Republicans took control of the US Senate following the mid-term elections on Tuesday, picking up seats in Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Montana, North Carolina, South Dakota, and West Virginia.
The election results represented a clear repudiation of President Barack Obama, as Democratic candidates were weighed down by the president’s sagging poll numbers. Traditionally, a president’s party loses some seats in the sixth-year mid-term elections, but the Democrats lost almost every close race this week.
The problems for Democrats were not all due to Mr Obama. In Colorado, incumbent Democratic Senator Mark Udall lost after running a campaign that focused heavily on reproductive rights and access to contraception. Pundits dubbed him “Sen. Uterus” because almost all of his television ads focused on the “war on women.” But, Mr Udall’s margin among women dropped significantly from what Mr Obama achieved when he carried Colorado two years ago, a sign that Democrats will not have any more success running on “culture war” issues than Republicans did.
Several key governorship races also indicated a popular distaste for “culture war” issues. In Pennsylvania, Democrat Tom Wolf defeated incumbent Tom Corbett, who ran and governed as a Tea Party Republican. In Texas, Democratic candidate Wendy Davis, who rose to fame by filibustering a bill aimed at restricting abortion, was crushed in her effort to win the governorship, failing to garner 40 per cent of the vote against Republican Gregg Abbott.
Now, Republicans control both houses of Congress and can frustrate any legislative agenda the president wishes to pursue in his last two years in office. Mr Obama’s ability to name new judges could be severely circumscribed, and, on an issue of special concern to Catholics, progress on immigration reform appears unlikely.
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