Republicans wrested control of the US Senate from Democrats, according to US media early Wednesday, ending four years of minority rule and handing a significant boost to the party’s goal to dominate every department of government.
The triumph implies that if Donald Trump is elected president, he will have massive backing to accomplish their program and nominate justices to the powerful US Supreme Court, but if his Democratic opponent, Kamala Harris, is elected, there would be legislative impasse.
The United States Capitol is divided into two chambers: the House of Representatives, where all 435 seats are up for grabs, and the Senate, which has 100 members and 34 seats on the ballot this year. Congressional elections coincide with the presidential race.
Jim Justice, West Virginia’s current Republican governor, delighted Republicans early in the night when he easily won the Senate battle to replace retiring centrist Joe Manchin, an independent who sided with Democrats.
Ohio then switched to the Republican side after longtime Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown was defeated by Bernie Moreno, a Trump-backed businessman and the son of a former high-ranking Colombian government official.
Fox News and ABC called the contest for control of the upper chamber after Republican Senator Deb Fischer survived an unexpectedly strong challenge from an independent in Nebraska.
“I look forward to working with President Trump and our new conservative majority to make America great again by making the Senate work again,” Texas Senator John Cornyn, a contender to lead the Republican majority from January, said in a statement.
The Justice and Moreno victories reversed the Democrats’ 51-49 Senate advantage, with Republicans looking to extend their lead even further with potential pick-ups in Montana, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
Huge power
Democrats were hoping to offset losses with gains in Texas and Florida, but they conceded both as the incumbent Republicans won easily.
If Republicans win all of the toss-up contests, they will have 55 of the 100 seats, giving them enormous authority to push through Trump’s domestic program and judicial selections, assuming he defeats Harris.
For the first time in history, two Black women will serve in the United States Senate simultaneously, after to victories by Democrats Angela Alsobrooks and Lisa Blunt Rochester in Maryland and Delaware, respectively.
Only three of the more over 2,000 Americans who have served in the upper chamber are Black women, including Harris.
According to nonpartisan political finance monitor OpenSecrets, $10 billion has been spent on congressional candidates this cycle, which is somewhat less than in 2020 but nearly twice as much as the $5.5 billion price tag for the 2024 presidential race.
While the Senate approves treaties and certain presidential appointments, such as ambassadors and Supreme Court nominees, all legislation that raises funds must first pass through the House, where the majority decision could take days.
The Democrats are in the minority, but gaining control of the lower chamber appears to be a less difficult task, since they only need to flip four seats.
Sarah McBride will be the first openly transgender politician elected to Congress after defeating Republican John Whalen III for a House seat in Delaware.