Republicans took control of Congress in Tuesday’s midterm elections, a result that transforms the political dynamic in Washington and gives the GOP new power over President Barack Obama ’s final two years in the White House.
Republicans won Senate seats from West Virginia to Colorado and beyond to assemble a majority of at least 52 seats, expanded their margin in the House—possibly to levels not seen in decades—and won key governor races.
The sweep left Democrats without a majority in either chamber for the first time since 2006. “It’s time to go in a new direction,” said Sen. Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) who is in line to become Majority Leader, after he defeated his Democratic opponent, Alison Lundergan Grimes, by a decisive margin. “We can have real change in Washington, and that’s just what I intend to deliver.” A slow economic recovery and a series of jolting events, including an Ebola outbreak and the rise of Islamic State in the Middle East, left many voters anxious and looking for change.
Tuesday’s balloting featured 14 competitive gubernatorial races. Republicans rolled up victories in most top-tier governors’ races, with Govs. Rick Scott of Florida, Rick Snyder of Michigan and Scott Walker of Wisconsin all notching wins. Republican Bruce Rauner defeated Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn in Illinois However in Pennsylvania; Democrat Tom Wolf defeated GOP Gov. Tom Corbett.
Republicans scored some unlikely wins in gubernatorial races, including in Massachusetts and Maryland, two Eastern states with large populations of Democratic votes. In Maine, the state’s Republican governor was reelected, and in Kansas, Gov. Sam Brownback rode the Republican wave to victory in an election in which he looked unsteady at times.
Vermont’s governor’s race seems poised to produce an unusual outcome: since no candidate is likely to win a majority of the vote, the state’s legislature will be given the responsibility of picking among the two leading candidates.
By the end of the fall campaign, Democrats were struggling in swing states that were touted as building blocks of the party’s ascendancy, including Colorado, Iowa and New Hampshire. Republicans’ ability to compete in those states bodes well for their prospects in the 2016 presidential race and suggests a possible reshaping of the national political map.
Not since 1980 has the GOP beaten more than two incumbent Senators. On Tuesday, they knocked off at least three. With the government squarely divided between a GOP Congress and a Democratic White House, new opportunities could open for compromise if both parties and the president decide to bend enough to make deals. That remains a big question in a capital stymied by four years of gridlock. Businesses are banking on seeing progress on such issues as an overhaul of the immigration system and corporate tax code.
In his victory speech, Mr. McConnell hit a conciliatory note. “We do have an obligation to work together on the issues where we can agree,” he said. “Just because we have a two-party system doesn’t mean we have to be in perpetual conflict.”
Officially conceding defeat, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) issued a statement congratulating Mr. McConnell.
A GOP-led Senate will have sway over approving Mr. Obama’s appointments to cabinet posts, including his next attorney general, and vacant judicial appointments. Mr. Obama and his fellow Democrats had hoped to win favor among voters with improvements in the U.S. economy. But across the country, Democrats struggled against hostile political forces, including Mr. Obama’s dwindling standing and a map of competitive elections that tilted heavily in Republicans’ favor.
In the U.S. House, Republicans moved toward expanding their majority, with the only question being by how many seats. A gain of 12 seats would give the GOP 246 votes, its largest share in House since 1946. The GOP’s strong position going into Election Day was a reversal of fortune from bruising losses in the 2012 election. And just a year ago, the party fell in polls after conservatives were blamed for a U.S. government shutdown.
Sen. Mark Pryor was the first Democratic casualty on Tuesday, defeated by GOP Rep. Tom Cotton in Arkansas. Republicans picked up their first Democratic open seat of the night when Rep. Shelley Moore Capito won in West Virginia, the first Senate win by her party in the state since 1956. Wins in Iowa and North Carolina tipped the chamber into the Republican column.
One of the biggest surprises of the night was the unexpectedly close Senate race in Virginia, where Democratic Sen. Mark Warner was once expected to easily win re-election. A recount there is possible. Republicans framed the election as a referendum on Mr. Obama, whose second term has been plagued by acrimony at home and tumult abroad. His low approval ratings weakened Democratic Senate candidates, who had tried to distance themselves from a president whose historic victory in 2008 had helped them win election.
Even before votes were tallied, the White House sought to deflect the view that the congressional elections were a referendum on the presidency. Vice President Joe Biden predicted Senate Democrats would keep control. On Tuesday, Mr. Obama offered what sounded like excuses for looming losses. “This is possibly the worst possible group of states for Democrats since Dwight Eisenhower,” Mr. Obama said during a Tuesday afternoon interview with a public radio station in Connecticut. The 2014 midterm campaigns were defined by voters’ long-simmering frustration with the ability of elected officials in Washington to move the country forward. The economy was the top voter concern, with an overwhelming majority describing economic conditions as poor or “not so good.’’ Health care was second on the list.
By better than a two-to-one margin, more voters polled said the next generation would have a worse life than today’s. Two-thirds said the U.S. had gone off track—more widespread negativity than in either the 2010 or 2012 elections. On Tuesday, many voters said they cast ballots more in opposition to one candidate than support for the other. “It’s like the worse of two evils,” said Mike Ball, of Raleigh, N.C., who voted for Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan because her opponent, state House Speaker Thom Tillis, “put a bad taste in my mouth.” Mr. Ball, a computer analyst, said he wasn’t “super happy with Hagan.”
