After Tuesday’s deeply polarised midterm elections, vote counting continued in deeply divided Nevada on Saturday, and the campaigning for a Dec. 6 runoff in Georgia began. This put Democrats one seat away from taking control of the U.S. Senate in 2019.
In Nevada, if Democratic incumbent Senator Catherine Cortez Masto defeats Republican challenger Adam Laxalt, her party would then hold 50 of the Senate’s 100 seats.
After winning Georgia next month, the Democrats would have complete control of the 51-49 Senate. Democrats would still control a 50-50 Senate if they lost in Georgia and won in Nevada because Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris can break ties.
Republicans and Democrats presently hold equal numbers of seats in the Senate. On January 3, the newly elected Senate will be sworn in.
According to Joe Gloria, the county registrar, the processing of ballots in Clark County, Nevada, which includes Las Vegas and leans overwhelmingly Democratic, was proceeding as over 22,000 more votes might have been tallied by late on Saturday.
This Senate race may be determined by late Saturday night because to the significant new number of votes added to the statewide total.
Laxalt was in the lead by about 800 votes as of this morning, when almost 97% of the Nevada Senate election ballots had been tabulated. Uncounted votes from areas that support Cortez Masto, though, could give her the advantage.
Gloria was questioned regarding any complaints of fraud or other anomalies from either campaign during a press conference. He replied, “So far, we haven’t heard anything from any campaign related to fraud or questioning the procedure or results.
In addition to the Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives’ majority party for the ensuing two years is still a matter of uncertainty. Although Republicans still had the advantage, results were still coming in for a number of races, including many in liberal California.
The outcome of enough House contests may not be known for at least a few more days before it can be said with certainty which party will control the 435-seat chamber.
Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez defeated Republican Trump supporter Joe Kent in Washington’s 3rd congressional district, Edison Research predicted on Saturday. Kent had campaigned with far-right U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida and admitted to holding a social media strategy call with white nationalist Nicholas Fuentes.
Late on Friday, it appeared that Democratic Senator Mark Kelly would retain his seat in Arizona, defeating Republican Blake Masters, who had not yet declared victory. This gave Democrats a significant boost.
The former astronaut and combat pilot for the Navy, Kelly, spoke briefly to his fans in Phoenix on Saturday while his wife, the late Democratic congresswoman Gabby Giffords, stood by his side. His remarks centred on the importance of bipartisan cooperation in Congress.
We’ve seen the results when leaders reject the truth and concentrate more on previous conspiracies than on the problems we face today, Kelly said, without mentioning Masters.
During the midterm elections on Tuesday, several Republican candidates, including Masters, repeated the fallacious claim made by the former president Donald Trump that huge voting fraud caused him to lose the 2020 election to Biden.
In the contest for governor of Arizona, where Democrat Katie Hobbs and Republican Kari Lake are neck-and-neck, no winner has yet been predicted.
President Joe Biden would have assurance that Majority Leader Chuck Schumer would help his nominees for dozens of federal judgeships receive confirmation if the Senate were controlled by Democrats.
That would be especially important to Democrats if a vacancy on the 6-3 conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court occurred during Biden’s remaining two years in office.
Schumer wants to quickly confirm two additional federal judges who are awaiting final votes when the outgoing Senate reconvenes on Monday for a post-election work session that may last until late December.
But if Cortez Masto falls short of Laxalt and Democrats fall short in Georgia, Schumer will have to take much longer to get judicial nominations through before stepping down on January 3. At that point, Senate Republicans would have the option of either rejecting or dragging out the confirmation of Biden nominees.
Trump, who exploited his sustained support from hard-right conservatives to influence the candidates the Republican Party selected for congressional, gubernatorial, and local races, has been looming over the 2022 midterm elections all year.
Republicans’ underwhelming showing on Tuesday has been faulted for supporting candidates who were unable to appeal to a large enough electorate, even if they do gain a slim majority in either the Senate or the House.
Trump endorsed both Laxalt and Herschel Walker, a Republican seeking to replace Senator Raphael Warnock in Georgia. Republican defeats in either of these two contests may further damage Trump’s standing, according to aides, who believe the president-elect is thinking about declaring a third presidential bid in 2024. If House Republicans are successful, they have promised to work to undo Biden’s accomplishments in the fight against climate change and to extend a number of 2017 tax cuts that are set to expire. They also intend to look into the operations of the Biden administration and the president’s son, who has connections to the Chinese and Ukrainian economies.
