The announced victory of incumbent Democrat Mark Kelly in Arizona on Friday means that the Senate is currently tied at 49-49, with two seats remaining to be decided, in Nevada and Georgia, four days after the American midterm elections.
It is enough for the Democrats to win one to keep control of the upper house, since they will be able to use the vote of Vice-President Kamala Harris to decide the ties, as provided for in the Constitution.
In his victory speech, astronaut Mark Kelly on Saturday called on his opponent to turn the page. “We have seen what happens when leaders refuse to accept the truth and focus on conspiratorial theories of the past rather than solving the challenges we face today,” he added.
His opponent Blake Masters, who had received strong support from Donald Trump, has still not conceded defeat.
Stung by this setback in Arizona, which adds to other failures of his foals, the former president once again shouted “electoral fraud” refusing to admit the verdict of the polls, as he has done since his defeat in the 2020 presidential election.
On the side of the House of Representatives, the Republicans seemed poised to regain the majority of seats, which will complicate the continuation of President Joe Biden’s term.
But their victory promises to be much shorter than announced. The NBC News channel projected a frail majority of five seats for the Republicans on Saturday morning with 220 elected against 215 for the Democrats.
Nearly 20 polls have still not given their verdict, however, mainly in California.
Driven by high inflation, Republicans have long believed they have a boulevard to regain both chambers in this traditionally difficult election for the ruling party.
Their disappointing results are raising unrest among their elected officials in Congress, auguring possible settling of accounts.
In a letter revealed by Politico, several Trumpist senators are asking to postpone the vote to elect their Senate leader scheduled for next week, appearing to challenge tenor Mitch McConnell who wants to be reappointed to the position.
“We are all disappointed that a red wave (the color of their party, nldr) has not materialized, and there are several reasons for this”, they write, wishing to open a debate on this subject.
– “Ron-la-Morale” –
Everyone already has the 2024 presidential election in mind, with the prospect of seeing former President Donald Trump announce his candidacy in just three days from his residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida.
“President Trump will announce on Tuesday that he is a candidate for the presidential election. And it will be a very professional, very neat announcement,” his adviser Jason Miller confirmed on Friday, removing all suspense.
Donald Trump’s candidacy will be his third in the White House. Even if his influence on the Republican Party remains undeniable, he emerged weakened from the mid-term elections and seems to want to act quickly to pull the rug out from under his rivals.
Among them is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, triumphantly re-elected and new star of the hard right.
His success has not escaped the billionaire, who chained this week spades and mockery against the one he nicknamed “Ron-la-Morale”.
And, coincidence of the calendar or not, Tuesday will also be the day of the release of the memoirs of another possible competitor of Donald Trump, his former vice-president Mike Pence.
The 2024 election could be a remake of that of 2020: his then opponent, current Democratic President Joe Biden, reaffirmed this week his “intention” to run for a second term. But he took care to postpone any final decision until next year.
