But Republicans remained close to winning control of the House of Representatives as officials continued to count ballots in Tuesday’s US midterm elections. Cortez Masto narrowly defeated Republican challenger Adam Laxalt, a former state attorney general who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump. With Masto’s victory following Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly’s re-election in Arizona late Friday, Democrats will control at least 50 Senate seats, with Vice President Kamala Harris able to break ties in the 100-member chamber. The Senate is split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans. The newly elected Senate will be sworn in on January 3. If Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock were to win Georgia’s Dec. 6 runoff over Republican challenger Herschel Walker, it would expand the Democratic majority to 51-49. That, in turn, would give Democrats an added advantage in passing a limited number of controversial bills that are allowed to advance with a simple majority vote, rather than the 60 required for most legislation. Democratic senators Joe Manchin in West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema in Arizona are swing votes that have blocked or delayed some of Biden’s major initiatives, including the expansion of some social programs. But with 51 Democratic seats in the upcoming Congress, Manchin and Sinema’s influence would be slightly diminished. It remains unknown which party will hold the majority in the US House of Representatives for the next two years. Republicans continued to hold an advantage, but returns were still pouring in for several races, including several in liberal-leaning California. Democrats scored a major upset Saturday with a projected victory in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, where Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez beat Trump-endorsed Joe Kent. It could take several days or more for the outcome of several House races to determine party control of that 435-seat chamber. Democrats received a major boost late Friday when Kelly, the Democratic senator from Arizona, was projected to retain his seat, defeating Republican Blake Masters, who like Laxalt was endorsed by Trump. Masters has not conceded the match. Kelly, a former Navy fighter pilot and astronaut, delivered a brief victory speech to supporters in Phoenix on Saturday with his wife, former Democratic Rep. Gabby Giffords, by his side. His remarks focused on working in Congress in a bipartisan manner. Kelly did not mention Masters, but said: “We have seen the consequences that come when leaders refuse to accept the truth and focus more on past conspiracies than solving the challenges we face today.” In the midterm elections, many Republican candidates, including Masters, are echoing former President Trump’s false claim that he lost the 2020 election to Biden due to massive voter fraud. In Nevada, where officials in Clark County were processing ballots that arrived by mail and through PO boxes, County Clerk Joe Gloria said no candidates had made allegations of fraud in his office. “We haven’t heard anything from any campaign related to fraud or questioning” the process or the results, he told a news conference. No winner is yet in sight in Arizona’s governor’s race, where Democrat Katie Hobbs maintains a narrow lead over Republican Kari Lake. In the race for Nevada secretary of state, Democrat Cisco Aguilar defeated Republican Jim Marchand, a known supporter of Trump’s false claim of voter fraud in 2020.
JUDICIAL CANDIDATES ARE OPENING
A Democratic-controlled Senate will provide Biden with insurance that his nominees to fill dozens of federal jobs will win confirmation under the guidance of Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. That would be especially critical for Democrats if a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court, which now has a 6-3 conservative majority, opens up in the final two years of Biden’s term. When the outgoing Senate returns Monday for a post-election work session that could last until late December, Schumer aims to immediately confirm two more federal judges awaiting final votes. Hovering over the 2022 midterm elections all year is Trump, who has used his continued popularity among far-right conservatives to influence the GOP’s race-based candidates for Congress, the state and local government. With Republicans underperforming Tuesday — even if they win control of the House with a narrow majority — Trump has been accused of boosting candidates who were unable to appeal to a broad enough electorate. Both Laxalt and Walker of Georgia won Trump’s endorsement. Republican losses in either of those two races could further dent Trump’s popularity as advisers say he is considering announcing a third run for the presidency in 2024. House Republicans, if they pull off a victory, have pledged to try to reverse Biden’s climate change victories and want to make permanent a series of expiring 2017 tax cuts. They have also planned investigations into the activities of the Biden administration and investigations into the president’s son, who has had business dealings with Ukraine and China. (Reporting by Tim Reid in Phoenix; Additional reporting and writing by Richard Cowan in Washington; Editing by Daniel Wallis and William Mallard)
