Following an unexpectedly strong showing in the midterm elections, in which Republicans are edging closer to a narrow majority in just one chamber of Congress, US President Joe Biden hailed a “wonderful day for democracy” on Wednesday.
While conceding the dissatisfaction of voters, Biden said that a “vast majority” of Americans backed his economic program. He also suggested that he was considering running for reelection in 2024, but he stated he would make a decision early in the next year.
In midterm elections, the incumbent party often loses, and Republicans had anticipated for a significant victory after attacking Biden over persistently rising inflation and many Republicans also supporting unsubstantiated charges about the validity of his victory against Donald Trump two years ago.Four people are killed by troops while they seek missing soldier.
“I believe it was a terrific day for democracy. And I believe that today was excellent for America “Biden said at a press briefing at the White House.
There wasn’t a massive red wave as predicted by the media and analysts.
A strong Republican showing was expected to support Donald Trump’s bid for the White House, so it was a disappointing night for him as well.
Regarding the candidates he personally supported, Trump remarked, “While in some respects yesterday’s election was somewhat disappointing, from my personal position it was a very huge win – 219 WINS and 16 Losses.”
Several of Trump’s well-known candidates were defeated, but his major adversary for the Republican presidential candidacy in 2024, Ron DeSantis, also triumphed handily to keep his position as governor of Florida.
For the first time since 2018, Republicans seem to be on course to retake the 435-member House, but only by a small margin.
Kevin McCarthy, a prominent Republican who aspires to be the next speaker of the house and who put on a brave face after his party failed to gain the 60 seats he had projected, declared: “It is apparent that we are going to take the House back.”
In contrast, Biden noted in a tweet that his party “lost fewer seats in the House of Representatives than any Democratic president’s first midterm election in at least 40 years” even though some areas were still counting votes.
“Clear and unambiguous message”
If Biden had lost the election, some could have questioned whether he should run for office again in 2024.
Instead, he performed better than his two Democratic predecessors, Bill Clinton or Barack Obama, who both lost badly in their first midterm elections.
When questioned about his plans during the press conference on Wednesday, Biden stated that he still had “intention to run again,” but that he would make up his mind “early next year.”
Biden, who will be 80 this month, praised the “record numbers” of young people who participated in the election and emphasized support for the right to an abortion, which was overturned in June by a Supreme Court that was altered by Trump nominees.
Voters made apparent their worries in the polls, according to Biden.
“There are still many people who are in pain.
“They conveyed a clear and unequivocal statement that they wish to maintain our country’s freedom of religion and democracy.”
The 36-year Senate veteran Biden also adopted a more accommodative tone toward the Republicans, saying he would cooperate with them and that the “great majority” consisted of “good, honorable people.”
The Senate was still up for grabs after the vote on Tuesday, but it was leaning Democratic. Control of the Senate may depend on a runoff election in the southern state of Georgia in December.
While more than 100 Republicans who supported Trump’s “great lie” that Biden stole the 2020 election won that night, a number of the former president’s hand-picked supporters were unsuccessful.
According to Jon Rogowski, a political science professor at the University of Chicago, “several of the candidates he sponsored underperformed and cost his party a chance to take up seats that should have been winnable.”
Rogowski stated, using abortion as an example, “Voters not only rejected many of Trump’s candidates, but they also rejected his views.”
Voters in five states approved abortion rights in ballot measures, rejecting the conservative-dominated Supreme Court’s decision to reinstate a constitutional right to the practice in June.
Republicans just required one additional seat to take control of the equally split Senate.
However, by Wednesday, Democrats had won the lone seat that had changed hands, with John Fetterman, a supporter of liberal economic policies, defeating Trump’s favored celebrity physician Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania.
A House controlled by Republicans could still scuttle Biden’s program by opening investigations, thwarting his goals about climate change, and probing the tens of billions of dollars in US aid sent to Ukraine to battle Russia.
Despite the fact that the results of the Senate contests in Arizona and Nevada have not yet been tallied, incumbent Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin was proclaimed the victor on Wednesday.
No contender in Georgia’s Senate contest received the required 50 percent of the vote, forcing a runoff on December 6.
