Republicans moved closer on Thursday to securing a majority in the US House of Representatives, while control of the Senate hinged on some tight races, two days after Democrats staved off an expected “red wave” of Republican gains in the midterm elections. Republicans have won at least 210 House seats, Edison Research predicted, eight short of the 218 needed to wrest the House from Democrats and effectively stop President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda. While Republicans remain favored, there were 33 House contests still undecided — including 21 of the 53 most competitive races, based on a Reuters analysis of top nonpartisan pollsters — likely ensuring the final outcome won’t be decided for some time. space. Democrats avert ‘red tide’ in US midterm elections as vote counting continues Highlights of key races in the 2022 US midterm elections The fate of the Senate was much less certain. Either party could take control by winning close races in Nevada and Arizona, where incumbents collect thousands of uncounted ballots. The incumbent party has historically suffered heavy losses in a president’s first midterm election, and Tuesday’s results showed voters punishing Biden for the steepest inflation in 40 years. But Democrats were able to avoid the big defeat Republicans had predicted and were holding on to in close Senate battles in Nevada and Arizona. Tuesday’s results also showed that voters are critical of Republican efforts to ban abortions and challenge the nation’s vote-counting process. Biden had characterized the election as a test of US democracy at a time when hundreds of Republican candidates have embraced former President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen. A split in the Senate vote would mean the majority would go to a runoff election in Georgia for the second time in two years. Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker failed to reach 50% on Tuesday, forcing them into a one-on-one battle on December 6. Even a slim House majority would allow Republicans to shape the rest of Biden’s term, blocking priorities like abortion rights and launching investigations into his administration and family. Biden, who travels to Egypt on Thursday for the COP27 UN climate change summit, acknowledged that reality on Wednesday, saying he was ready to work with Republicans. A White House official said Biden spoke by phone with House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy, who earlier in the day announced his intention to run for House speaker if Republicans control the chamber. “The American people have made it clear, I think, that they expect the Republicans to be ready to work with me as well,” Biden said at a news conference. If McCarthy is the next speaker of the House, he may find it difficult to rein in his fractious caucus, with a hard-right wing that has little interest in compromise. Republicans are expected to demand spending cuts in exchange for raising the nation’s borrowing limit next year, a showdown that could spook financial markets. Control of the Senate, meanwhile, would give Republicans the power to block Biden’s nominees for judicial and administration posts. Martin: US midterm elections could be the death knell for Trump Another midterm election brings another unreadable America Thousands of votes still remained uncounted in the two closely contested states of Arizona and Nevada. Election officials in Maricopa County, Arizona’s most populous county, said it could take at least until Friday for all votes there to be counted. Some “election deniers” — those who support Trump’s false claim that he was robbed of the 2020 presidential election — won on Tuesday, but many who sought positions to oversee state elections were defeated. “It was a good day, I think, for democracy,” Biden said. Trump, who has taken an active role in recruiting Republican candidates, has had mixed results. He scored a victory in Ohio, where “Hillbilly Elegy” author JD Vance won a Senate seat to keep it in Republican hands. But several other Trump-backed candidates suffered defeats, including retired celebrity surgeon Mehmet Oz, who lost a crucial Senate race in Pennsylvania to Democrat John Fetterman. Meanwhile, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSandis, who could challenge Trump in 2024, won re-election by nearly 20 percentage points, adding to his rising national profile.
