This week’s midterm elections demonstrated how deeply divided the United States is, with no issues or candidates emerging that might overcome the country’s polarisation.
The party that controls the White House typically loses midterm elections, and it appears likely the Republicans will take control of the lower house of Congress, but their margin will be smaller than that predicted by polling in the weeks before votes were cast. Control of the upper chamber remains in doubt as contests in Arizona, Georgia and Nevada remain too close to call.
Many Democratic candidates leaned heavily into their support for abortion rights, allocating as much as 45 per cent of all TV ad spending on the issue in the key swing states of Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Georgia. In the first three, Democratic gubernatorial candidates prevailed, Arizona was too close to call and Georgia gave incumbent Republican Gov. Brian Kemp a second term.
Republican governors who signed laws restricting abortion in their states were not penalised for doing so. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott all signed laws characterised as “extreme” by their opponents and all three won handily.
Florida and Texas also showed Republicans continuing to make inroads among Latino voters. DeSantis and Republican Sen. Marco Rubio both carried Miami-Dade county with 55 per cent of the vote. The county is 69 per cent Hispanic and was once the base for Democratic victories in the state. In Texas, Republican Monica De La Cruz flipped a district that stretched from San Antonio to the Mexican border, an area that was once solidly Democratic. In Arizona, on the other hand, Latino voters supported incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly who is narrowly leading in a race that remains too close to call.
On the all-important issue of election integrity, two Democrats who earned the endorsement of Republican Rep. Liz Cheney won their closely contested races. Cheney’s endorsed Rep. Abigail Spanberger in Virginia and Elissa Slotkin in Michigan, both of whom faced Republicans who denied the results of the 2020 election. Many election deniers lost their contests, most prominently Don Bolduc in New Hampshire, Doug Mastriano in Pennsylvania, Dan Cox in Maryland, Tim Michels in Wisconsin and Tudor Dixon in Michigan. In 2016, Donald Trump won Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin and Joe Biden swept the three states in 2020. Republican, Trump-endorsed Kari Lake, who also denied the election results in 2020, is likely to become governor of Arizona, another state Biden narrowly won in 2020.
.
Loading ...
