The Republicans have barely managed to garner the minimum number of seats to form a majority in the House of Representatives, The Washington Post reported. After almost a week from the day of the election, Republican Mike Garcia clinched California’s 27th Congressional District, securing the 218th seat for the Grand Old Party (GOP).
Kevin McCarthy, the party’s elected House leader, announced the win on Twitter. “Democrats’ One-Party rule is OVER,” McCarthy wrote on Twitter, adding that he and House Republicans were “ready to get to work for the American people, and fulfill our #CommitmentToAmerica with a GOP House Majority.”
Neck To Neck Fight
However, the democrats managed to retain their hold of the Senate after John Fetterman displaced his Republican counterpart in Pennsylvania and while Mark Kelly and Catherine Cortez Masto managed to retain their positions in Arizona and Nevada respectively. President Joe Biden congratulated McCarthy and expressed his desire to be able to sit across the table and work together and deliver results. “The American people want us to get things done for them,” Biden said in a statement, “In this election, voters spoke clearly about their concerns: the need to lower costs, protect the right to choose, and preserve our democracy,” he added.
Not only the Senate, the Democrats also performed fairly well and beyond their own expectation in the House of Representatives as well. While the Republicans did make inroads in key Democratic districts in New York, New Jersey, Virginia, and Florida, the Democrats managed to cash in on the ‘abortion’ campaign and took advantage of the political repercussions of the Republican support to the abortion ban in states like Michigan. Candidate quality also played a role.
This stiff competition came as a surprise to political analysts and the Republicans as the incumbent president’s party is almost always expected to lose significantly in a first mid-term. Combined with this trend the aggressive campaigning led by the GOP on rising inflation, the worsening state of the economy, recession, etc, a ‘red wave” was expected to sweep these elections in favor of the Republicans and lay the foundations of launching a successful 2024 presidential campaign.
The narrow win is being blamed on several factors within the Republican camp. Candidates backed by Trump lost heavily in many areas and his divisive personality and unstable way of functioning are being seen as a hindrance to the party’s prospects. Also, the democrats were easily able to capitalize on the anti-abortion stance of the Republicans along with being able to project the GOP as a threat to the democratic fabric of the country in many areas.
Power Tussle In Washington
This sets up a power-sharing arrangement between both parties in Washington for the coming two years. The republicans are largely expected to subpoena Biden’s cabinet and family members over various administrative issues including the president’s son Hunter’s past business dealings with China and other countries – and even Biden himself by using the investigative committees of the House. This also might extend to many Silicon Valley companies as well which are seen as hostile to the Republicans. They also expected to further legislation on slashing government spending, expanding fossil fuel production, and extending tax cuts to the corporate sector. This will pose a significant roadblock in furthering Biden’s agenda in Congress, even with his veto power and Senate control.
Also, McCarthy would need to handle the internal divisions of the GOP in order to build consensus around legislation. With the far-right in the Republican Party already seeing eye-to-eye with the relative moderates, the slim majority would require keeping hold of every single vote in order to initiate any effective legislative measures to hamper the Democratic Party objectives.
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