A day after the midterm elections, Republicans and Democrats are in a tight contest for control of the US Congress.
As ballots are still being counted, the Republicans are favored to win the House of Representatives, but the Senate race is extremely close.
In Pennsylvania, Democrats have won a vital Senate seat, but two other races remain too close to call, and one will be decided in a runoff next month.
The economy and abortion topped the list of voter worries.
Even though this should have benefited the Republicans, they have not witnessed the “red wave” of victories they had anticipated.
The United States Congress consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate. All 435 House of Representatives seats and 35 of the 100 Senate seats were up for election. Representatives of the House serve their local communities, while Senators represent their states’ interests.
Even though Democratic Vice President Joe Biden is not on the ballot, the midterm elections will determine the fate of his plan. If Democrats lose control of the House or Senate, Republicans will be able to thwart his initiatives.
Mr. Biden stated on Wednesday that Tuesday’s election was “a fantastic day for democracy” in the United States. In the run-up to the election, he had cautioned that the Republicans, who fielded several candidates who repeated erroneous accusations that the previous presidential election had been manipulated, posed a threat to democracy.
Left-leaning Democrat John Fetterman, who has been recovering from a stroke, defeated Trump-backed celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania’s most closely-watched Senate contest.
The Georgia Senate contest between Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican opponent Herschel Walker will be decided in a runoff in four weeks, as neither candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote.
The outcomes of other crucial Senate elections in Arizona and Nevada remain uncertain. As additional votes are counted, Arizona is leaning Democratic, while Nevada remains a toss-up.
It implies that it could take days or even weeks to determine which party holds power in the upper chamber of Congress.
In addition, elections for state governors were held in several states. In the critical states of Texas, Florida, and Georgia, Republicans have maintained control of the governorships.
Mr. Trump, who is poised to declare his candidacy for president in 2024, has also witnessed some of his backed candidates fail.
On Wednesday, he stated that “although in some ways yesterday’s election was slightly disappointing, it was a tremendous success for me personally.”
Historically, the president’s party performs poorly in midterm elections. Despite cutting prescription medicine prices, developing clean energy, and overhauling the US infrastructure, Mr. Biden’s popularity has suffered during the worst inflation in four decades.
As a result of the conservative-dominated Supreme Court’s decision last year to overturn a US constitutional right to the practice, Republicans faced their political vulnerability on the topic of abortion.
On Tuesday, voters in Vermont, California, and Michigan voted to entrench abortion rights in their respective state constitutions, precluding any future legislative attempt to impose limitations.
In the meantime, Kentucky rejected a constitutional proposal that would have prohibited abortions. However, the result will not instantly overturn the state’s current law, which outlaws it virtually totally.
