Midterms 2022: Democrats reassured after retaining majority in Senate

After the re -election of the outgoing senator from Nevada, the party of the American president Joe Biden can calmly await the allocation of the last seat in Georgia, which will decide in early December. The uncertainty remains in the House of Representatives.

by Piotr Smolar (Washington, correspondent)

A euphoria wave won the democratic ranks, on the evening of Saturday, November 12. The wait was long – almost 96 hours after closing the polling stations – but it does not reduce the scope of the news. President Joe Biden’s party retains the majority in the Senate, defying the political logic that usually prevails during the mid-term elections.

Shortly after 9 p.m., after long days of blooming announcements, the ballot boxes in Nevada finally delivered the name of the winner, in a very tight and decisive race. The outgoing, Catherine Cortez Masto, had just acquired a sufficient advantage, even before the end of the process, so as not to be joined by the Republican Adam Laxalt. Again, the theme of abortion played a central role in this campaign, for the benefit of the winner. At this precise moment, the 5,000 votes that separated them had immense meaning, not only for Nevada, but for the course of the Biden presidency and the political becoming of the country. And this while waiting to know the majority in the House of Representatives, always delivered to hypotheses. The Republicans have acquired 211 seats, the Democrats 203. The majority is 218.

After the confirmation Friday of the victory of the Democrat Mark Kelly in Arizona against Blake Masters – who did not recognize his defeat at this hour -, Democrats and Republicans each held 49 seats in the Senate. The last two to assign were Nevada and Georgia, where a second round will oppose, on December 6, the outgoing Democrat Raphael Warnock and the former American football player, Herschel Walker. But the democratic victory in Nevada, which brings this party to 50 seats, is in itself sufficient to keep the majority. Indeed, at 50-50, the voice of vice-president Kamala Harris is decisive, as she had been since the start of the presidency Biden in the outgoing Senate.

The final results in the Chamber not yet known

This new Democratic majority will allow Joe Biden to continue a major business: the massive promotion of magistrates. For the time being, 84 federal judges and 25 court of appeal, chosen by the president, have been confirmed. Diversity in their ranks is unprecedented: 75 % are women, 25 % are African-Americans (including Ketanji Brown Jackson at the Supreme Court) and 17 % Hispanic. If a place was released in the next two years among the nine judges of the Supreme Court, due to retirement or health, Joe Biden would therefore be able to promote a new candidate of his choice. Just as important: a majority in the Senate offers democrats a foolproof firewall against any attempt to introduce, by the Republicans, of a federal law on abortion, which would impose a maximum number of weeks of pregnancy.

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/Media reports.