The midterm legislative elections represented “a good day for democracy” and “a good day for America”, welcomed Wednesday, November 9, President Joe Biden, whose Democratic camp limited the breakage despite the predictions that gave Republicans a big lead in the House of Representatives. “While the press and pundits were predicting a giant red wave, it didn’t happen,” he added, alluding to the Republican party color.
“Voters spoke clearly about their concerns, rising prices (…) and the need to bring inflation down,” he said, also mentioning concerns about “crime and security “, all subjects on which the Republicans have campaigned fiercely. But the Americans have also “sent a clear and unambiguous message that they want to preserve our democracy and protect the right to choose in this country”, underlined the head of state, while the right to abortion , blasted this summer at the federal level by the Supreme Court, was one of the main themes of the campaign.
Joe Biden also said he was “ready to work” with the Republican opposition and said he was open to all “good ideas”, indicating that the leaders of the other camp would soon be invited to the White House. This high place of American power that he would see himself occupying four more years: he reiterated “intends” to run for a second term in 2024, but will not confirm it until “at the beginning of next year” . Joe Biden, the oldest American president ever elected, will be 80 years old in a few days and the prospect of a new candidacy hardly enchants public opinion, or even his Democratic camp.
He clarified that his choice would not depend on his Republican rival Donald Trump, who plans to announce himself as a candidate for 2024 next week from his residence in Florida. “I am in no rush to make this choice, today, tomorrow, anytime, no matter what my predecessor does,” he explained.
“It is clear that we will take over the House of Representatives”: Republican tenor Kevin McCarthy showed his optimism overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, when the results continued to flow.
Wednesday, at 10 p.m. (French time), the NBC News channel projected a total of 222 elected to the lower house for the Republican Party, a slim majority of four seats. Other major media were more cautious and did not give a projection yet. Several decisive and disputed polls have however not yet delivered their results, as in Colorado, where the very trumpist Lauren Boebert found herself – and it is a surprise – lagging behind, Wednesday afternoon.
It will probably take several weeks before a majority emerges in the Senate, where the Democrats held a very slim majority before the election. If Republican Ron Johnson finally retained his seat as a senator in Wisconsin, those in Arizona, Nevada and Georgia were not yet decided last night.
In Georgia, the pastor Raphael Warnock, senator in office, and the former American football star Herschel Walker will even have to participate in a second round, neither of them having passed the bar of 50% of the votes. The new ballot, which could decide the majority in the Senate, will take place on December 6.
If the Democrats were, on Tuesday evening, relatively disappointed not to have created the surprise in Ohio, with the victory of the colt trumpiste J.D. Vance, they could console themselves by looking at the side of Pennsylvania where the colossus in hoodie John Fetterman beat Mehmet Oz, a TV star doctor dubbed by Donald Trump, for a Senate seat previously held by a Republican.
The “red” wave, the color of the Republicans, did not take place in the proportions drawn by many pre-election predictions. “It hasn’t been as big a wave as I hoped. We’ve had some tight polls that have gone to the other side for the time being,” Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, who had predicts a “red tsunami”.
On NBC, Senator Lindsey Graham, a close ally of Donald Trump, also expressed his disappointment: “Definitely not a Republican wave, that’s for sure.” On Wednesday morning, Joe Biden’s chief of staff was delighted with the results and was mocking: “Never underestimate how underestimated ‘Team Biden’ is.”
Previously considered a pivotal state – being able to vote Democrat or Republican depending on the elections – Florida seems to have swung permanently into the Republican camp, with in particular important victories in the House of Representatives. Their leader, Governor Ron DeSantis, won re-election nearly 20 points ahead of his Democratic rival. Enough to fuel his ambitions for a race for the White House in 2024.
The county of Miami-Dade, generally committed to the democratic cause, voted largely this time for Ron DeSantis, a success attributed by the daily Miami Herald to his performance with the Hispanic electorate. A column published Wednesday morning by Fox News already crowned him as the new “leader of the Republican Party”.
With firsts both nationally and locally, diversity was another lesson learned from election night. Democrat Maura Healey thus became the first openly lesbian governor in the United States, elected in the state of Massachusetts (northeast), while in New Hampshire (northeast), James Roesener became the first transgender man to enter a local parliament. Several transgender women had already been elected before. In Florida, it is “Generation Z”, that of today’s teenagers and young adults, who set foot in the House of Representatives, with Democrat Maxwell Frost, elected at 25.
