Early tallies from Tuesday’s midterm elections showed many battleground races across the country too close to call, with control of the Senate hanging in the balance and Republicans struggling to secure sweeping victories in swing districts in the House of Representatives. . “It’s definitely not a wave,” said Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator from South Carolina, referring to the “red wave” that many pollsters had predicted would lead to Election Day. But Graham said his party was on course for a “very good night” and predicted it would win a majority in the lower house of Congress. Frank Luntz, the Republican pollster, told the FT: “This is not a tsunami. . . I think the Republicans outdid themselves.” The best early result for Republicans was in Florida, where DeSantis, seen as a likely contender for his party’s 2024 presidential nomination, was quickly projected to be re-elected along with Sen. Marco Rubio. “I’m looking forward to the road ahead,” DeSantis said. “We have achieved more than anyone thought four years ago. But we still have so much to do and I’m just starting to fight.” Lundz called de Sandys “the real winner” on Tuesday night, adding: “He has turned a successful government into a national movement. I think it will give [Donald] Trump is running for his money.” But despite a strong showing in Florida — which until recently was considered a swing state — the results were more mixed in other battleground contests. The key Senate races in Georgia, Arizona and Nevada remained extremely tight, with extremely uncertain outcomes. In Pennsylvania, John Fetterman won the Senate seat vacated by Republican Pat Toomey, despite being hampered on the campaign trail by his recent stroke. The White House said President Joe Biden sent his congratulations to Fetterman via text message. Fetterman campaigned as a working-class progressive, sporting a goatee and almost always appearing in a hoodie and shorts. “This fight is about the future of every community across Pennsylvania,” he told supporters. “For every small town or person who has ever felt left behind.” Democrats held on in several House districts on the East Coast where their candidates were seen as vulnerable, with wins for Abigail Spanberger in Virginia and Seth Magaziner in Rhode Island. Meanwhile, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was re-elected after fending off Republican challenger Lee Zeldin. The result will bring some relief to Democrats after polls showed Zeldin closing a yawning gap in recent weeks with a relentless focus on crime. Recommended Republicans need only a net gain of five seats to win a majority in the House and still have the upper hand in the lower house, but they may take control by a narrower margin than they had hoped. The White House, which was bracing for heavy losses in the House, said Biden had begun calling Democrats, including Spanberger and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, to congratulate them on their victory. Even a slim majority in the House for Republicans threatens to block the next two years of Biden’s presidency. Republican leaders have suggested they will use the debt ceiling as leverage to advance their own policy priorities, such as cuts in federal spending. They have also indicated they will disband Democratic-led investigations, including the special committee investigating Trump’s role in the January 6, 2021 attack on Capitol Hill, and launch their own investigations into everything from the origins of the Covid pandemic -19 to the business dealings of Hunter Biden, the president’s son. Republicans scored several high-profile victories outside of Florida as well, with Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, re-elected and J.
