Nevada has just brought a decisive victory to Joe Biden for the rest of his presidency. The Democratic Party indeed won the seat it lacked on Saturday to retain control of the United States Senate.
Four days after the midterm elections, US media declared victory for Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto in the key state of Nevada. The incumbent narrowly beat Adam Laxalt, a candidate supported by former President Donald Trump, according to American television networks.
His re-election brings the number of Democrats elected to the Senate to 50 out of 100, which allows Joe Biden’s party to keep control of the upper house of Congress. Under the Constitution, Vice President Kamala Harris has the power to decide between senators. The Democrats could also still win a seat in the state of Georgia, where a second round will be organized on December 6.
Towards a Republican House of Representatives
The Republicans, however, seem able to regain a majority in the House of Representatives. They should use it to launch numerous parliamentary inquiries into the current administration.
But without the Senate, they will not be able to pass laws contrary to Joe Biden’s goals, including on abortion or the climate, or block his appointments of judges, ambassadors and government officials. In addition, their victory promises to be much shorter than announced. The NBC News channel projected a frail majority of five seats for the Republicans on Saturday morning with 220 elected against 215 for the Democrats. Nearly 20 polls have still not given their verdict.
The disappointing results of the Republicans raise the agitation among their elected officials. In a letter revealed by Politico, several Trumpist senators are asking to postpone the vote to elect their leader in the Senate scheduled for next week, seeming to challenge the tenor Mitch McConnell who wants to be reappointed to this post. “We are all disappointed that a ‘red wave’ (the color of their party) has not materialized”, they write, wishing to open a debate on this subject.
The end of Republican illusions for the Senate also represents a setback for Donald Trump. Already, on Friday, the Democrats had won in Arizona, where the outgoing Mark Kelly had beaten the Republican Blake Masters, who had received the strong support of the former head of state, and who has still not recognized his defeat. Stung by this setback, which adds to other failures of his foals, Donald Trump once again cried out for “electoral fraud” refusing to admit the verdict of the polls, as he has done since his defeat in the presidential election of 2020.
Even if his influence on the Republican Party remains undeniable, he is actually coming out of the mid-term elections weakened and seems to want to act quickly to pull the rug out from under his rivals. Among them is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, triumphantly reelected and new star of the hard right.