 presidential election.
“Unfortunately, we had a stolen election and now we have an illegitimate president in the White House,” Lake said in June when he campaigned before the primary.
Seated senators in trouble
More surprising is the battle in New Hampshire, where incumbent Senator Maggie Hassan had long been advised to win re-election by a comfortable margin. The opponent Don Bolduc was attacked during the election campaign for his extreme views, but has softened in recent weeks. Opinion polls currently indicate a narrow victory for Hassan, but it will be very balanced.
In Wisconsin, Democrats still see little hope of taking over from Republican Ron Johnson in the Senate. However, Democratic Deputy Governor Mandela Barnes struggled with allegations of being lenient with criminals. Here too Obama intervened to conduct an electoral campaign.
