The red tsunami predicted by many political analysts did not appear Tuesday as Republicans lost more races than expected.
Republicans have 197 of the 218 House seats needed to control that legislative body. That is 25 more than Democrats won but far enough from the magic number, 218, that House control is not a sure thing.
The Senate seems out of reach. The best case scenario has Senatore Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., get less than 50 percent of the vote. If no Georgia candidate receives at least 50 percent, the top two vote-getters face-off in a December 6 special runoff election. Like 2020, the nation will wait on Georgie voters to learn who controls the U.S. Senate.
Fox News further reported:
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., expressed disappointment Tuesday night at the lack of Republican wins in the midterm elections.
“Definitely not a Republican wave, that is for darn sure,” Graham said in an interview on NBC News. “I think that we are going to be at 51,52 when it is all is said and done in the Senate.”
NBC anchor Lester Holt asked whether the Republican Party’s mediocre performance in the midterm was a result of the “Donald Trump effect,” meaning association with the former president may have hurt Republican candidates.
Graham responded “not really,” still suggesting that the midterm was a “referendum on Biden,” adding “If we take back the House, and we get the Senate majority, that is a very good night. A wave would have been New Hampshire and Colorado.”
Graham offered an optimistic take that the Republican Party would still take back power, even if by a narrow margin, and force President Biden to the negotiating table.
“But at the end of the day, guys, if we take the House and the Senate, we are going to have to sit down as a country and figure out to do with it,” he said. “Some unsolicited advice for President Biden, If we do take the House, and we do take the Senate, let’s all go to the border and see if we can find a way to fix it.”
Graham also hinted at an upcoming bill to regulate social media companies with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.
“If it is a divided government, maybe some good can come of it,” he said.
He added, “That is their problem, not ours. We have got plenty of problems. But I think that tonight is going to be a very good night for Republicans if we take the House by a governing majority. Y’all made a good point, I said 25 house seats and 52 Senate seats. I think we are going to be short of 25, and maybe at 51. So it is not a wave for sure, but I think it will be a very good night.”
