A ripple, not a wave: The GOP is poised to win the House, so why are Democrats relieved?
USA Today
Republicans were poised Wednesday to claim control of the House of Representatives – with the bragging rights and the authority that would mean – but by a midterm margin so narrow that it raised questions about the GOP's ability to govern and left Democrats energized by their unexpectedly solid showing.
GOP hopes of an election tsunami, of a red tide that would sweep the party into power in the House and Senate, never arrived. The wave turned out to be more of a wavelet, with a Senate still so evenly split that control may not be decided until a Dec. 6 run-off in Georgia between Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker.
For President Joe Biden, election night didn't deliver the "shellacking" that predecessor Barack Obama suffered in his first midterms as president, and that strategists in both sides had predicted. Despite angst over the rising cost of food and housing, Democratic losses were the most limited for the party in power in two decades, and well below modern averages.
Republicans were poised Wednesday to claim control of the House of Representatives – with the bragging rights and the authority that would mean – but by a midterm margin so narrow that it raised questions about the GOP's ability to govern and left Democrats energized by their unexpectedly solid showing.
GOP hopes of an election tsunami, of a red tide that would sweep the party into power in the House and Senate, never arrived. The wave turned out to be more of a wavelet, with a Senate still so evenly split that control may not be decided until a Dec. 6 run-off in Georgia between Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker.
For President Joe Biden, election night didn't deliver the "shellacking" that predecessor Barack Obama suffered in his first midterms as president, and that strategists in both sides had predicted. Despite angst over the rising cost of food and housing, Democratic losses were the most limited for the party in power in two decades, and well below modern averages.
