A Muddled Election Map Leaves Control, Agenda Up in the Air
Republicans failed to capture predicted substantial majorities in the House and Senate in Tuesday’s midterm election, as control of Congress remains up in the air as of Wednesday, November 9. Control of the House continues to trend toward a Republican takeover, but the majority will be much smaller than many anticipated.
Control of the Senate comes down to races in Georgia, Arizona and Wisconsin as ballots continue to be counted. Despite the race tightening significantly in the last three weeks, Democrat John Fetterman won Senator Pat Toomey’s Pennsylvania seat, in one of the most closely watched races in the country, making it more difficult for the Republicans to capture the Senate.
Under Georgia state law, if no candidate breaks 50 percent of votes, the top two candidates will face each other in a runoff on December 6. This may mean control of the Senate will remain undecided until that time.
Results have been mixed nationwide. Republicans defended the Ohio Senate seat vacated by retiring Senator Rob Portman but failed to defeat Democrat Marcy Kaptur and Republican Steve Chabot lost his seat in the first district. Democrats also held the Ohio 13th district in the Youngstown area, a tossup seat when Rep. Tim Ryan announced his candidacy for the Senate. A number of Democrats effectively written off survived strong challenges, including Representative Abby Spanberger of Virginia and Representative Lucy McBath of Georgia.
ACMA’s Vice President of Government Relations, Dan Neumann, will host a webinar on November 16 to walk through the election results, what this means for the agenda in Washington, and how ACMA will work with the new Congress. This webinar is open to all ACMA members.