2022 Midterm Election: Control Of Congress, Biden’s Path Are Unclear

ACROSS AMERICA — Control of Congress remained in doubt Wednesday as ballot counting continued in Tuesday’s midterm elections, but one thing was clear: Voters denied Republicans the “red wave” they had expected.

Democrats’ performance was far stronger than anyone expected in the midterms, a historically tumultuous election cycle for the party in control in Washington. But as key House and Senate races continued to be tallied on Wednesday, it was clear that Democrats had limited Republican gains in the House and maintained a potential path to holding control of the Senate.

President Joe Biden told reporters Wednesday that Democrats had a “strong night,” but he acknowledged Americans’ frustrations.

“The voters were also clear that they’re still frustrated, I get it,” Biden said, listing concerns about inflation, crime, preserving democracy and protecting the right to vote.

Facing a divided government, Biden said he will work with Republicans on “things that make sense,” but made clear he is staying the course on his agenda, predicting the results will vindicate his choices.

He questioned whether Americans really want the major changes some Republicans are calling for — such as debate and votes on whether to continue Social Security or Medicare. “I’m not going to change anything in any fundamental way,” he said.

Neither party had reached the 218-seat threshold to win the majority in the House of Representatives, with Republicans in control of 209 and Democrats in control of 192 as of 7 p.m. EST Thursday morning.

The balance of power in the Senate hinges on three races — the closely watched Georgia Senate race, which is headed to a Dec. 6 runoff election, and contests in Nevada, where counting ballots could take several days, and Arizona, where 17,000 ballots rejected by voting machines.

To control the Senate without winning the Georgia runoff election next month, Democrats would have to win both Nevada and Arizona. Also Thursday evening:

• With 70 percent of ballots counted in Arizona, Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly was leading Republican Blake McMasters, 990,874 votes to 892,619 votes, an advantage of 5.5 percentage points. Election officials were expected to release an updated count Thursday evening.
• With 83 percent of the vote counted in Nevada, the Republican state Attorney General was leading Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto by 15,812 votes, an advantage of 1.7 percentage points.

A clear advantage for Biden, who campaigned for office on simply being better than the alternative, is the disdain that his supporters have for his predecessor, according to a survey of more than 94,000 voters nationwide conducted for nine days, concluding as polls closed, for The Associated Press by NORC at the University of Chicago

While 50 percent of voters for Democratic candidates said their votes were meant to show support for the president, an even greater percentage — 65 percent — said they voted to express opposition to Donald Trump.

“Democrats were arguing from the beginning that they needed to make this election a choice rather than a referendum,” Amy Walter, an analyst who leads the Cook Political Report, told The Associated Press. “And essentially, they did.”

Walter said Democrats were able to maintain support in the midterms from voters who believe that “Biden is not living up to their expectations, or they are feeling disappointed, or they are feeling disappointed of his stewardship.”

The outcome takes the heat off the White House, at least for now.

“The pressure goes from ‘How is Biden going to explain himself post-election?’ to ‘How is Trump going to explain himself?’ ” she said. “The more intriguing conversations are happening on the Republican side.”

Biden’s upbeat talk is tempered by the reality is presidency is likely to take a bruising over the next two years. No matter what happens when unofficial results are tabulated and certified, the party in control will have a slim majority.

Biden could have to shelve some parts of his agenda with a deeply divided Congress. Republican control of the House would open the door for extreme members of the party to launch investigations into Biden and his family. And a sharply divided Senate could limit his ability to appoint judges and fill other positions that require Senate confirmation.

Al Gore, who served as vice president when Democrats suffered deep losses during the first midterm election of Bill Clinton’s presidency, said this week’s results defied expectations even though Republicans could gain control over at least one chamber of Congress.

“It’s hard to call it a victory,” Gore said of Democrats in an interview with the AP, “but actually in the context of history, it kind of was.”

The Associated Press contributed reporting.