Republicans appeared on Tuesday to regain their stranglehold on the US House of Representatives, following the midterm elections, as the race for the Senate is very tight. The main unknown for them remained the size that their majority would take, if they obtain it.
At the time these lines were written, nothing had yet been decided, in a campaign that was notably dominated by inflation, and this, to the detriment of the Democrats.
CNN indicated around 11:30 p.m. that the Republicans were ahead with 170 seats, against 113 for the Democrats. Four hundred and thirty-five seats are at stake in this chamber that the Democrats dominated before the vote, and the Republicans need to elect only five additional representatives to obtain the coveted majority.
The first polling places closed at 6 p.m. in much of Indiana and Kentucky. At the start and for much of the evening, the Conservatives made some gains and had a seat-to-seat lead. But results from several counties and states were still awaited, and analysts wanted to be cautious.
On the side of the Senate, where 35 seats out of 100 are at stake, the two parties are neck and neck for the moment, according to the predictions of several American media. The Conservatives need just one new seat to take over this chamber.
Thirty-six states out of 50 elected a new governor on their side and, during the evening, the Democrats seemed to be resisting against the Republicans. The Democrats have snatched two governorships from the Republicans: in Maryland and Massachusetts, where Maura Healey will be the first lesbian to head a state. Former Donald Trump spokeswoman at the White House Sarah Huckabee Sanders has also been elected to the post of governor of Arkansas.
Voters could however wait for long hours, even several days, warned the authorities, before knowing the color of the next Congress in Washington.
A return of Trump?
Inflation, at more than 8.2% year-on-year in the United States, dominated the other issues during the elections. “This is the issue that has remained at the top of the concerns of Americans in poll after poll,” says Christophe Cloutier-Roy, interim director of the Observatory on the United States of the Raoul-Dandurand Chair. This is probably the issue that most preoccupied the Americans who were not convinced supporters, therefore the pivotal voters. »
Democrats are hurting because the economy is doing badly, he adds. “If the Republicans had been in power, they would have paid the price,” he said. There is a direct correlation between the performance of a party and the performance of the economy. »
Both sides of the political spectrum also remained firmly on their respective themes. The Democrats posed as defenders of democracy and the right to abortion against Republicans deemed “extremist”. The conservatives, on the other hand, acted as guarantors of order in the face of a so-called “lax and radical” left in matters of security and immigration.
It is a country divided and crossed by conspiracy theories which went to the polls on Tuesday, while the shadow of former President Donald Trump still hovers, who could jump again in the arena during the presidential elections of 2024.
He was present during the mid-term elections and promised this week “a very big announcement on Tuesday, November 15 in Mar-a-Lago”.
Wednesday marks the start of the presidential campaign, believes Christophe Cloutier-Roy. “He is in good shape to win the Republican nomination, but people may run against him. For example, Governor Ron DeSantis, who easily won his election to this position. But he recalls that Trump remains a “quite unpopular” candidate with the general electorate. “He’s not necessarily a very strong candidate for the Republican Party,” he said, adding that a close election is to be expected in 2024.
According to an analysis of washington post, they are also nearly 300 Republican candidates to be convinced that there was electoral fraud in the 2020 election, which ousted the controversial billionaire from power. Some, like in Arizona or Nevada, could find themselves in a position of authority for the official certification of the vote in two years, which raises some concern.
American conservatives, Donald Trump in the lead, also denounced on Tuesday localized technical incidents that occurred in polling stations, the former American president going so far as to call on his supporters to “contest” the results.
The independent organization Vote.org confirmed in a statement the existence of “technical problems with voting machines in some states”, while stressing that the authorities were doing “everything to […] ensuring voters have other options for casting their ballots today.”
Several referenda
One hundred and thirty-six referendums were also held across the country on issues like guns, marijuana legalization and, most importantly, abortion, following the overturning of the ruling. Roe v. wade by the Supreme Court. The decision to ban or legalize abortion is now in the hands of the states, and five of them have asked their constituents to decide on the matter.
Eyes are particularly on Michigan, where the right to abortion could be guaranteed in the State Constitution, as well as Kentucky, which for its part wants to do the opposite and not protect this right. Shortly after 11 p.m., nearly 55% of Michigan voters were in favor of protecting the right to abortion with 31% of the votes counted. In Kentucky, nearly 53% of voters rejected the amendment with 80% of votes counted.
With Agence France-Presse