Washington: President Barack Obama faced a political rebuke and a curb on his policy ambitions yesterday after Republicans seized control of the US Senate and captured their biggest majority in the House of Representatives since Harry Truman’s presidency more than 60 years ago.
Tuesday’s midterm elections gave Republicans control of both houses of Congress for the first time since elections in 2006.
Republicans rode a wave of voter discontent to seize control of the US Senate, dealing a punishing blow to President Barack Obama that will limit his legislative agenda and may force him to make a course correction for his last two years in office.
When the new Congress convenes in January, Republicans will be armed with their biggest majority in the House since the Democrat Truman’s first term in the late 1940s. With some races yet to be decided, NBC News projected Republicans would win at least 244 seats in the 435-seat chamber. The Republican victory had been widely predicted ahead of yesterday’s voting to elect 36 senators, 36 state governors and all 435 members of the House of Representatives.
The Republican rout yesterday was wide and deep in what was bound to be seen as a sharp rebuke to Obama, who has lurched from crisis to crisis and whose unpopularity made him unwelcome to Democratic candidates in many contested states.
Obama, who watched election returns from the White House and saw little to warm his spirits, scheduled a news conference. He invited Democratic and Republican leaders of Congress to the White House tomorrow to take stock of the new political landscape.
When the new Congress takes over in January, Republicans will be in charge of both chambers for the first time since elections in 2006. The Republican takeover in the Senate will force Obama to scale back his ambitions to either executive actions that do not require legislative approval, or items that might gain bipartisan support, such as trade agreements and tax reform.
It also will test his ability to compromise with newly empowered political opponents who have been resisting his legislative agenda since he was first elected in 2008. Americans elected him to a second and final four-year term in 2012. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a possible presidential candidate in 2016 who campaigned for fellow Republicans around the country, said the Senate results put the onus on Obama.
“We need to get things done ... and put things on the president’s desk and make the president make some decisions,” Christie said on CBS This Morning. He cited tax reform, a national energy policy and job stimulation as pressing needs. The shift in the Senate also could prompt a White House staff turnover as some exhausted members of the Obama team consider departing in favour of fresh legs.
Before the election results, the White House had signaled no major changes for Obama. Officials said Obama would seek common ground with Congress in such areas as trade and infrastructure.
“The president is going to continue to look for partners on Capitol Hill, Democrats or Republicans, who are willing to work with him on policies that benefit middle-class families,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Tuesday.
Obama, a one-term senator before he became president, has often been faulted for not developing closer relations with lawmakers. He will find one familiar face in a powerful new position. Republican Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who won a tough re-election battle against Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, will replace Democrat Harry Reid as Senate majority leader. Reid has been one of Obama’s top political allies and helped steer the president’s signature healthcare law through the Senate in 2010.
In yesterday’s thrashing, Republicans won in places where Democrats were favored, taking a Senate race in North Carolina, pulled out victories where the going was tough, like a Senate battle in Kansas, and swept a number of governors’ races in states where Democrats were favored, including Obama’s home state of Illinois.
Of eight to 10 Senate seats that were considered toss-ups, Republicans won nearly all of them. They needed six seats to win control of the 100-member Senate, and by yesterday they had seven. Democrats had dominated Republicans in the Senate, 53-45 with two independents, going into the election but Republicans will now outnumber them 52-45 with two independents and Louisiana’s US Senate race yet to be decided.
The winning margin came when Iowa Republican Joni Ernst was declared the winner over Democrat Bruce Braley and Republican Thom Tillis defeated incumbent Democratic Senator Kay Hagan in North Carolina.
The Louisiana Senate race will be decided in a December 6 runoff between incumbent Democrat Mary Landrieu, who took 42 percent of the vote, and Republican Representative Bill Cassidy, who had 41 percent.
The Iowa race was particularly indicative of Republican fortunes. Ernst came from behind and surged in recent weeks despite herculean efforts by powerful Democratic figures to save Braley, including a campaign visit by Obama’s wife, Michelle.
Republican Senate candidates also picked up Democratic seats in Montana, Colorado, West Virginia, South Dakota and Arkansas. Whatever the case, Obama will face pressure to make changes at the White House. A Reuters/Ipsos poll showed 75 percent of respondents believe the administration needs to “rethink” how it approaches major issues facing the United States. Sixty-four percent said Obama should replace some of his senior staff after the election.
Reuters
