Do not “wave” the Republicans in the US midterm elections

Joe Biden’s Democratic Party has held out better in the US midterm elections than expected, depriving Donald Trump of the “wave” of elected officials on which the Republican billionaire has relied on surfing to once again launch his occupation of the White House.

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On a Tuesday-Wednesday night, the Republicans looked well placed to win a majority in the House, but with a victory much shorter than they had hoped.

As for the Senate, the 79-year-old president’s camp clinched the most contested seats from Republicans on that ballot.

Democrat Jon Fetterman’s victory in Pennsylvania, on a tense evening marked by laborious vote-counting, gave Biden hope of retaining control of that room, where Republicans have so far had a slight advantage in the polls.

The final composition of the Senate is now suspended in four seats: Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, and Wisconsin, all states in which counting these votes may take several days.

After a vicious campaign centered on inflation, Republicans were nonetheless confident of their chances of depriving Joe Biden, a poorly-rated president, of his majority in Congress on Tuesday.

Two years after the presidential election, the midterm elections function almost systematically as a punitive vote for the incumbent power.

In a sign of optimism in the Republican camp, the “old big party” was aiming for seats in the electoral districts that Democrats were supposed to win.

But the Republican Party, which until recently was credited with a lead of 10, 25, or even 30 seats, has had to revise its ambitions downward.

“Obviously we’re going to take over the House,” he confined himself to the release of Republican tenor Kevin McCarthy, mid-evening, without mentioning the tidal wave.

“It’s definitely not a Republican wave, that’s for sure,” influential Senator Lindsey Graham, a close friend of Donald Trump, admitted on NBC.

As for state governors — 36 of those positions of great influence were up for grabs on Tuesday — Joe Biden’s party saved itself from the big panic by retaining control of New York state, where Republicans thought they were in control. able to remove Governor Cathy Hochhol.

Democrats also wrested two states from Republicans: in Maryland and Massachusetts, where Maura Healey will be the first lesbian to head a state. Joe Biden immediately called her to congratulate her.

The Democratic camp also didn’t say its last word in Arizona, where the outcome of the race between Trump favorite Carrie Lake and Democrat Katie Hobbs remains unknown.

“I’m willing to wait as long as there is a need,” John Mulling told AFP, wearing a cowboy hat at his stately Republican ranch on election night in the suburbs of Phoenix.

In Arizona, the former president raised doubts about the regularity of polling operations, citing very local technical incidents that affected voting machines.

As the evening progressed, Donald Trump, anxious to avoid any criticism of the Republican results, said his party was running an election “a great evening.” Democrats and the “fake news” media were accused of doing everything they could to diminish the successes of his followers.

The windy billionaire was betting on a landslide victory for his aides to launch himself under better auspices in the 2024 presidential race. He promised to that effect a “very big announcement” on November 15.

A way to pull the rug out from under one of those potential contenders for the Republican nomination, Ron DeSantis.

But from this midterm election, the governor of Florida, who was re-elected victorious, emerged stronger.

A rising star in the conservative camp, Ron DeSantis congratulated himself in an abusive speech for making this southern state, which has long been considered sometimes leaning to the left, sometimes to the right, the “promised land” of Republicans, where “ideology has woken + comes to die.”

“I just started fighting,” promised the 44-year-old governor.