Democrats control the Senate after winning the state of Nevada
The Democrats, led by US President Joe Biden, maintained their control of the Senate, after candidate Catherine Cortez Masto was re-elected in the crucial seat of Nevada, according to estimates published Saturday evening by US networks including NBC and CNN.
US news networks reported that Catherine Cortez Masto, a Democrat who currently occupies the seat, will keep her seat in the Senate after defeating Republican candidate Adam Laxalt by a narrow majority in the country’s midterm elections.
After calculating this decisive victory, the number of Democratic seats in the Senate rises to 50, exceeding the 49 Republican seats, thus retaining their majority for two additional years.
And even if the Republicans manage to win the remaining race in the state of Georgia, where a run-off is scheduled to take place next month, the Democrats will retain control of the upper house of Congress, in light of the ability of Vice President Kamala Harris to resolve any tie in favor of the Democrats.
Georgia is scheduled to hold a run-off next December, with neither Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock nor his rival, former Trump-backed football star Herschel Walker, receiving more than 50% of the vote.
Voters across the United States went to the polls last Tuesday to determine who will make decisions in Congress and what US President Biden can do politically over the next two years before the 2024 presidential election, which former Republican President Donald Trump is expected to run.
In addition to all the seats in the House of Representatives, 35 out of 100 seats in the Senate were contested this year.
Meanwhile, Republicans appear to be on their way to regaining control of the 435-seat House of Representatives, but in smaller numbers than experts expected.
The Democrats have so far managed to win 204 seats, while the Republicans have won 211 seats – both still short of the 218 seats needed for a majority.
If the Democrats lose their majority in the House of Representatives, the Republicans will be able to block the Democrats’ bills until the next presidential election in November 2024.
In turn, US President Joe Biden said on Sunday that the unexpected success of the Democrats in the mid-term elections had put him in a stronger position to hold decisive talks with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping.
Biden said in Phnom Penh, where he will meet a number of leaders in the framework of the ASEAN summit that he is in a stronger position… I feel good and I look forward to the next two years,” Biden added, after the Democrats won in Nevada and allowed them to retain control of the US Senate.
Regarding his meeting with his Chinese counterpart, Biden said, “I know Xi Jinping, and he knows me,” adding that they have always had “frank conversations”.
The two leaders have known each other for more than a decade, since Biden was Vice President Barack Obama, but the two will meet face-to-face for the first time since Biden took office.
“We’ve very little misunderstanding… We just have to determine what the red lines are” Biden said.
The White House said Biden called Catherine Cortez Masto to congratulate her and also spoke with Chuck Schumer, the Democratic majority leader in the Senate.
The President noted that attention is now focused on Georgia.
Democrats can still win a seat in Georgia, where a second round will be held on December 6.
