The Democrats finally keep control of the US Senate. Four days after the mid-term elections, outgoing Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto won on Saturday, November 12, narrowly ahead of Republican Adam Laxalt in Nevada.
This fiftieth seat is enough for the Democrats to keep control of the upper house, since, under the US Constitution, Vice President Kamala Harris has the power to decide between senators.
The Nevada poll had taken on added importance after Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly won re-election in Arizona on Friday night, giving his party 49 seats in the upper house. Republicans also have 49 – the Alaska seat has yet to be officially awarded but it cannot escape one of the Republican candidates running – but only one seat remains to be filled, on December 6 in Georgia where a second round must decide between Raphael Warnock (Democrat) and Herschel Walker (Republican).
Nevada presented one of the best opportunities for Republicans to reclaim a seat. This tourist state has a population that renews itself very quickly, which made the outcome of the election uncertain.
Republican candidate Adam Laxalt had campaigned against the current Democrat by trying to show that she was complicit in Washington’s inflation policy, in a state where the price of gasoline exceeds five dollars a gallon (i.e. approximately €1.316 per litre).
Prior to the overturning of the Roe vs. Wade decision which invalidated the right to abortion at the federal level, Mr. Laxalt had called the decision a ” joke “. He has since defended himself, saying he opposes a national ban and arguing that the right to voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion) was guaranteed by Nevada law.
Republican hopes of a “red wave” buried
This Democratic success definitively buries the Republican hopes of “red wave”, the mantra uttered by former President Donald Trump, referring to the color that accompanies his camp.
If they seem able to regain a majority in the House of Representatives, the Republicans will not be able in the Senate, for lack of a majority, to adopt laws contrary to Democratic objectives, in particular on abortion or the climate, nor block the appointments of judges , ambassadors and government officials.
These disappointing results are raising agitation among the elected representatives of the Grand Old Party in Congress, auguring possible settling of accounts. In a letter revealed by Politicoseveral Trumpist senators are asking to postpone the vote to elect their leader to the Senate scheduled for next week, seeming to challenge the tenor Mitch McConnell who wants to be reappointed to this position.
“We are all disappointed that a ‘red wave’ has not materialized, and there are several reasons for this”they write, wishing to open a debate on this subject.
The end of Republican illusions for the Senate represents a setback for Donald Trump, who is expected to announce on Tuesday that he will be a presidential candidate, his third attempt. Chance of the calendar or not, it will also be the day of the release of the memoirs of a possible competitor of Donald Trump, his former vice-president Mike Pence.