[NTD, Beijing, November 09, 2022]Voting in the U.S. midterm elections is over, and many fierce congressional contests hang in the balance in the early hours of Wednesday (9th), and it is unclear whether Republicans will break the Democrats’ grip on congressional power.
Preliminary results and projections for key races on the night of Nov. 8 showed some moderate Democrats taking key seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, while Republicans made big victories in states such as Florida and Ohio.
Democrat John Fetterman’s victory in Pennsylvania flipped a Republican Senate seat, boosting his party’s chances of holding the Senate. That means Republicans must win at least two of the three pending Senate elections in Georgia, Arizona and Nevada to take control of the Senate.
With Democrats performing better than expected in several key elections, some Republicans were quick to note that the red wave that many had predicted did not materialize.
Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, expressed regret that the Republican Party failed to show signs of winning in the midterm elections on the 8th night. “It’s definitely not a Republican wave, that’s for sure,” he said in an interview with NBC.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said early on the 9th that Democrats had “strongly exceeded expectations,” but noted that some contests were still too close to declare a winner.
According to a Reuters analysis of the leading Edison Research, only 13 of the 53 fiercest races will be decided, and the final outcome may not be known for some time.
Republicans are still favored to win the House majority, with an 84 percent chance, according to The New York Times.
As of the early morning of the 9th, the party had flipped six Democratic House seats, one more than the minimum required to take over the House, according to estimates by Edison Research, a nonpartisan forecasting agency.
A Republican majority in the House of Representatives, even a small majority, would be able to block Biden’s legislative agenda while launching investigations into his administration and family. With votes still being counted in several states, it is still possible that Republicans could eventually control both the House and Senate.
In the run-up to the election, political analysts are increasingly convinced that the energy sparked by the U.S. Supreme Court’s June ruling stripping the Constitution of abortion protections will not be enough to save Democrats compared with voters’ concerns about the economy.
But signs on the evening of the 8th suggested that abortion remained a strong issue. In Michigan, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer vowed to fight “desperately” for abortion rights, defeating Republican challenger Tudor Dixon.
Exit polls conducted by Edison Research show the economy and abortion are the top two concerns for voters, with 76 percent of Democrats saying abortion is their biggest driver of voting.
Voters in Michigan also approved a ballot issue that would provide state constitutional protections for abortion, meaning Republican lawmakers will face a formidable hurdle as they try to limit the process.
With the count not over, it means opportunity. More than 46 million Americans voted by mail or early on Election Day, according to the American Elections Project, and state election officials say counting ballots takes time.
(Comprehensive report by reporter Li Zhaoxi/responsible editor: Lin Qing)
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