US midterm elections: Democrats defend Senate | tagesschau.de

According to media reports, the US Democrats will retain their majority in the Senate after the midterm elections. In the US state of Nevada, the Democratic Senator Cortez Masto was confirmed in office, who retained the decisive seat.

According to media reports, President Joe Biden’s Democrats defended their majority in the Senate in the US congressional elections. They were able to hold a hard-fought Senate seat in the state of Nevada, as reported by US television channels CNN, NBC and CBS based on vote counts.

Important success for Biden

With the victory of the Democrats in the key state, Biden is entering the second half of his term strengthened. The Democrats now have 50 of the 100 seats in the US Senate. In stalemate situations, Vice President Kamala Harris, in her role as Senate President, has the decisive vote with her vote.

The Senate is of particular importance in the political power structure of the USA. Important personal details at the federal level – such as ambassadors, cabinet members or federal judges – must be confirmed by the Senate. The appointment of judges is particularly important. Biden is now certain of the opportunity to push through further nominations.

Biden “delighted”

Biden reacted with great satisfaction to the result. “I’m incredibly pleased with the outcome,” he said in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, where he is attending the Asean Summit. “I’m feeling good and looking forward to the next few years.” Biden said he’s an incorrigible optimist, so the result doesn’t surprise him. “And I think it reflects the quality of our candidates.”

Referring to the Republican Party, which had hoped for a far better result in the midterm elections midway through Biden’s tenure and is now struggling with ex-President Donald Trump’s leadership role, the Democrat said the party must decide who it wants be.

The counting of the votes in Nevada had taken a long time due to an extremely close race between the two opponents and due to electoral peculiarities in the state. The election results in the state of Georgia are still pending, and a runoff will be held there on December 6th.

displeasure with Trump

The defeat in Nevada joins the failure of various Republican candidates who supported Trump. Their poor performance reflects on the ex-president and has cast doubt on his leadership role in the Republican Party.

Before the election, a wave of success was predicted for the Republicans and a debacle for the Democrats. But neither happened. The Democrats performed significantly better than expected – even if it is still unclear who will have the say in Congress in the future.