The loss of Senate seats in Ohio and West Virginia tipped the balance of power in the upper house of the US Congress.
The Republican Party has reclaimed control of the United States Senate, ending two years of Democratic leadership.
Tuesday’s general election saw a third of the upper chamber in Congress — or 34 seats — hit the ballot, of which approximately nine were competitive.
The Democrats were vulnerable to losing their grip on the chamber, given their narrow majority. A coalition of four independent senators and 47 Democrats gave the party its 51-person majority, out of a total of 100 possible seats.
The party needed to defend every seat possible to retain control.
But on Tuesday, two key defeats decisively put the power over the Senate back in Republican hands.
Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown lost his bid for re-election in the midwestern state of Ohio. Meanwhile, in West Virginia, Republicans picked up a seat formerly held by retiring independent Senator Joe Manchin.
The Republican Party also successfully defended a vulnerable seat in Texas, held by Senator Ted Cruz. Tuesday was Cruz’s second time beating back a Democratic contender angling to take his seat.
Meanwhile, in Nebraska, another Republican incumbent Deb Fischer fended off an upstart challenge from independent candidate Dan Osborn, who made the race a nailbiter in its final weeks.
The shift in control over the Senate could pave the way for Republicans to hold both chambers in Congress, which would give the party power over the legislative agenda for at least the next two years.
It also grants Republicans significant sway over nominations for the Supreme Court, the presidential cabinet, ambassadorships and other federal positions that the president nominates.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump remarked on the chamber’s flip in his election night remarks from West Palm Beach, Florida, in the early hours of Wednesday.
“We have taken back control of the Senate. Wow,” Trump said. “I mean, the number of victories in the Senate was absolutely incredible.”
“Nobody expected that. Nobody. So I just wanted to thank you very much for that. You have some great senators and some great new senators.”
What happened?
Tuesday’s race to maintain the Senate was always an uphill battle for Democrats.
Under the US Constitution, the Senate has a staggered process for shaking up its ranks: Only a third of the chamber is up for re-election at any given point.
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Senators serve a six-year term — much longer than the two years awarded to their counterparts in the House of Representatives. That makes each seat all the more precious.
In 2022, the midterm elections resulted in a surprise upset. While Republicans were expected to maintain their lead in the Senate, they fell short when a predicted “red wave” failed to materialise. Wins in battleground states like Georgia gave Democrats the leadership.
Fast forward to 2024, and the Democrats were on the defensive. Seven of the nine toss-up races for the Senate were held by Democrats. By contrast, only two Republicans — Cruz and Fischer — were considered vulnerable.
In short, the Democrats had more to lose.
West Virginia has long been a Republican stronghold, which made the retiring Senator Manchin something of a unicorn.
Since 2000, the Appalachian state has consistently voted Republican in presidential races by healthy margins.
But Manchin — a moderate Democrat before switching to his present independent status — had been a unifying figure in the state.
The announcement in November 2023 that he would retire opened up a tantalising fight for Republicans.
Governor Jim Justice, a Democrat turned Republican, quickly threw his hat into the ring. He won the governor’s mansion in West Virginia in 2016, the same year Republican Donald Trump took the White House, leading a wave of “outsider” candidates.
On Tuesday night, Justice — known for campaigning with a pudgy bulldog named Baby Dog — handily defeated Glenn Elliott, the Democratic mayor of the city of Wheeling.
Source: Al Jazeera