US Midterm Elections 2018: Democrats control the House, but the Senate goes to the Republicans

By Alisa Tsaava, November 2018

Democrats have a reason to be optimistic of their chances to exert more control on Trump. After eight years of Republican Party rule in the House of Representatives, Democrats took more than the 23 seats they needed to flip to regain control of the lower chamber. Importantly, they broke Republican rule in such states as Colorado, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, and Kansas. Having improved their position, Democrats may challenge Trump more successfully and prevent him from pushing his policies forward.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Meanwhile, the Republicans will continue to hold a majority in the Senate.

While the Democrats failed to materialize their plans on the Senate, winning only one seat in Nevada, the Republicans tightened their grip on the upper chamber by gaining Democratic-controlled North Dakota, Indiana, and Missouri. Republican electoral success in the Senate will make it less tiresome for Trump to appoint conservative judges in the upcoming months.

It also allows him to hope that some progressive bills proposed by the Democrats will ‘die’ in the Senate still loyal to him.

THE SENATE

These elections set to be historical for two reasons. Firstly, the 2018 midterms will go down in history as the “Year of the Woman” for the record number of elected female representatives, the majority of them being Democrats. Such an outcome is the culmination of the #MeToo movement’s efforts to raise the awareness for women’s rights and gender equality. Secondly, the voter turnout was also the highest since the year of 1970, with 47% coming to the polls in November 2018. According to the New York Times, 114 million voting ballots were cast compared with 83 million in 2014.

Considering the elections’ results, now for Trump the only way to push any landmark laws is by working in close cooperation with the Democratic majority in the House. This could be tremendously difficult for the President whose disregard even for his allies is hardly a secret. Democrats have already promised to renew the Trump-Russia inquiry, a move that could make the rest of Trump’s tenure more complicated.