Democrats won control of both chambers of the United States Congress on Tuesday in a landslide midterm election, with significant ramifications for the final years of the Trump Administration and its policies. Source: OSV News.
In major flips for Democrats, the party picked up Senate seats in typically Republican strongholds of Texas, South Carolina, Kansas, and Iowa. Democratic candidates also won races in key swing states including North Carolina, Ohio, Georgia, and Michigan.
Some of those Senate races — notably Texas and both Carolinas — had Republican Senate candidates that were effectively selected by US President Donald Trump.
“This is a shellacking of such magnitude that it’s hard to find a historical precedent,” John White, a professor of politics at The Catholic University of America in Washington, said. “Probably the midterm elections of 1974 in the wake of Watergate.”
Professor White attributed the losses for the GOP to “corruption, costs, and cruelty”.
Initial exit polling suggested that voters disapproved of Mr Trump’s job performance, including on several key issues: the economy, corruption, the Iran war, artificial intelligence, and his hardline immigration enforcement policies.
Mr Trump, who previously told voters at rallies to “Pretend I’m on the ballot” said in a social media post after the election that “I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
Robert Schmuhl, professor emeritus of American studies at the University of Notre Dame, who critically observes the modern American presidency, said, “Nothing could be further from the truth.”
“At some 30 pre-election rallies, he kept announcing to audiences that they should vote as though he were on the ballot,” Professor Schmuhl said. “Clearly, the results show that the President and Trumpism are deeply unpopular and that the people want new leadership and a different political approach.”
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Democrats win House and Senate in landslide midterm election seen as Trump rebuke (By Kate Scanlon, OSV News)
