Control of the US Congress was at stake on Thursday as the ballot count dragged on and attention shifted to the next big election – the 2024 presidential campaign – and whether Americans could face another match between Joe Biden and Donald Trump could be confronted.
With 209 seats so far, Republicans appear poised to secure a slim majority in the 435-seat House of Representatives, but control of the Senate could amount to a runoff in southern Georgia in early December.
Biden, who turns 80 this month, on Wednesday celebrated his Democratic Party’s success in staving off a predicted Republican landslide in a stormy economic climate.
“While the press and pundits were predicting a huge red wave, it hasn’t happened,” he said.
Biden, already America’s oldest president, insisted he plans to run for a second term in November 2024, despite calls from some members of the party to step down and hand over the reins to a new generation of leaders.
He promised a final decision “early next year”.
A caning would certainly have raised the question of whether Biden should run again in 2024. Instead, he fared better than his two Democratic predecessors, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, both of whom took a hit in their first midterms.
Trump, 76, promised a “very big announcement” in Florida on Tuesday that should be the start of his official campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Trump’s early entry into the race appears destined to overturn possible criminal charges over the seizure of top-secret documents from the White House, his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his supporters’ Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol to fend off
It may also be intended to undercut its key potential rival for the Republican presidential nomination, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who emerged as one of the biggest winners from Tuesday’s midterm elections.
“[Trump’s]intent is to cement his support early on and edge out other potential candidates,” said Jon Rogowski, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago.
– “Ron De-Sanctimonious” –
The 44-year-old DeSantis, a lawyer educated at Harvard and Yale, scored a nearly 20-point victory over his Democratic opponent in the Florida gubernatorial race and boasted a string of Republican victories in other races in “Sunshine State.”
“Not only did we win the election, we rewrote the political map,” DeSantis said. “We still have so much to do and I’ve only just started to fight.”
While DeSantis has emerged as Trump’s main rival for the nomination, the former president continues to dominate the polls when Republicans are asked who wants to represent the party in the 2024 White House race.
Trump is clearly targeting Florida governor, a former ally, who has been referring to him by a derogatory nickname – Ron De-Sanctimonious – and belittling his election victory.
“Shouldn’t it be said that I got 1.1 million more votes in Florida in 2020 than Ron D did this year, 5.7 million to 4.6 million?” Trump said on his platform “Truth Social”. “Just ask?”
Biden was asked by reporters Wednesday about a showdown between Trump and DeSantis.
“It will be fun to watch them compete against each other,” he said.
In the Senate, Democrat John Fetterman defeated Trump-backed candidate Mehmet Oz to capture the Pennsylvania seat after the costliest Senate race in US history.
The final make-up of the Senate now depends on three seats: Arizona and Nevada, where the vote count could take a few more days, and Georgia, where there will be a December 6 runoff between Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock and former American Football star Herschel Walker arrives.
Even with a narrow majority in the House of Representatives, Republicans would have significant oversight powers and have promised to use them to investigate Biden and his allies.
