As vote counting continues in the 2020 U.S. presidential and congressional elections, the Democratic Party’s opening results in both chambers so far have not been as optimistic as predicted before the election. Although the House majority will continue to be controlled by the Democrats, the Republicans have already captured several key battleground districts, injecting more new blood into the Republican Party and expanding their power in the House of Representatives. At the same time, Democrats’ chances of becoming the majority party in the Senate are now increasingly slim. It is expected that the new Congress will continue to be divided.
According to the latest Associated Press exit poll, the Democrats won 204 seats in the House of Representatives, while the Republicans had 190 seats, with 41 districts yet to be declared.
It is widely expected that the Democrats will still be able to break through the 218-seat threshold and continue to control the majority in the House of Representatives, but will probably not be able to maintain the current 232 seats.
Although congressional Democrats were leading Republicans in polls and campaign financing before the election, the results so far have not been as positive as expected. Democrats won two open seats in North Carolina that had been Republican-controlled, but Democratic challengers have yet to capture any of the Republican House seats for re-election.
Not only that, but several veteran Democrats were even defeated, including nearly 30-year House Agriculture Committee Chairman Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN), who lost to Republican challenger Rep. Michelle Fischbach (D-MN) in a deep-blue Democratic ironclad district.
House Republican Leader: Women and Minority Members Will Increase Substantially
On the House Republican side of the race, in addition to holding on to all the seats they currently hold, Republican challengers have surprisingly beaten their competitors from several key battleground districts, such as Republican challenger Stephanie Bice’s (R-Okla.) successful defeat of moderate incumbent Democratic Rep. Kendra Horn (D-OK) in the hotly contested Oklahoma 5th District and Republican candidate Yvette Herrell’s (R-Okla.) victory over incumbent Democratic Rep. Kendra Horn (D-OK), and Republican candidate Yvette Herrell (D-OK) defeated incumbent Democratic Rep. Xochitl Torres Small (D-NM) to win New Mexico’s 2nd District seat.
According to U.S. media predictions, the Republicans are now likely to win up to 10 of the 197 seats in the House of Representatives.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), the House Minority Leader, held a press conference in Congress on Wednesday (Nov. 4) to credit President Trump for the Republican Party’s success in the congressional elections.
“The Republican coalition is stronger, more diverse, and more vibrant than ever before. That’s because of President Trump, who has worked hard to reach out to every group, and whose efforts have positively changed the future of the Republican Party,” McCarthy said at the press conference.
McCarthy added, “So far, we’ve added seven Republican seats. We still have 11 very tight races going on, and I’m very confident that we’ll continue to grow the number of seats.”
In addition, the new Congress, which will take office next January, will have a record percentage of Republican members who are both women and minorities at the same time.
“We could add another 14 to 19 Republican women members at the same time. This will break the record for the most female members of the Republican Party, the number will more than double, and we will set a record for the most female members of the Republican Party ever,” said McCarthy. “We may also add six to nine minority members to our caucuses, from Florida to New Mexico to Texas. to Oklahoma, and then to California. I’m proud of our candidates and our members.”
Key Senate races continue to be tight as Democrats struggle to become majority party
In the Senate race, the Democrats are actively fighting for the Senate majority. However, so far, the Democratic candidates for the Senate have also performed worse than expected in terms of opening votes. It is highly unlikely that the Democrats will be able to shake the Republican majority in the Senate.
In the current political landscape of 53 Republican seats to 45 Democrat seats plus 2 independent Senate seats, the Democrats only need a net gain of three to four seats without losing points to take the majority in the Senate.
However, as of this writing, while Democrats in key battleground states have managed to pick up two Republican seats, Senator Cory Gardner (R-CO) of Colorado and Senator Martha McSally (R-AZ) of Arizona, the Republicans have similarly picked up One seat for Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL), a Democrat from Alabama.
In other words, the Democrats currently have only one new seat in the Senate. The two parties currently have 48 Republican seats and 46 Democrat seats in the Senate.
The Senate race also has vote counting underway in three key states, including North Carolina, Georgia, and Alaska. Although the results of these key districts are not yet in, the Republicans are leading in these battleground states in terms of vote counts.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who was re-elected in this year’s congressional elections, told the media on Wednesday that he is confident that the Republicans will continue to maintain control of the Senate.
“There’s confidence that no matter who ends up in power, we’re going to be able to try to overcome everything and get results,” McConnell added.
Casey Burgat, director of the Legislative Affairs Program at George Washington University’s Department of Politics, told VOA that if the Democrats are unable to win both the presidency and both houses of Congress to reach full power, the political process in Washington could grind to a halt.
“If Congress is controlled by one party and the president is from another party, then you can imagine that there may not be a lot of legislative work that gets done,” Burgat said.
House Speaker Pelosi said House Democrats would have the opportunity to push hard for legislative programs, including Medicare and new infrastructure, if Democratic presidential candidate Biden ends up in the White House. However, if Republicans remain in control of the Senate, it’s uncertain whether legislation that Democrats want to prioritize will be passed by the Senate.
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